Around the World with Marsha & Joel

Another charming town that doesn’t seem to appear in many travel books. Don’t know why? Maybe I’m wrong?

Anyway, before we get started, I forgot to include this image of Marsha just finishing her classes at the Paul Bocuse Institute. Not really, but there it is in Lyon, the capital of eats.

Vienne, the gateway to Lyon’s countryside, has a truly rich Roman history as you can see everywhere; Roman ruins around every corner, some standing alone, and some integrated into the modern structures. It’s one of the oldest towns in France. We’re guided by Jeremy, the same guide that took Bonnie and Steve alone up the hill in Lyon the other day. This was a long uphill trek as well, but about 12 hearty souls from our boat took the challenge to be able to see some spectacular views and sites.

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At the bottom of the hill was a beautiful combination Romanesque and Gothic cathedral, St. Maurice. Notice the missing heads in the arch. Bounty was paid for them.

St. Maurice himself looking very self-assured.

The Temple of Augustus & Livia dates back to the first century is just outside the Roman amphitheater that we’ll look at from above after our climb up Mont Pipet. The temple is pretty much in disrepair, blocked off on all sides for safety.

We made the long, steep ascent in 20 minutes or so, and were rewarded with some spectacular views over the town toward the Rhône. We’re situated right between Beaujolais and Burgundy.

The view down to the old Roman amphitheater. It’s still used, as you can see. It’s getting ready for an International jazz festival with some really big names in July. The theater can now hold over 6,000 patrons, a lot less than the original structure.

A not too spectacular church at the top still had some curiously unique tableau. Anyone have any ideas?

The way down was beautiful on this (another) spectacular day. It was really windy on top. This time of year this area around the Rhône can get gusts of over 60 mph when the winds come from the south. They died down as we descended.

Some young (protesters?) saw us photographing a park and decided to happily pose for us. A nice break from old Roman ruins.

As we walked back into town we saw these interesting brass plaques cemented to the sidewalks at regular intervals. It turns out they commemorate the town’s favorite elm trees that were killed by disease some years ago. A nice tribute. The town is still shaded by some enormous, old sycamores.

We took this for you, Alice…

And this for you, Max. It is true of course.

Back on the boat now, we were just about to leave a lock that dropped us probably 15 feet. I was unaware that there were so many locks on the Rhône. Have gone thru two as I have been writing this.

It is very luxurious cruising the river, having your dinner by sparkling picture windows as you dock by the RV park?! Actually just beyond the main dock at our next stop, Tournon, where we’ll hike the local Syrah vineyards tomorrow.

The sunset, at about 10 pm, exactly reflects our feeling about the adventure so far. Only a couple of days to go. Sometimes time moves much, much too fast.

Less than an hour outside Lyon we turned off the highway into Beaujolais country. Since someone had the “brilliant” marketing idea that marketing the (too young) Beaujolais Nouveau, the area’s reputation as wine producer took a steep dip. It paid off financially, but caused serious wine drinkers to look elsewhere for the higher quality wines they wanted.

Mostly gamay grapes are grown in the region with a smaller amount of Chardonnay, and some acres with trial fruit to hedge against global warming in the future – that is already effecting crops.

We stopped at Chateau Varennes, a relatively small, organic, sustainable vineyard and wine maker.

Their gamay and some Chardonnay grapes are fermented in concrete vats and aged in stainless steel for the most part. A smaller quantity of each grape is put in new oak barrels that have been charred inside for aging.

We tasted both the young, fruity wines and the oak aged bottles. Both were good and have their place, but we opted for their Beaujolais Village, oak aged to bring back to open at one of our dinners.

The rolling hills of Beaujolais are just beautiful, especially in the great weather we’ve been having. Of the 12 appellations, we cruised thru Beaujolais, Beaujolais Villages and Beaujolais cru. It’s one of the largest wine regions in France, and we now have a new appreciation of the area.

Now back for a quick (and massive) lunch at the boat. Then off to our anticipated “Taste of Lyon” tour. We met our guide to walk off and savor the flavors and history of Lyonnaise Cuisine. We crossed the University bridge and turned left (toward the confluence) for the first time – a new area to explore.

