Nice sunny day, but cooler than it's been. (about 15 in the morning, and high of 23) We had coffee, yogurt and fruit in our room, then headed to the market on the banks of the Saone, very close to our hotel. All kinds of produce, cheese, meat and fish for sale. Lovely looking chicken and sausage cooked on the rotisserie. We bought small sweet tomatoes, figs, croissants and some more cheese. Also tried a flat bread with spinach and cheese. Back to the room for more coffee with the croissants and figs - lovely!
We then went for a walk down some of the pedestrian shopping streets to Place Bellecour.
Our walking tour started from our hotel at 2:30pm. Our guide- Jean Alexandre was fantastic! He really did show us the best of Lyon. It's hard to describe how beautiful the city is. There are Haussmann style boulevards like Paris, the medieval old town with narrow twisting streets, grand buildings and squares, the hillsides with pastel colors, the bridges and river banks of both the Saone and Rhone rivers, Roman ruins, and over it all the Basilica dominating the town.
We walked, took the metro, the funicular up to the Basilica, and many steep paths back down the hill and through the old city. We also went through some of the old "traboules" or covered passages between streets, and heard about the history of the silk industry.
At the end our feet were sore, but we wouldn't have missed it! After a much needed rest some of us headed out on the metro to try a recommended restaurant. Saturday night, so everything is very busy, and not possible to get a reservation. After navigating through the metro & train station and finding our restaurant, it's over 1 hour wait. Too long, so we head to a street near our hotel filled with restaurants. We had a great meal, and lots of fun though the service was terrible!
I had mussels and frites in a lyonaise sauce (white wine, mustard, onions, ham and parsley) The fish and chips looked very good too. A long day, so I think we'll take it easy tomorrow.
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