Lyon

Lyon was a lot nicer than I expected, I am not a city person, and as it’s the second largest city in France I was not expecting great things. The first surprise was the marina, our info is a bit out of date and the marina must have had some teething problems but it was lovely right in the middle of the new developments on the piece of land between the Rhône and Saône, it felt safe but was in the heart of things. The redevelopment of the confluence land had resulted in some weird buildings the confluence museum reminded us of the Guggenheim in, I think it was Bilbao all glass and metal at weird angles. There was a supermarket and shopping mall next door to the marina with a Decathlon store. We were able to use a cycle path to access the old town then lock up the bikes and wander around taking in the sights and also just the old streets, inner courtyards and spiral stone staircases as we tried to walk only in the shade, temperature reached 35degs. From the old town we crossed back over the Saône to see the opera house and Hôtel de ville then down the bank of the Rhône to Hôtel Dieu previously a hospital and abbey now up-market shops and restaurants in an incredible setting. The day after we continued our trip up the river seeing the sights from a different perspective.Read more