Lyon

The first day in Lyon was stinking hot. We drove into town, checked into our hotel and left our luggage and then took the car back to the depot near the airport. The Renault guy dropped us back to the airport and we then got the tram back into the town centre and a bus on to the hotel. It was 4'ish in the afternoon, 40 degrees plus, the bus was packed to the gunnels and horror of horrors, the air-conditioning was broken! Aargh - 10 minutes on that bus was never-ending, the heat was indescribable! Our hotel was in the old part of Lyon, the medieval centre. It's a quaint old place, in a great location (in a pedestrian zone) and really spacious and comfortable.

The next day, was, thankfully much cooler - back down to the early 20s - so we hit the streets. Lyon's a really nice town (when it's not stinking hot, that is!) - two rivers, the Rhône and the Saone, flow through it. No pictures of beautiful bridges though unfortunately - the Nazis blew them all up as they withdrew from the city in 1945.

The main sight of Lyon is probably the basilica, high on the hill above the city. It's an immense structure dedicated to the Virgin Mary. About 1870, the Bishop of Lyon vowed to build a magnificent tribute to Mary if the Prussians spared his city. They did and he did - it's gigantic and very ornate. Everything - floors, walls, ceiling - is covered with elaborate mosaics. Very colourful and lots of gold leaf. Downstairs, the lower church, is dedicated to Mary's earthly husband, Joseph. Unfortunately for Joseph, money ran out pretty early in the project and it's noticeably plainer - it's used as a concert venue now.

The old city's also known for its passageways (traboules), essentially short-cuts linking the old town's three main streets. These traboules apparently made Lyon's old town the ideal centre for the Resistance to slip in and out of as they confounded the Nazis. There are a number of really attractive and striking buildings, whose complete facades have been used as a painter's canvas.