Blogs from Lyon, Rhône-Alpes, France, Europe - page 12

After a quieter day yesterday we started early as planned to tackle 4 of the Riviera towns on our last day here. We started with the bus to Eze, this is a village perched up high on the cliffs of the Riviera and highly recommended. Unfortunately it is hugely popular with tourists, we did it late morning and hit a huge school group so would recommend earlier. After about 30 mins we arrived and there are some amazing views to be had. The village itself has many alleyways and hidden passages up and around the viewpoints. It can be difficult to find a quiet spot though but worth it. Once done instead of continuing with the bus we took the track that goes all the way down, bit of a hike and takes about 45 mins. ... read more

Given a list of places the average person would like to wake up in on their birthday, it's highly likely that “Somewhere in the bottom of the French Alps!” wouldn't come up very often. It was, however, where our little Aleks awoke on the morn of her 31st birthday. Naturally before my eyes were open I was getting pokes in the ribs and disgruntled snorts of mixed excitement and impatience at my sleeping past 8am, God forbid. Luckily, even though it was always going to be a fairly stark affair in terms of presents, I had come prepared. It all went very well in fact, especially the bottle of Pommery champagne. The new Powderfinger album had been given the day before as an early iTunes present from Mum, and so I was left with some vanilla ... read more

Lyon We went to Lyon and stayed with a friend who had studied abroad at UCLA. He (Concord was his ultimate nickname) and his family were great hosts and we had an awesome weekend in Lyon. Concord took us to see the old Roman ampitheater, the most famuos churches, the opera, the Palace of Justice and town plazas. Many of the city's buildings are also lit up at night and it is a beautiful city. Vienne Concord teaches at a highschool in Vienne, so Katie, Atari and I went on a walking tour of the city while he was at the school. There are round metal markers in the sidewalk that guide you through the small town to the different places. There's a really cool Roman temple in the middle of the city. There was also ... read more

A strange name for a blog you may think, but apparently that's what the name Lyon actually means! (And here I was with lions on the brain *shakes head*) And it was to Lyon, France's third largest city, that I headed next. Mind you the city doesn't actually feel all that large. Perhaps because of the two rivers, la Saône and la Rhôn breaking it up. After hiking up quite possibly the tallest mountain in France, with my magic backpack which seemed to get heavier with every step, I finally made it to my hostel. I have to admit it had a wonderful view across old Lyon (though that was about all the character this hostel could muster up). Tip: I've definitely learnt that for the indipendant traveller ie. someone not travelling with kids, the privately ... read more

Day 21 continued (Thursday, September 17, 2009) After leaving Seguret, we began the long drive north to Lyon. This magnificent city is sadly often overlooked on the tourist trail, with Paris and Nice being much more popular cities to visit. This is truly a shame considering that Lyon has much to offer to visitors, including multiple museums, gorgeous churches, diverse neighborhoods, pedestrian-friendly squares, and more restaurants to choose from than anywhere else I've seen in the world. Prior to our visit, even I was unaware that Lyon had multiple areas within its city designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, including Fourvière, Vieux Lyon, Croix-Rousse and a large part of Presqu'île. Unfortunately, with our tight sightseeing schedule, we had only been able to allow less than a full day in the city. In hindsight, we ... read more