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The start of my European trip

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Eight years ago (wow time flies), as part of our European holiday, my friend Sandy and I travelled to Lyon where we stayed with an Aussie friend who lived in a magnificent three bedroom apartment opposite a large urban park featuring a lake, sports facilities, mini-golf and a small zoo.  The park has several smaller parks within and most mornings Sandy and I would run around the inner track of the park.

Lyon is a really beautiful city and on our first day we took a walk around the city and also along the riverfront.

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On our first day our friend kindly took us around and showed us the bus and the train station then took us to lunch.  Then on one of our days we took the ‘hop on/hop off’ bus around the city and enjoyed the beautiful sights and fabulous buildings.  This really is a great way of seeing the major sights of any city.

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We hopped off the bus near Old Lyon (Vieux Lyon) which is one of Europe’s most extensive Renaissance neighbourhoods and popped into a wonderful bookshop selling antiquarian books and I bought a beautiful leather covered edition of ‘Madame Bovary’ by Gustave Flaubert…a book I enjoyed reading many years ago.  Then a funny thing happened, Sandy and I were walking along the street when out of this great sweet shop  walked three people we worked with in Australia. They were in Lyon attending a conference…we couldn’t believe it and just burst out laughing after our initial shock!!picture-154

One Saturday our friend drove us to the fresh food markets where we shopped for cheese and bread whilst our friend bought her usual fresh fruit and vegetables.  On the way to the markets, I saw one of the coolest things in Lyon, a corner building (La Fresque des Lyonnais) which on one side looks like a normal building but the other two sides, the walls are completely covered with murals which depict famous Lyonese in each of the painted windows – it’s a great building to check out.

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(above photo: http://www.minhzie.com)

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Our friend recommended we take a tour to Eze on the French Riviera (great suggestion I must say) and we did just that on our way from Nice to Monte Carlo.  It’s a beautiful ancient village perched on rock 1,400 feet above sea level with spectacular views of the French Mediterranean.

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This medieval village centres on the ruins of a 12th-century castle and the oldest building in the village dates back to 1306.  Its buildings are so quaint and utterly charming.

picture-231picture-239picture-234Its many shops, art galleries, hotels and restaurants attract a large number of tourists and honeymooners.

picture-229picture-228As a result, Èze has become dubbed by some a village-musée, a ‘museum village’, as there are still a few residents of local origin living here.

At the time we visited, the beautiful villas were wrapped in stunning pink bougainvillea; a lovely sight to see along with many other beautiful trees and flowers.

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I loved Lyon and Eze – such beautiful places to visit.