Sue and Paul Connolly: Gastronomy masterpieces in luscious Lyon and the fools fondue.

Alighting from the train at Lyon and getting into a taxi saw us at our next pit stop. This hotel "Domain Lyon Saint Joseph" a converted seminary was about 7k's out from the city centre of Lyon closer to where our friends Sophie and Sylvain lived. The pace has certainly slowed down since Paris. Even the taxi driver was scratching his head as to why we are staying here. It looks like we will be using l'autobus to see the old Lyon. It was very easy to catch the local bus into the city and easy to understand where you were at bus stops as they are all individually named. Drinking the holy wine at Saint Joseph's certainly adds to the ambience of the place.

We were unable to do a walking tour of Lyon however we booked a river tour instead. Lyon has the rivers Rhône and Saone flowing around it. The tour gave us a great insight into the history of Lyon and lots of architectural landmarks could be seen from the boat. An area of Lyon was made a UNESCO world heritage site in 1998.

To get to the top of the hill where the Notre Dame was we hopped onto one of the funicular. The view was amazing. Walking around Fourviere Hill we stumbled across a Roman Amphitheatre. Making our way further along we descended by another funicular to walk some of the many traboules. I love this place.

Lyon is famous for its wonderful food and there was evidence of this not only by our waistlines but from all of the restaurants and small bars/cafés. We did get to try out a couple of the eating places with most of the menus in French. As we knew some basic French it was easy to work out if we were being offered fish, chicken and beef. At one place Paul chose a dish and asked for the steak to be cooked medium to rare.......the waiter just smiled and said that "monsieur will be cooking it himself" as it is a "fondue de boeuf".....Images of beef being dipped into a chocolate sauce entered my head for a split second with 60's music playing in the background!

Eating in the suburbs at our hotel's restaurant last night was one of the best meals in France. I think the cook used to work in the President's kitchen. Very little choice and no set menu as it all depends on what she has made for the days meal. A great fish dish with heaps of vegetables and then finished off with chocolate mousse and strawberry tart. Not a fondue to be seen......we all know this dish came from Switzerland!