Tuesday 4th October.
Belleville to Vienne.
Today we were predominantly on Shank’s pony instead of our bikes as we had decided to miss Lyon out on the bikes. Having visited the vast industrial city by both train and car we didn’t feel the need to cycle through miles of factories and dual carriageways. So we had much more fun taking the train. Ancient Vienne seemed a good place a few kilometres on the south side to restart our trip.
The French trains are bliss and whilst we waited for the direct one we sat in the sun outside the Buffet de la Gare and watched very smart people go in for long lunches. It smelt delicious but we really did not feel the need for any food. After our very bready dinner last night and a mountain more of croissants and baguette this morning I felt positively doughy myself and couldn’t have eaten a thing. We sat under our first olive tree which makes us feel more Mediterranean-ish and there are beginning to be a few fig trees too, sadly none within reach yet or without a ‘chien mechant’ chained to it.
We went far too fast through Lyon and quite missed taking the photo of where the Rhone joined the Saone, which was a bit remiss.
On arrival at Vienne we went to the very helpful tourist office who told us where to visit and stay, and (and we could hardly believe this) they gave us a Rhone a Velo map which covers about the next 50 miles. So full of enthusiasm we dumped our bikes at the Ibis hotel which is right on the river and set off exploring.
Vienne was the centre of Roman Gaul and very important from about 40 AD. If you are driving this way it is well worth a stop. We had a fascinating if rather exhausting afternoon following a trail of brass plaques on the pavements around the town, so we could visit all the sites. The town is surrounded by 5 hills and we walked to the top of one to take in the beautiful views of the Rhone and surrounding area.
We had kept ourselves going up the hill which was pretty steep with the promise of an ice cream at the top, (the over-full feeling having now quite disappeared!)
Here is a building at the top of the hill with the knights Templar cross still visible.
Some buildings weren’t Roman but are as derelict!
Needless to say nothing was up there at all except a viewing point and pretty church and statue. We plodded on fairly happily following the brass plaques and taking in quite a few Roman temples, The Forum, Gardens of Cybele, Temple of Auguste and Livie and the Amphitheatre: All rather like a mini Rome.
It was also an important town in the middle ages for the Catholic Church They built a castle to defend it from attack by Protestants
There was a stunning abbey in the centre, amongst various other lovely buildings.
Alec went on strike about visiting the Museum of Archaeology and Mosaics having over-indulged on those type of places whilst on our last bike trip so we had an ice cream instead.
It is a funny thing walking after not doing much of it for the last week and we were very tired by the time we returned to the hotel. It was excellently situated on one of the busiest roundabouts in town so there were quite a few smashes and bumps to watch (with the sun as low as it could be anyone heading west was completely blinded and could not see the traffic lights change colour!), as well as quite a variety of river traffic. On a rather politically incorrect note, there is quite an aggressive police presence in these parts (not from the look of them, real policemen more like a kind of government employed group of shaven headed vigilantes) stopping locals (with a brown tinge) and they seem to have succeeded in removing the beggars and vagrants from the church doorways. Consequently walking around the city even at night was very pleasant. We noticed this in Dijon too. They looked at Alec a couple of times as he cycled down a one way street the wrong way but decided against trying to catch him, fortunately. I got off and walked.
It is very unfortunate for this part of the world that every town has a dual carriageway through the middle as there is nowhere to put the roads. Juggernauts from all over Europe – Valencia, Geneva, Milan (sounds a bit like a Louis Vuitton advert) even Amsterdam and London were coming through all the time and Vienne is an ancient city and has been quite ruined by this intrusion. It also makes riding your bike through the city quite treacherous.
Whilst walking we had spotted a ‘Moulerie’, which offered moules in at least 15 different guises, so went back and had a delicious moules frites for dinner.
Belleville to Vienne.
Today we were predominantly on Shank’s pony instead of our bikes as we had decided to miss Lyon out on the bikes. Having visited the vast industrial city by both train and car we didn’t feel the need to cycle through miles of factories and dual carriageways. So we had much more fun taking the train. Ancient Vienne seemed a good place a few kilometres on the south side to restart our trip.
The French trains are bliss and whilst we waited for the direct one we sat in the sun outside the Buffet de la Gare and watched very smart people go in for long lunches. It smelt delicious but we really did not feel the need for any food. After our very bready dinner last night and a mountain more of croissants and baguette this morning I felt positively doughy myself and couldn’t have eaten a thing. We sat under our first olive tree which makes us feel more Mediterranean-ish and there are beginning to be a few fig trees too, sadly none within reach yet or without a ‘chien mechant’ chained to it.
We went far too fast through Lyon and quite missed taking the photo of where the Rhone joined the Saone, which was a bit remiss.
On arrival at Vienne we went to the very helpful tourist office who told us where to visit and stay, and (and we could hardly believe this) they gave us a Rhone a Velo map which covers about the next 50 miles. So full of enthusiasm we dumped our bikes at the Ibis hotel which is right on the river and set off exploring.
Vienne was the centre of Roman Gaul and very important from about 40 AD. If you are driving this way it is well worth a stop. We had a fascinating if rather exhausting afternoon following a trail of brass plaques on the pavements around the town, so we could visit all the sites. The town is surrounded by 5 hills and we walked to the top of one to take in the beautiful views of the Rhone and surrounding area.
We had kept ourselves going up the hill which was pretty steep with the promise of an ice cream at the top, (the over-full feeling having now quite disappeared!)
Here is a building at the top of the hill with the knights Templar cross still visible.
Some buildings weren’t Roman but are as derelict!
Needless to say nothing was up there at all except a viewing point and pretty church and statue. We plodded on fairly happily following the brass plaques and taking in quite a few Roman temples, The Forum, Gardens of Cybele, Temple of Auguste and Livie and the Amphitheatre: All rather like a mini Rome.
It was also an important town in the middle ages for the Catholic Church They built a castle to defend it from attack by Protestants
There was a stunning abbey in the centre, amongst various other lovely buildings.
Alec went on strike about visiting the Museum of Archaeology and Mosaics having over-indulged on those type of places whilst on our last bike trip so we had an ice cream instead.
It is a funny thing walking after not doing much of it for the last week and we were very tired by the time we returned to the hotel. It was excellently situated on one of the busiest roundabouts in town so there were quite a few smashes and bumps to watch (with the sun as low as it could be anyone heading west was completely blinded and could not see the traffic lights change colour!), as well as quite a variety of river traffic. On a rather politically incorrect note, there is quite an aggressive police presence in these parts (not from the look of them, real policemen more like a kind of government employed group of shaven headed vigilantes) stopping locals (with a brown tinge) and they seem to have succeeded in removing the beggars and vagrants from the church doorways. Consequently walking around the city even at night was very pleasant. We noticed this in Dijon too. They looked at Alec a couple of times as he cycled down a one way street the wrong way but decided against trying to catch him, fortunately. I got off and walked.
It is very unfortunate for this part of the world that every town has a dual carriageway through the middle as there is nowhere to put the roads. Juggernauts from all over Europe – Valencia, Geneva, Milan (sounds a bit like a Louis Vuitton advert) even Amsterdam and London were coming through all the time and Vienne is an ancient city and has been quite ruined by this intrusion. It also makes riding your bike through the city quite treacherous.
Whilst walking we had spotted a ‘Moulerie’, which offered moules in at least 15 different guises, so went back and had a delicious moules frites for dinner.
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