Days 61-62: Visiting Lyon from Pont-d'Ain ... and places in-between

Disclaimer: All voyages in this blog are being taken safely in the comfort of our imaginations - based on our plans and intentions for travel in 2020. What is reality after all?

We've just spent two days using this small town of Pont d'Ain as a base to visit Lyon, and also to wander around the area in between.

Lyon

Lyon is a substantial and congested city - and we were advised not to drive in its central parts. We initially thought we might get a train in from our apartment in Pont d'Ain, but services were a bit round about ... and our accommodation suggested driving to another small town and picking up a more direct service from there. But finally we decided to drive into the outskirts of Lyon - having heard about a network of 21 Park and Ride locations around the city designed specifically for this purpose. The nearest and most convenient for us was at Laurent Bonnevay (the parc relais):

This gave us access to buses but also a station almost at the start of the Metro line A:

The parking is free with a validated Metro or bus ticket.

The Metro deposited us right in the middle of the old city, which is set on a peninsula (or presqu'île) between the Rhône and the Saône. This is looking across the Saône to the hill which we'll later ascend:

As we wandered the street, we came across (oh joy unconfined!) a little tourist train, that trundled around the hill streets of the now trendy Croix-Rousse district:

The information provided on this advised us that we'd:

"Explore Lyon’s hillside Croix-Rousse quarter by mini-train rather than foot ... Board the train with its panoramic windows and roof, and trundle through the village-like streets of this one-time silk workers’ district, famous for its boho atmosphere, markets, and wall murals. Admire the traditional townhouses and best-known murals depicting historical local scenes and figures ..."

The design of this small train of Croix-Rousse is to make it look like the historical cable car - which we'll come across soon.

Part way through our hour's trip, the train took us past this amazing trompe l'oeil fresco in a little square:

At the end of the tour, we had to make our way back here:

This is the Mur des Canuts. It tells the story of ordinary people in this district - and specifically the silk workers. Here's some information:

"The canuts were Lyonnais silk workers, often working on Jacquard looms. They were primarily found in the Croix-Rousse neighbourhood of Lyon in the 19th century."

"Canut was the nickname for a silk worker, and Croix-Rousse was at the heart of the city’s booming 19th-century silk industry. Once a working class district, it’s now one of the more expensive areas of Lyon, much sought after for its distinctive high-ceilinged apartments, quaint narrow streets, daily market and self-styled bohemian ambiance. The Canut’s Wall is a beautifully executed study of Croix-Rousse, on a grand scale. Steps march up the centre of the painting, echoing the steep flights of stairs on the slopes of Croix-Rousse. Shops and a bank can be seen at the bottom while behind them are typical Croix-Rousse buildings both traditional and modern. There is nothing special about the subject matter of this mural but it is that very ordinariness which makes it so special. You might easily cross the street to pop into the Banque Populaire, only to find as you reached for the door that it is an illusion."

The details are extraordinary:

and not just isolated to this building, but dotted around the area:

We found out that there are around 100 large paintings on walls around the city, often in working-class neighbourhoods and on social housing. We only had time for this one (and one more after lunch), but we might get drawn back to areas we might not otherwise venture into. For example, in the area of États-Unis there’s apparently an outdoor museum with 25 murals painted mostly in the 1980s, recounting the career of the architect Tony Garnier, who planned this district in the 20s.

The one we'd just seen was Lyon’s original fresco, and is updated every ten years.

Those wanderings had taken much of the morning, and it was time for lunch in this district. We'd found a vegan restaurant called: Like an Elephant:

and were met there by our dear Melbourne friend Amelia (who had flown in to have lunch with us):

We think what we ordered was probably vegan non-cheese, and definitely no elephant on the menu:

After lunch, we bade Amelia au'voir and decided to take the short-cut up the Fourvière hill, using the funicular from Vieux-Lyon:

We just missed one:

but the next was close behind:

and this deposited us at the top, where we were regaled by an accordionist; Phil Carroll - was that you?

We didn't get to look inside the Basilique Notre Dame de Fourvière because of the daunting crowds there, but walked round to the back where an esplanade enables one to look over the whole city:

Walking down through the hill's streets, we passed under the funicular again:

Back at the river, we found another giant fresco, with its back to the Saône:

This is La Fresque des Lyonnais:

and it features scenes of 24 historical and 6 present local figures:

According to the information that we had, here's "The Roman emperor Claudius, who was born here when Lyon was the Lugdunum of Roman Gaul; the pioneer filmmaking Lumière brothers; silk weaver and inventor of the Jacquard loom Joseph-Marie Jacquard; author and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and others appear on their balconies by the Saône River. The famous Lyon chef Paul Bocuse stands in the doorway of a typical Lyonnais restaurant, and at one of his tables is crime writer Frédéric Dard."

More details are available here.

These aren't the only giant murals; there's another nearby at La Bibliothèque de la Cité:

But onwards, and to the main purpose of this afternoon's touring. We picked up a couple of maps at the Tourist Office, along with an audio-guide, and headed off on a self-guided walk around Lyon's Traboules:

Winding their way through buildings, courtyards, and up and down staircases, our journey took us through Lyon’s secret covered passageways, or traboules. The word ‘traboules’ is a corruption of the Latin ‘trans-ambulare’, or ‘to pass through’, and these passages, dating back to the 4th century, allowed people more direct access to the town’s fresh water source than the winding streets provided.

Every traboule is different. Each has a unique pastel colour, a particular curve or spiral staircase, vaulted ceilings or Renaissance arches. There are reckoned to be as many as 400 traboules in Lyon, but just over 40 are open to the public, each clearly marked with a small identifying seal. They're mainly in the Vieux Lyon and Croix Rousse areas. We found a few of them - but allow that there were many we missed:

What a tour! We returned the audio guide and headed off to have an early dinner before recovering the car and returning to Pont d'Ain. We'd booked in to a recommended restaurant on the Saône side of the city, at the foot of the hill. We'd wandered past earlier and it had seemed closed:

but when we came past again, the doors were open:

A pleasant and reasonably priced menu awaited us:

and we headed out, sated, and took the Metro back to our parc relais, as it started to get dark.

Between Pont d'Ain and Lyon

The next day, we made a late start and drove a little loop around the nearby countryside. Our hosts suggested visiting a little oval-shaped walled medieval village called Pérouges, about a half hour's drive away. Like many of these beautiful villages, it was necessary to park on the edge and walk in (well, there wasn't a metro here). We entered through some gates in the circuit walls: