Az alábbi angolul van irva, bocsánat, a városrészünk non profit lapjába szoktam írni:
A tale of visiting two French cities:
Lyon and Aix-en-Provence
October 2011
We did not go to Paris this time. We tried something similar and yet different. Also we decided to rent apartments instead of staying in hotels. Renting costs about the same but this way we’d have more room, a kitchen to prepare breakfast and meals with all the goodies that we’d buy at the local markets plus a fridge to chill our wine. Websites like http://www.homeaway.com/search/keywords:Lyon%2C+France offer a good choice of short term rentals posted by their owners. You pay a down payment (via PayPal usually) at the time of the reservation and the rest in cash upon arrival to the owner. The apartments were one bedroom, had all the conveniences such as TV, telephones and wireless internet connections.
Since we flew with Air France, our fare also included connecting TGV (high speed train) tickets from Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport to Lyon and back. I bought on the internet similar train tickets from Lyon to Aix and back. I paid with my Visa printed the tickets that had bar codes on and presto we were set.
Leaving Montreal in the late afternoon we arrived in Paris early in the morning. We walked to the TGV station located underneath the airport, got our reserved train tickets and waited for our train to arrive. The French (and by now other European countries also) invested heavily in this high-speed train system. A vast network of special tracks was built with no level crossings. The system by-passes smaller towns and stations are usually located in the suburbs. Smaller stations have four tracks: the outside ones for trains that stop, the inside ones (separated by glass walls) for those that do not….be amazed at seeing trains speeding by at 300 km/hr!
There were trains departing every hour to Lyon and in two hours (500 km!) we arrived. It was still morning, around 10 am local time (4 am our time). We figured out the automat selling public transportation tickets, took the street car and rang the bell for our rental apartment after the 15 minute ride.
Lyon is south of Paris, a city very similar in size to our hometown Ottawa. It is located at the convergence of two rivers, the Rhone and the Saone. There are many bridges and hills. The comparison stops here as Lyon is very famous for its cuisine and for the wine growing areas located close by: Cote du Rhone and Beaujolais. The public transportation is superior; there are three subway lines, trams and busses. Nevertheless we mainly used the city’s inexpensive rental bike system, an elaborate network of many automated/computerized stations, called Velo’v (http://www.velov.grandlyon.com/?L=1).
Many cities, most notably Paris also has this system. I note it is not unknown in Canada. Montreal’s bike rental system is called BIXI. On the first day we got our card (by using Visa) for a period of one week and then we used this card to take bikes, ride to our destination and “dock“it at a station there. The system initially takes a deposit and at the end of the period calculates the usage and credits back the unused part. A rental period of less than half an hour is free. As you keep the bike longer rates progressively rise, so you are motivated to commute and dock.
There is a good system of bike lanes in Lyon and drivers are very patient. Every day we biked into a different part of the city then walked to sites we wanted to see or participated in tours available at the city’s tourist office. These tours could be reserved online (http://www.en.lyon-france.com/Visits-and-tours).
Lyon was founded by the Romans and has amphitheatres and other ruins to show for. It was also the center of silk making in medieval times. We toured the area in Old Lyon where the silk-workers lived. Now a historic and trendy place in medieval times these densely built apartments lacked even the most basic services. Water came from wells (often polluted) and human waste was thrown out of windows into the open gutters that were running in the midst of narrow alleyways…no wonder plagues and epidemic was common and the average life expectancy barely hit 30.
In another part you can visit shops where silk fabric was manufactured on looms. Your eyesight must have been excellent to be able to follow the elaborate patterns. Later the creation of the patterns was “automated” by the use of primitive punch-cards that switched the thread. This part of the city is located on a hill called Croix Rousse, and has excellent vistas onto Lyon.
We also signed up for a one day tour of the Beaujolais wine growing area. Another Canadian couple and three Australians were in company. The driver/guide picked everybody up in a small van before heading north to Beaujolais, a hilly area sprinkled with picturesque villages and small family owned wineries. We visited one, the family was busy bottling the new (nouveau) wine and readying it for shipment to the US and Japan. Although the wine grown here has some prestige it lately has a tough time competing with wines coming from the “new world” (Australia, South America, etc) where wine is produced by giant producers and where the weather is highly predictable.
The Lyon experience is not complete without tasting the local cuisine. Well known chef Paul Bocuse is a native of Lyon and there are several Michelin starred restaurants. At Paul Bocuse’s main restaurant (3 Michelin stars) expect to pay a bill of 150 euro per person. However there are plenty other good restaurants and even the inexpensive equivalents of our “greasy spoons” called here bouchon lyonnaisse serve excellent local food. The bouchons were started by the “meres” of Lyon, women who used to be in the service of rich people, factory owners and aristocrats. After the revolution in the 18th century when these types of jobs suffered a decline, many switched to cater to the silk workers and ordinary folks by opening inexpensive eateries. A must visit and a good place to eat at is Lyon’s main covered market hall called Les Halles. We ate out every second day. I recommend making reservations because Lyonners love to eat out and places with reputation can be full. For a smaller place you phone ahead but for many you can use the internet, http://www.thefork.com to reserve.
Another notable feature of French cities (not just Lyon’s) is the numerous farmers’ markets that come to neighbourhoods at regular intervals. Close to our apartment the street scene changed dramatically on Thursdays and Sundays. Locals swarmed the market wheeling bags and buying fresh produce, wild mushrooms, home baked bread, cheese and farm-fed organic fowls, meat and seafood. By 2 pm all was over and an army of street cleaners cleaned up the mess left behind.
While we spent a whole week in Lyon, there were only four days left for Aix en Provence. It deserves more time. An hour via the high speed train from Lyon, just after Avignon and 30 km north of Marseilles, it is a remarkable medieval city that is enjoying a revival thanks to the many prosperous British, German and Scandinavian retirees who have bought properties and spend the winter there. Its old town, the temperate winter climate and Peter Mayle’s popular books about life in Provence, all helped. Provence is now competing with Tuscany as the “coolest” place to buy or rent and retire to.
Our rental apartment in a historic building was superbly located in the midst of the most picturesque part of the old town, overlooking a triangular space called Place des Trois Ormeaux. It looked straight out of an operatic stage. We had a second floor balcony overlooking the fountain and we could observe life below. The small gourmet shop there had tables and from the morning clients were spending hours talking, drinking espresso, eating pastry and later lunch and lingering over bottles of fine wine and champagne.
The city is very walkable. But if you get tired or have luggage there is a system of electric mini-vans. For a euro a ride they take you to your address. Aix is known for its many fountains and class renaissance palaces and churches. It was an important city in the past and has remained the capital of Provence. I should mention its flower market that is busiest on Saturday and of course it was the home town of the post impressionist painter Paul Cezanne. Like him you can walk the wide Cours Mirabeau with mature plane trees on both sides. Sit and relax in one of the many coffee houses that he frequented with the likes of Emil Zola. Or go and see his atelier and its garden a bit farther out on a hill. Existentialist writer Albert Camus and abstract painter Paul Vasarely also loved this city; the latter has a museum close by.
I would like to finish by saying that with a bit of planning and a modest budget you can take time off and relax in a different way…. without the hassle of the crowds and trappings that go (in my opinion) with many “all inclusive all pre-arranged” jet/beach vacations.
