This morning we caught a train from Lyon to the town of Meximieux which takes 31 minutes to be precise and the French are certainly precise when it comes to their public transport schedules. We then walked to the village of Perouges which takes about 20 minutes (I'm not so precise when it comes to my walking times). Perouges is a medieval walled village. Nobody knows when it was founded but the walls were shut in 1167 to protect the community from the Archbishop of Lyon's troops. It had a 'booming' textile industry until the end of the 18th century but the railroad was re-routed early in the 19th century and the population dropped from 1,500 to just 90 people. According to the tourist brochure a "fever of demolition raged" through the village until 1911 when some bright spark (I think it was the chap who was the Mayor or something similar at the time) realised they could become a tourist destination so the 'demolition fever' stopped and buildings were restored and maintained. The population is now about 1,200 people. It was an amazing little place - so very pretty with all the old stone arches and houses. There were brightly coloured flowering plants in all the windowboxes and wherever there was a bit of space for a garden. The old cobblestoned streets also looked good but are quite tricky to walk on.
We had lunch at a restaurant there called Les Terrasses. It did have terraces overlooking the valley and the Ain River below but unfortunately it was a bit too chilly to be sitting outside to eat. We noticed when we went inside that just about everybody in there had a small hot griddle on their table and were literally barbecuing their own lunch. So we decided we'd do that too. It turned out you could order two different types of meat (we chose pork and chicken) which were very thinly sliced and served on a platter. You also got salad and chips with your order. It was quite good fun to barbeque our own lunch and it was delicious too!
After our lunch we walked back to Meximieux (much easier and quicker going down the hill) to catch our train back to Lyon. While we were waiting at Meximieux station two of the very fast trains went flying past. You don't realise how fast they're actually going when you're travelling in them but, my goodness, they do rush along! No wonder the yellow line you have to stand behind is so far back from the edge of the platform because otherwise people would just get sucked in by their slipstream.
Back in Lyon we went to see where the Saone and Rhone Rivers converge - La Confluence. We took a tram to the end of the line and walked the rest of the way through the old docks area of the Saone River. This area is being redeveloped (a bit of a global trend to have a redeveloped Docklands) so there were a few brand new buildings. The contrast between the stone houses in Perouges and these modern buildings could not have been greater! There were two cube shaped buildings - one bright orange, the other lime green - which had one or two huge crater shaped holes in the side of them and then sort of tiered levels around the inside of these holes. Another building had giant orange frog things on the balconies. There was also a building that we could see in the distance at the beginning of our walk which I initially said to Lindee looked as though it might be a stadium of some kind. But as we got closer I turned to Lindee and said that I thought it could be a spaceship! It turned out to be an incomplete new museum (Le Musee des Confluences) which isn't due to be completed until the end of next year.
We made it around the outside of the construction site and then it was only a short way to the point where the rivers converge. It was just gorgeous! It would also have been a lovely peaceful spot except for the blokes there fishing who were playing stupid 'doof doof' music (which I would have thought would scare away any fish). But it turned out OK as we walked back to civilisation along the Rhone River and that was nice and quiet and very pretty.
We are leaving Lyon tomorrow morning. I'm so glad we decided to spend a couple of days here (even though it meant a long drive on Wednesday). It's a great city, really easy to get around, lots to see and do, excellent restaurants and very friendly people.
