Lovely Lyon

Day 21 continued (Thursday, September 17, 2009)


After leaving Seguret, I 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 lots of 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 my 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 my tight sightseeing schedule, I had only been able to allow less than a full day in the city. In hindsight, I could have easily spent two or even three days touring lovely Lyon.

Beautiful Lyon.

Upon arrival in Lyon, with aid from my navigation system, I was able to easily find Hôtel Best Western Lyon Saint-Antoine and the nearby parking garage. After checking in, I walked up to the room in order to drop off my bags. After opening the doors to my room, I became quite confused. The room was definitely the strangest set-up I had ever seen. My room must have been located smack-dab in the middle of the building as I had no exterior windows. Instead, I had a tiny window with a view of the lovely fire escape, with absolutely no natural light coming in. The peculiarities continued with the bathroom set-up; I immediately saw the bathroom, although it only had a shower and sink. After much confusion, I finally opened what I thought was a closet door to see that there was a completely separate room for the toilet. I thought it was quite strange to have the bathroom fixtures located in different rooms on opposite sides of the hotel room, but because the room had obviously undergone recent renovations and was actually quite nice, I excused the odd set-up.

Hotel room in Lyon.

Tiny hotel bathroom in Lyon.

From the hotel, I walked into the streets of Lyon in order to look at the many different recommended restaurants that were listed in the guidebooks. Lyon is well-known around France as one of the gastronomic capitals of the country. This is in large part due to its many restaurants, or as they are called in Lyon, bouchons, which are traditionally small bistros that tend to specialize in just a few menu items for reasonable prices. Throughout the city, there are multiple blocks of streets which are famous for being lined completely with dozens of restaurants. One of these such streets is called Rue Merciere, which is located on Presqu'île, and just so happened to be very close to the location of my hotel. Since it was only in the early afternoon, most of the restaurants and bouchons were closed, but they all had menus posted outside their doors. After much debate, I decided that I would later eat dinner at a place called Le Bouchon aux Vins.

From Rue Merciere, I walked through Lyon for a bit, admiring the many beautiful buildings that line its streets.

Lyon

Lyon

Lyon

Lyon

Lyon

Lyon

Lyon

Afterward, I began to look for a bakery in order to buy a quick bite to eat as my hypoglycemia had kicked-in suddenly. Unfortunately, although restaurants and bouchons were numerous, boulangeries were not, as I had a very difficult time finding any. Eventually, I did find one though it was a tad expensive, so I just purchased one item.

Next, I walked across Pont Bonaparte in order to complete Rick Steves walking tour of Fourvière and Vieux Lyon (Old Lyon). The city is lined with multiple bridges, and visitors should make a point to walk across at least a few of them, as they all provide amazing and panoramic views of Lyon.

View of Lyon across the river.

Lyon

Reflections in Lyon.

Lyon

Lyon

Provence Part Deux: Orange, Côtes du Rhônes wine villages, and Vaison la Romaine

Day 20 (Wednesday, September 16, 2009)

I awoke on my second day in Antibes to an absolute downpour. After reluctantly getting out of bed, I eventually began driving and headed north back to Provence. During this two and a half hour journey on the auto route, I ended up paying an astonishing 21.40 Euros (about $31 USD) in tolls. I thought it was absolutely freaking ridiculous! This spoiled American is not at all used to having to pay to drive on the “freeway” so I was highly annoyed. Don’t get me wrong though; in all actuality, it makes much more sense that those who actually use the roads are the ones who have to pay for it, versus all of the taxpayers (some of whom who don’t own vehicles) paying for something that very few use. I just don’t like having to use a good chunk of my daily budget on tolls!

I eventually arrived in the city of Orange, which is famous for two important Roman sites; its theater, Théâtre antique d'Orange and the Triumphal Arch of Orange. I arrived at the theater first, where I proceeded to park at a nearby pay lot. I paid about 7.5 Euros to enter the theater, which included the use of a very helpful and detailed audio guide. The theater was built sometime during the first century and is considered by many to be one of the best preserved Roman theater in all of the world. After the Roman Empire declined and Christianity took center stage, the theater was closed due to the churches’ opposition on what it regarded as uncivilized spectacles. Throughout the decades, the theater continued to decline as various people and groups came to pillage statues, marble, etc. Eventually, during the sixteenth century, an entire small village was built within the walls of the theater, thereby practically covering up any sign that a theater had even existed. It wasn’t until the time period between 1825 to 1869 that the theater was finally restored. The theater, along with the Triumphal Arch of Orange, is now on UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sights.

Orange's Roman Theater. 

Orange's Roman Theater.

Orange's Roman Theater.

Orange's Roman Theater.

Although it appeared before me under a cloudy backdrop, the theater was no less than spectacular. It seemed unbelievable to me that such a sight still existed, especially in the condition it was in. Most of the Roman sights I've seen in Europe have been “ruins”; fragmented bits and pieces left from the once powerful and mighty empire. The theater, on the other hand, is still standing in as good of condition as you would expect anything that was of 2000 years to be. Although most of the columns, statues, and colorful pieces of marble were long gone, it was easy for me to imagine how the theater would have appeared in its original state. This amazing theater still provides the backdrop for many opera and theatrical works during the summer months in Orange, so anyone who is staying in Orange for at least a night should check to see if there are any scheduled shows, as I am sure that watching a show from one of the seats would be an amazing experience.

From the theater, I drove straight to the Triumphal Arch of Orange. Unfortunately, as I approached the arch, I noticed that it was covered entirely in scaffolding, so no stop was made nor were any pictures taken.

Afterward, I headed out of the city to several small villages within the Côtes du Rhônes, a famous wine region in France. My first stop was the village of Gigondas, which was filled with several eateries and many caveau (wine tasting rooms). The town was fairly quiet, so I just walked around for a bit and then left just as a torrential downpour began.

