Touring in the South of France
September 2014
Lyon
Off the plane we are welcomed by a warm Autumn day in the south of France. Fragrant and green.
Lyon is the first step on our short stay in Southern France, touring in leisurely hops by car, down the Rhône valley from Lyon to Avignon and then to Aix and Nice with various stops along the way.
Months earlier I’d booked a car from Lyon Airport to be dropped off at Nice Airport. I’d tried booking town centre to town centre but there was nothing available.
This meant I got to drive an unfamiliar car, with no gearstick or ignition switch and various other novel idiosyncrasies, ‘straight off the plane’. But I managed to work it out and we got to see the countryside between the airport and the city and quite a bit of the outer suburbs at our own pace. Fortunately we had ‘Madam Butterfly’ with us (more of her later) else we could never have reached our hotel through the maze of one way streets.
The charment Hotel St Vincente near the river turned out to be well placed to walk to most places of interest so, after a little more exploration than I might have liked due to the maze of streets, I parked the car at the long-stay car-park at the Opera.
The Opera - Lyon
Despite some early light rain we found the city delightful. Lyon is a city of many fine buildings and a busy commercial area like a small Paris with friendly inhabitants.
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Lyon
Across the Rhône is a high hill, once a Roman fort, topped by a cathedral, the Basilica de Fourvière; and a mini Eifel Tower/communications mast, La Tour Métallique.
La Tour Métallique - Lyon
The Basilica is said to contain a golden virgin that I somehow failed to notice despite roaming around it for some time. But there’s a nice picture on line (link). My days of noticing virgins have, apparently, passed.
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Basilica de Fourvière
The Basilica affords a great view over the city.
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Lyon Panorama
I was most impressed by the local gallery, the Musée des beaux-arts de Lyon, that’s in an old Benedictine convent and houses what must be the finest art collection in France outside of Paris.
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Musée des beaux-arts de Lyon
It provided a nice escape from the weather. And Wendy too found a lot to like in it, particularly the antiquities and the extensive collection of sculpture representing Rodin, Maillol and a beautiful Odalisque by James Pradier.
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Musée des beaux-arts de Lyon
I’ve also posted a few more of the many photos I took there.
One of our first tasks was to find a nice little French restaurant for dinner. This was harder than you might think. There were plenty of middle eastern and Italian and even a Thai or two but where were the French eateries? Eventually we discovered a nearby square with a choice of three but pizza, burgers and kebabs now pervade the entire European continent. It’s the same in Germany.
Dining in Lyon
The next day was sunny and we did a lot of walking, enjoying the architecture and the general atmosphere.
It's amazing, everyone speaks such good French here. Even the little kids, kinder, enfants. Almost no one speaks English.
Wendy se souvient écolière française. Moi aussi. Mais très mal.
Aber ich habe versucht, Deutsch zu lernen. So that's all a bit confusing.
I don't know. Why can't they all speak one language? English of course.
Strolling in Lyon
Leaving Lyon we aim to reach Mirmande for dinner and our next hotel. We're travelling by the back-roads and an infinity of roundabouts.