Tom`s travels: Perouges & Lyon (26-27/05/2017)

Towards the end of May Ania and I and two friends of ours, decided to head south and visit France's third largest city: Lyon. After taking our friends' car, as we approached the city I suggested a small deviation to the medieval town of Perouges, just 30km north-east of Lyon. After having parked the car, we continued on foot and entered first the Eglise Sainte-Madeleine buil in the 15th century. Right by it stand the Porte d'En-Haut whuch marks the entrance to the town. After passing through we immediately appreciated the pretty stone houses covered in flowers and plants dotting the town. Walkig along the winding streets we reached the Place de la Halle, also called Place du Tilleul, the main square. All around were pretty stone houses some with wooden beams and with plants growing on them. We then continued through the medieval streets running around the inner part of the walls and passingby the ruined castle which nows consists just of a wall and a tower remaining. After the visit of the town we got back in the car and headed on towards Lyon. After reaching the city, we parked our car again and continued on foot. After a bit of walking and crossing a bridge over the Rhone river, we reached the Place des Terreaux. This big square holds the Hotel de Ville at its eastern end and the Fine Arts Museum as its southern one. From there continuing on we crossed yet another bridge this time passing over the Saone river. The two rivers in fact create a kind of island which marks one of the three parts of the city. Now we had reached the oldest part of the town, where the roman city used to be built on, right below a hill. Walking through the medieval streets we admired the architecture typical of this area. Furthermore we also found out a typical thing of the city of Lyon: the Traboule. These are sort of passageways built as public streets cutting through private buildings and palaces, used mostly by merchants to reach the river quickly. We visited a few of them thorughout the city including the one where the Musee Gadagne is located. A lot of them are nowadays private but others are just closed and if you ring a bell or push through a door you manage to find some really interesting ones. Heading further we reached the small Jardin archeologique St Jean which holds the ruins of the once Eglise Sainte Croix. Right next to it stand the imposing Cathedral Saint Jean Baptiste which we decided to enter through the main door. Built in the Gothic style between the 12th and 15th centuries, it holds a beautiful 14th century Astronomical Clock. After exiting the Cathedral we crossed again the Saone and reached the immense Place Bellecour considered to be the third largest in France. Further on we passed through the Place des Jacobins and reached the Church of Saint Nizier built in the Gothic style. After that, we crossed the Rhone heading back to where we left the car, and had a beautiful view of the city as we were crossing the bridge. After reaching the car we drove slightly east of the old and reaching the Airbnb which we had chosen for the night. After settling in we were quite tired so after relaxing a bit we decided to find a restaurant close by. We settled with one as there wasn't much option, and eventually found that it was a good choice and served good and rather well-priced food. The next day after waking up we headed again towards the city centre. We reached again the Place St Jean with the Cathedral and from there started our ascent of the Fourviere hill. After several stairs we reached the top of the hill and had a beautiful view over the city with a warm, even a bit too hot, sun accompanying us. At the top of the hill stood also the Basilica of Notre Dame de Fourviere, an impressive church built at the end of the 19th century and now one of the cities most famous landmarks. It had an extraordinary neo-Romanesque and neo-Byzantine interior which mildly recalled the interior of St Mark's in Venice. After visiting the church we walked along the top of the hill and reached the site of the former roman city of Lugdunum. Here we found the well preserved remains of the Ancient Roman Theatre, built in 1st century BC, and right next to the smaller Odeon. Dominating a privileged point on top of the hill over the river below it made senses that the romans had built a city in that location. After seeing the ruins we descended back down in the city and decided to stop at a small burger restaurant that seemed to have some really inviting burgers. After eating we reached the Cathedral square once again. From there we walked northwards passing by again some traboules, and crossing yet again the Saone river and reached the northern part of the old town where the remains of the Amphitheatre were located. From there we decided to head a little further and rest a while in the Parc de la Tete d'Or an immense park located at the nothern end of the city. After a nice rest we were ready to go back to our car and head home to Strasbourg as that would take a few hours driving.