Lyon in a day (more or less)

With the constant rainy weather that we are experiencing this past week, the extremely sunny day that we had last Saturday in Lyon already seemed like a distant memory. We actually started journey from Besançon at 7 in the morning and arrived at 10 in the morning. The whole morning was dedicated to a visit of the Basilica on the hill and its gardens as well as the old Lyon right at the foot of the hills. The afternoon was left to us as a "free" afternoon and I actually spent it window shopping in the city centre around Bellecour (after a hearty lunch in a lyonnais restaurant in the old quarters. Somehow, I was happy to return to Besançon for a good rest after walking a zillion miles...

  

 Poule de Bresse is a very famous labelled chicken (with typical blue-black feet) raised only in Bresse. The bus stopped for a rest here called what else, Aire de Poule de Bresse...freshly packed raw chicken for sale at an autoroute stop...

 sunflowers in the fields...

 first impression on the bridge crossing the Soane river...

The Basilica of Notre Dame de  Fourvière . This is actually a fantasist basilica built only in the 19th century funded by the city of Lyon on the hills of Fourvière on the sites of old religious sites of Gaul.

a copy of the higher part of Eiffel Tower next to the Basilica.

The actual original chapel...

 Richly decorated interiors of the Basilica.

a lion guard the entrance...

 view of Lyon and the two rivers - Soane and Rhone.

the pyramidal building was built in correllation to the hills of Fourvière.

 a roman amphitheatre

 gilded statue of the Virgin on the basilica from the garden

 the catherdral of St. Jean from the hills

 narrow streets of old Lyon dated from the roman times

 Certain buildings in the old Lyon has interconnected doorways called "traboule" dating back from its antiquity heritage. We were given a guided tour of the maze.

the catherdal St. Jean

the basilica from the city...

recurring motifs in Lyon - the lion (Lyon is derivated from latin Lugdunum)

 view from Pont Bonaparte

 Convennient stores like these are actually a chain supermarket that has specialized outlets mimicking the old-fashioned neighbourhood stores...

 At the shopping quarters in new Lyon...most buildings here has modern 19th century facade with a decidedly Haussmanian taste.

Hilly Franche -Comtois  landscape in the Jura nearing Besançon...