The village of Gigondas.

The village of Gigondas.

Window in Gigondas.

The village of Gigondas.

The village of Gigondas.

Side street in Gigondas.

The village of Gigondas.

Do you think they could have fit in any additional flower pots?!?

The village of Gigondas.

The village of Gigondas.

Pretty flowers in Gigondas.

The French Riviera (Antibes, Nice, Villefranche-sur-Mer, & Monaco)

Day 18 (Monday, September 14, 2009)


After checking out of the hotel in Arles, I left the city and began the long two hour drive towards the Riviera. Along the way, I ended up having to pay three separate tolls, which totaled to a whopping 18 Euro (about $27.50 USD). Luckily, I didn’t have to purchase gas that day, so it didn’t take a huge dent out of my daily budget.

I drove directly to the hotel, which was located in the town of Antibes. I had chosen to stay at a place called Hotel de l’Etoile based on the positive recommendations it had received on Tripadvisor.com, plus the fact that it had parking and Wi-Fi. Although I arrived shortly before noon, they had a room available for me, which was great considering that I was going to spend most of the day in the city of Nice and didn't want to worry about keeping the luggage in the car. When I entered the room for the first time, I said something like “holy cow!” in response to its massive size. While the room was nothing fancy or particularly nice, it was quite large, with two beds and tons of space to move around. It was actually one of the largest hotel rooms I had ever stayed in, and that is saying a lot, considering it was a European one. I was also delighted to find out that the hotel beds were soft and comfortable; a very nice change from all of the hard and stiff mattresses I had been sleeping on for the two weeks prior.

From my hotel, I walked to the nearby train station in order to take a train ride into Nice. The round-trip tickets I purchased to Nice cost a hefty 8.4 Euros ($11.50 USD), but when taking into account that I would have to pay for parking in Nice, use gas (which is quite expensive on its own), and deal with the stress of driving into a large city, the train fare didn’t sound so bad after all.

I arrived in Nice about 30 minutes later. Once off the train, I walked into the chaos of the Nice train station, which wasn’t the most pleasant way to enter a new city. I immediately went to grab the itinerary from the travel book; however, I soon realized that the itinerary was not inside the book. Considering that I work long and hard on those itineraries and that I consider them to be my bible for the day, I began freaking out as I had no idea what I had originally planned to do within the city. At least I still had the guidebook with me, so I was able to somewhat reconstruct what my plans had been. My first stop was to the nearby tourist information office, where I grabbed a free detailed map of the city. Next, I walked down the street a short ways until I reached the Gare Thiers tram stop. I purchased a 1 Euro ticket, and then waited for the new and sleek tram to arrive. The tram saved me lots of walking time, and took me directly into the old part of the city.

I got off the tram at Place Messena, which was a massive pedestrian-only square that was surrounded by gloriously renovated buildings, all painted in bright and beautiful colors.

Architecture in Place Messena.

Place Messena

Place Messena

Architecture along Place Messena

Nice

Nice

Provence Part Une: Minerve, Pont du Gard, Avignon, Arles, Saintes-Maries, Les Baux, Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, Roussillon, & Gordes

Day 15 (Friday, September 11, 2009)

From Carcassonne, I headed to a small town called Minerve. This village is placed spectacularly within a wide canyon and is famous for once being a hide-out for a group of Cathars back in 1210. After photographing Minerve from an overlook, I parked the car in the nearby pay lot and then walked through town for a bit. Like so many other small villages in France, this one was very pleasant to wander through and photograph.

Minerve

Minerve

Minerve

Window in Minerve.

Side street in Minerve.

Minerve

View from Minerve.

View from Minerve.

From Minerve, I began the long drive into Provence. After about two hours, I stopped at the Pont du Gard, which is a Roman aqueduct. This amazing structure is listed on the UNESCO World Heritage list and was used by the Romans to supply water to the town of Nimes, one of the largest cities in Europe during Roman times. The aqueduct had three levels that originally spanned about 1100 feet; now it is approximately 800 feet long. Amazingly enough, this structure was built without the use of any mortar sometime around the year 19 BC or during the middle of the first century A.D, depending on which historian you ask. Regardless of when it was built, it is truly amazing to think that the bridge has been in existence for nearly 2,000 years.

A quick stop in Languedoc: Cahors, Albi, and Carcassonne

Day 14 (Thursday, September 10, 2009)


After eating breakfast, I settled my bill with Le Petit Versailles and sadly went on my way. I had immensely enjoyed my stay at Le Petit Versailles and my time in the Dordogne region. It was by far my favorite area of France, and one that I will come back to again in the future, probably renting a house for at least a week.

Today was another long day of driving, with my final destination being the medieval town of Carcassonne. Along the way, I stopped off in two other towns.

The first was Cahors, which is well-known for Pont Valentré, a fortified medieval bridge that was built in 1308 to prevent the English from entering Cahors. Before visiting the bridge, I walked around the city, enjoying the cool morning temperatures and the narrow back-alley streets. While I wasn’t overly impressed with the city itself, I did find it pleasant, but definitely not a must-see place for most visitors. However, I did immensely enjoy photographing the beautiful bridge and taking a leisurely stroll across it. I learned that up until just a few years ago, the bridge was open to car traffic, which must have been such a shame. I was very glad to see that it is now a completely pedestrian friendly bridge.

Cahors

Cahors

Cahors

Cahors

Cahors

Cahors

Cahors

Cahors

Pont Valentre Bridge. 

Pont Valentre Bridge.

Walking across Pont Valentre Bridge. 

Pont Valentre Bridge. 

Pont Valentre Bridge.

Pont Valentre Bridge.

Pont Valentre Bridge.