Macon to Lyon ……the foodie capital of France

October 18

Another one of those cold foggy mornings as we leave the gite following a pleasant breakfast and conversation with the owner in his sun room. We decide to take a slower route to Lyon and continue our visit of the Beaujolais region which stretches along the hillsides, which in turn parallel the main autoroute between Macon and Lyon. As the fog lifts it turns into a beautiful day as we drive through villages like Fleurie, Morgon, Moulin a Vent and other names that are featured on wine bottles sent worldwide:

By late morning we are at the hotel which is situated on the second floor of an apartment block…… the rooms are not ready until later in the afternoon …no problem we hump all the stuff up and they will put it in our rooms, when they are ready. Since parking is a bit of a problem we decide to use the car to visit some sites rather than paying for parking plus transportation costs. First on the list is Les Halles des Marches Paul Bocus….this is St. Lawrence Market meets yuppie gourmands. Funky little eating areas with folks gulping oysters, shrimp cockles etc. accompanied by seemingly endless bottles of wine. Some of these spots are bars, another looks like a diner car from mid America, another a tiny wood paneled bistro ….in any event you get the picture….a nice picture but not for the faint of wallet!!!

we select more modest fare on one of the bars settling for baguette sandwiches with glasses of rose:

With everyone fed and in good spirits (except for the driver) we race up the winding roads to Notre Dame de Fourviere which is situated on a hillside overlooking the city of Lyon ….

the place is completely wild with parking overflowing, church overflowing….it turns out today is the equivalent of Remembrance Day with flags, veterans etc. and in the midst of this, there is a wedding party as well. The setting of the church and the atmosphere created by this special occasion provides us with a unique experience:

Then it is time to retire to the hotel for a rest before dinner. The hotel owner recommends a resto next door and we take him at his word ……we await the witching hour of 7:30PM and once again are one of the first arrivals ….with no reservations we are relegated to a room upstairs where we are indeed the only ones there…no matter, it is great to have a private chef, haha…..hearing my complaints about the lighting….the waitress tries to dim them but alas the dimmer switch doesn’t work……well at least we can see our food clearly. Actually a wonderful meal with the room filling with boisterous diners. The highlight of the meal is Bob’s sweetbreads which he graciously shares….TO DIE FOR…..he says he will double his lipitor tonite, actually I think we should have been doubling up since the day we got to France !!

After this we retire tired but quite happy!!