Dijon and Lyon in France on 30 September 2013

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Dijon and Lyon in the Burgundy Region of France on 30 September 2013

After leaving the Champaign region we arrived in Dijon, the home of mustard. We stopped and went to the touristy office to get some info on the town + a map.

On walking around, we found the quaintest town, and very well set up for tourists. They had a walking trail and you had to follow the brass owls which were imbedded into the footpath, to direct you around the historic sites of places of interest.

We came across some more Tudor-style, medieval, half timbered buildings, the 13^th century, Gothic, Notre-Dame Cathedral, many interesting little shops and lovely restaurants. We also saw some patterned tiled roofs which were unusual. There were many cobble stone walking malls. One was lined with buildings that displayed many different flags representing groups of people within the region.

Our next stop south (187km along the motorway) was Lyon. This city of 450,000 people is on the banks of the Rhone and Saone Rivers. Lyon has been a vital gateway between the north and south since ancient times. Vieux Lyon (old town), the oldest part of the city, is the site of the Roman settlement of Lugdunum, the commercial and military capital of Gaul founded by Julius Caesar in 44 BC.

We caught the funicular up the top of the hill where the old town was. We visited the Basilique Notre-Dame as well as the Grand Theatre built in 15BC which seated 30,000 spectators and a smaller Odean. There was also a magnificent view of the city from the top of the hill. We could see the 2 rivers and how the winded their way through the city.

Gemma had a lovely time dancing on the stage of the Amphitheatre.

After going back down into the city, we then drove to our camp site, Camping Indigo. It was raining. The campsite was next to the Ibis Hotel where we went for a lovely meal. We found that there was a games room where there was strong WiFi signal so we took it in turns to play games with Gemma while we were all doing some computer work. We had a great night and as it was cool, we all slept well.

Tomorrow we were on our way across to Italy.

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