4 & 5-Jan-25 Lyon, France

Pleased to be leaving Perpignan aboard a double decker TGV. Great views from the top deck as it zooms to Montpellier bypassing snow capped mountains, wetlands and pink flamingos near Narbonne.

Change trains as Montpellier but find it’s a crappy old single deck TGV for the 4hr ride to Lyon. Dreadful train and no room even in First Class.

Check into the Hotel Vaubecour (www.hotelvaubecour-lyon.com/en/). Chosen for its location and rave reviews on Trip Advisor. A review from the previous night said that the heating wasn’t working and an electric heater was required. Located on the second floor of an old building, circa 19^th century by the looks of it, getting inside is more difficult than Fort Knox. Two intercoms fitted to old fashioned doors with old fashioned ironmongery. A coffin sized lift goes very slooowwwllly up and down. The sort with a manual gate. But greeted by a friendly receptionist with a warm smile and thankfully a warm room with a large cast iron radiator cranked up high. First warm room in weeks!

In need of something nice and spicy choose Nepalese for dinner. Which is not co-ordinated. Poppadums served with naan bread whilst having a beer despite asking for naan bread with main dish. And before being able to start on the poppadums, the starter arrives. Quickly followed by the lamb madras. Which is more like a korma. Dreadful. Not what you expect in the foody city of France.

Breakfast the following morning is somewhat filling. Had to pre-order the night before. So a pain au chocolat and coffee. It’s the largest pain au chocolat I’ve ever seen. Normally there’s small bits of chocolate chips spread about the pastry. But this seemingly has one whole slab of Dairy Milk in the centre. It’s like eating a whole chocolate bar with two croissants sandwiching it. And not only that. It comes with half a baguette, jam and butter. Just in case the pain au chocolat wasn’t enough to fill you.

Needing to walk it all off head towards the Sunday market lining the banks of the river. A veritable array of produce. Including many oysters. Mild but windy as I peruse and eventually cross the river to the old town. This is nice. Well worth a visit, dear reader. Reminds me of Colmar near Strasbourg. Not wanting to walk up a steep hill to the Basilica, take the funicular to Fourviere. Standing atop the highest point for miles around, the Basilica was built in the late 1800s. Stunning views across the flood plain for miles with snow capped mountains in the distance. The foothills of the Alps.

Basilica interior very ornate. But being Sunday morning. Being used for a church service. So silence needed. And can’t venture too far in. Stewards prevent tourists disrupting the congregation. In that ‘we don’t want you scruffy oiks in here’ sort of way. But. There is another chapel beneath the main church. Accessed by a lift. To discover another ornate place which is surprisingly large.

Lyon, located at the confluence of the Rhone and Saone rivers, was originally Roman and capital of the Gauls. Which reminds you of Asterix.

Being at the confluence of two rivers was a strategically important location. And those Romans developed the main hill of Fourviere with an amphitheatre, dating back to 15BC. In 2AD it was further developed with a capacity for 10,000 people.

And what a view they had. These Romans knew how, and where, to build their amphitheatres. Having been to Libya and seen Roman cities there, Lyon’s location is no exception. Stunning vistas.

But. Today. A bit windy. And health and safety deems it unsafe to go walking about the amphitheatre. Bet the Romans didn’t have that problem. So. Restricted to the indoor museum. Which is warm and has some interesting artefacts. One of which is a dodecahedron very similar to the one recently discovered in fields in Norton Disney, about half an hour from where I live.

Returning to the old town on a different funicular discover the Museum of Cinema and Miniatures. Plenty of props from the movies. Including a Ghostbusters ectoplasm trap. And a hoverboard from Back to the Future. And a fake gun from TV series Bonanza. Ah yes. The memories. Sunday afternoons in the 1970s wouldn’t be the same without Bonanza!

And a very interesting display of miniature sets. Shoe box sized but cameras make it look life sized. Quite an impressive feat. And incredibly detailed. See photos below, dear reader.

Loving Lyon.