We stopped at a very little, very local purveyor of cured meats, pates, lentils and other savory treats. It was aptly named Abel, reminding us of first grandson, Abyl.

We explored (sampled) and learned about many local, traditional cured meats, while sipping glasses of wine, of course.

In France, every part of the animal is used. Waste is a sin, I agree. Some of the meats were from the center of the animal, some from the top regions, etc. You can use your imagination.

These were our primary tastings, with other “intermezzos”. Hearty “merci’s” and off to the next stop while discussing Lyon’s fame in its dedication to the French culinary scene.

The next stop was the Bistro Martine, another very small family run cafe. The owner was a local expert in the cheeses of Lyon.

The wine to accompany our tasting was served in historically significant glass bottles. These bottles appear to be 1/2 liter, but the false bottom allowed the owner to give about 4 oz. less to each recipient. As part of their pay, the bosses would include two bottles of wine each week to their workers. These were the bottles that saved the boss lots of money in the long run..

We had four types of the local cheese that were delicious, but not as spectacular as other French and Italian cheeses we’ve tried elsewhere. Still a beautiful experience.

From there to an artisan chocolatier. He uses a beautiful blend of international dark chocolate. Lots of “ummmms” during this tasting for sure. Lots of purchasing too.

Varieties of solid bars. Only thing that will come close will be our stop at Valrhona in a couple of days.

Our final stop was at a famous local pastry shop featuring, as most Lyonnaise pastry shops do, the Pralinessima Originale, the pure butter brioche filled and coated with pounded pralines (strangely pink for some reason), but scrumptious beyond the color for sure.

Then a welcome walk back to the boat for dinner and some sleep while the boat sailed toward Vienne where we would do a morning walking tour of the charming, old, Roman settled town.

The “Toaster” – Lyon’s Opera House with a top that glows red as the audience fills in

After an enormous breakfast – whatever you don’t see, they will make for you – we thankfully get on a coach to take us up the steep hill for some amazing panoramic views of Lyon. Bonnie and Steve, desirous of burning off some calories opted to take the trek up the hill with a guide. (By the way, they were the only ones choosing that option from everyone boat).

Another panorama view from the top. You can see the two rivers and the two buildings they call the pencil and the eraser. The area between the rivers is a very modern shopping area called, Presqu’île. Lyon is (has become) a haven for some fairly wealthy people.

The basilica of Notre Dame on the Fourvière hill is an impressive church from the outside, and even more impressive on the inside. It was originally a cathedral.

The crypt below has amazing alters, all dedicated to the Virgin Mary, designed and established by countries around the world.

Brazil, can you tell?

Before heading back down the hill for some exploration of the old city we saw this group of Japanese school kids posing on the church steps. They were tourists, not a Japanese school in Lyon.

The city is known for over 100 “fake” facades. Almost all depict famous people. While alive they occupy the lower areas. When they die they get painted out and moved up.

Some are truly spectacular. We stopped to identify all we could.

We walked the narrow, cobblestones streets and discovered how they were able to house as many people as possible into the peninsula by creating “traboules”, hidden passageways behind closed doors that take you between streets. Inside are amazing spiral staircases to individual, stacked apartments.

A typical inner passage looking up to the light coming through the hole to the sky above. Pretty ingenious.

We strolled the shops and cafes, and really felt the comfortable ambiance.

We headed back to the boat for lunch. Heaven forbid missing a meal. Then headed back to stroll the more modern part of the city in the Peninsula. It was a another beautiful day and Bonnie and Steve wanted to continue outside. Marsha and I had our sights set on the Museum Beaux Artes, a large and spectacular place ranging from ancient Egypt to the impressionists, from artifacts to paintings to sculpture to furnishings. The photo below is of the spectacular City Hall with the corner of the museum on the right.

We stayed until almost closing, finishing with some modern pottery of course.

And headed back, pretty burned out – another 24,000 step day. I keep forgetting to get some photos of the meals – too hungry and excited to eat I suppose. But I promise I will, since we are in gustatory heaven.

Tomorrow, we have a special tour of Beaujolais Wine Country, just around the corner. We intend to find out if Beaujolais is more than Nouveau! Want to help?