Europe 2026 8th April - Day 4 Lyon and Roman Ruins

 Not a bad sleep but still a little dusty. Woke up around 5am and then after not getting back to sleep got up and started the blog.  Normaly spend about an hour and half doing this but I like to look back on previous trips and I find it a good record and useful to me; my diary if you wish. I also back up photos from the camera to my little laptop/tablet and also a small SSD I carry, making sure they are in different places in case of theft. Therfore my photos are on the SD card in the camera, PC and SSD. Why not backup to the cloud ? Lack of decent WiFi sometimes prevents this or takes way too long so I find this the solution that suits me.

After coffee and a lovely muesli/yoghurt for breakfast we headed to the Tourist office and booked our river cruise for Thursday arvo, got some other info and theen headed to the Funicular to get to Fourviere and the Basilica Notre Dame de Fourviere. Of course the funicular to Fourviere was closed so we had to take the other one to Saint Just and then walk a little over a km up the hill to the Basilica. The walk was well worth it as the Basilica dominates the top of the hill with the gold Virgin Mary looking down over the city she was atrributed with saving in 1693 from the bubonic plague and again from the envading Prussian forces in 1870. Built entirely from private funds in 1871+ it certaininly was a magnificent building with a large ornate cyrpt underneath (no photos allowed). We then moved outside to the view over Lyon which though a little hazy was spectacular. Apparently sunsets from this vantage point are well worth the return journey, so we will see. Off to a small restaurant for a coffee and cake, but no french did not help. Ended up with an espresso with small milk jug, Verbena tea and nothing to eat, and to think I thought I ordered a latte and english breakfast tea.

It was then off down the hill for only a short distance to the Lugdunum Musee et theatres Romains. A modern 4 level museum built into the hillside that contained massive amounts of relics etc from the Roman occupation of Lyon in 15BC including mosaics, jewelery, pottery and even the bronze Gallic 5 year Coligny calendar written in the Celtic language and the large bronze Lyon tablet containing a speach from Roman emporer Claudius. So many artifacts, it took ages to walk through before exiting into the area containing the remains of the Great Theatre and the smaller Odeon theatre. Both only rediscovered in late 1800's after being used as a quarry and then covered with soil and an orchard.

It was now nearly 1.30pm so we grabbed a sandwich and drink and sat under the shade of a large tree on the grass looking back at the ruins. It was a warm day 26C which was certainly more than we were expecting for this time of year.

We then proceeded to walk down the steep paths to the bottom, rather than take the funicular back till we arrived near the cathedral on the flat and made our way back to our flat. We were both feeling the heat and combination of a little jet lag so a rest was well in order.

Around 3pm we then decided to take the bus (C10) to the Musee de Confluences which is a modern architectual delight or monstrosity, your choice but the exhibits were amazing. Two temporary exhibits were; In Mali,when the animals Dance ( Sonia & Albert Loab donation) and The Mystery of the Rings (Laurent Ballesta) both superb exhibitions along with the permanent ones were well were seeing.

On the way back we stopped for a couple of bottles of water and chips and finally got around to getting a face washer/flannel. I cannot travel withouot one, it is one of my lttle necessities and god knows what I did with mine as I remember putting it into a plastic bag, but now can't find it. Oh well have a nice new nustard coloured glve thingy now, so the equilibrium is returned.

We decided to go across the road for dinner tonight to La Planche a partiger which we had been observing from our window whilst having a wine/beer. The place was empty for the second night in a row but the owner/chef was friendly and we settled on a couple of small dishes with recommended wine. Meal was excellent and he was quite chatty. He was amazed how quiet it was as last week was buzzing. We then wandered across the road and up to bed ready for another day.

Our room across the street

Views from the top of the Musee de Confluences

Europe 2026 7th April Day 3 - Paris to Lyon

 Woke up in the Innside by Melia this morning, with both of us habving a less than perfect sleep, no relection on the bed/pillows, just over tired I think. Felt just like that after nightshift haze for those shiftworkers who remember. We had an excellent shower, packed what little we had removed from the suitcases and then wandered downstairs to breakfast. Excellent selection, fruit, muesli, croissant, yoghurt, toast, scrambled eggs, roast potatoes and the necessity of the food chain; bacon. All washed down with orange juice and sadly a very ordinary coffee. Not much luck with the coffee so far but will keep trying. Would certainly recommend this establishment for an overnight stay at CDG.

Even had a view out the window of the majestic Concorde, that brilliant collaboration between the UK and France. Pity the Easyjet got into the frame.

Quick brush of the ivories and a 5 minute walk to the train shuttle (CDGVAL) which took us to Terminal 2 to catch the TGV fast train to Lyon from 1 of 2 train stations at CDG. Because we had not eaten for approx 30 minutes we had some time to spare we had a coffee/tea with a gorgeous apricot danish from Pauls. Coffee average, danish suoerb. Unusually for us the train was delayed by 20 minutes but eventually left for the 2 hour journey to Lyon at 12.20 instead of the stated 11.57am departure. We were in carriage 11, first class; god I love train travel in Europe.

The trip was smooth and uneventful with beautiful country scenery the whole journey. There were so many yellow fields along the route which were either mustard of rapeseed ? (France is the largest producer of rapeseed in Europe). Wind generators in fields and lovely woodlands adorned the trackside.

Once we arrived at Part Dieu Lyon station we crossed the road to the Westfield to pickup our 3 day CityLyon cards ( free travel etc and entry to museums etc) The helpful young lady behind the counter directed us to out the front to catch bus C9 to out accomodation in the Bellecour precinct. We found the stop and walked briskly to catch the bus. Once onboard we settled for the short trip; however... We weren't really switched on and the bus was wandering around, so we were taking in the views. Jane suddenly relalised that we were going in what appeared to be the opposite direction to where we intended. At a stop outside the Hospital the bus driver who spoke no english pointed in the opposite direction, so we alighted, crossed the road and waited. Humouresly it was the same driver that returned as we were only 1 stop from the end of the line. He smiled, we got on, returned to the city and satyed on for the 6 stops ( about 10 minutes) to where we should have been in the first place, Bellecour. It was a quick 10 minute walk via the tourist office to our accomodation for the next 6 nights, Bienvenue la Residence Avy. 

After a short rest we popped out for some groceries and necessities for the next few days and then had a stroll around the area. The weather has been gorgeous, 25C with no humidity so an absolute pleasure to just walk and absorb the atmosphere. The Bellecour area has great eateries and bars and as was suggested a great location in which to settle ourselves. It was back to the room for bread, cheese and our bottle of Northern France IPA, followed by some Rose and a lovely Rhone before retiring to bed.