Rivers Sâone and Rhône:

Lyon stands on the site of Lugdunum, the capital of ancient Gaul, established in 43BC

Our only lock from Neuville to Lyon, Couzon, took a good hour, as we and three other leisure boats (including The Way, which moored behind us last night) had to wait for a montant (going upstream) commercial barge.

We tried the two-ropes-to-one-bollard technique, just for practice; and have stuck with that for the rest of these big Rhône locks.

From there, it’s a picturesque cruise into Lyon, France’s third-biggest city.

Flashback to the 80s

My last trip to Lyon was in the 80s, as part of my first overseas adventure, a six-week Contiki tour of Europe. Here’s a blast from the past, if you’ll excuse my gratuitous arm art. We were all dressed up for a “Bad Taste Party” at the disco.

Port de Plaisance de Lyon Confluence

Apart from being a mouthful to say, the huge, modern Port de Plaisance de Confluence at Lyon is quite something to behold. Smaller boats moor at pontoons near the capitainerie, in the port de plaisance proper; bigger ones like ours go under a 4.5m bridge and moor against the pier.

There’s a two-metre gap between the water and the pier, so it’s a bit of a leap from our roof. Confluence itself is a big, hyper-modern shopping mall with, wait for it, a Zara. Not just a Zara, but one of the biggest Zaras I’ve ever seen – and I’ve seen a lot of Zara shops all over the world. (Yet nothing tempted me; I must be coming down with something.)

After an extended apéro session with hospitable Californians Becky and Dave on board their beautiful Piper boat Wanderlust (where we also met Kiwis Cilla and Aaron Hegerty from Christchurch), Roy and I headed to a nearby brasserie called Midi à Minuit.

Though it was closed for renovations, its menu was being served at the highly unexpected “English-themed” Peaky Blinders Tavern right next door. I had some excellent salmon, Roy had seven-hour-braised lamb shoulder (about €65 for two mains, a bottle of wine and a café gourmand).

Sunday Lunch in the Old City

From our capitainerie, we’d got the timetable for the very convenient Vaporetto, a water-taxi that shuttles between the Confluence port and three other stops.

It’s just €2 per trip, and the first stop is perfect for visiting the old city of Lyon, highlights of which include the Cathedral and the old neighbourhoods, Quartier St Jean and Quartier St Georges.

Without even trying, we stumbled on two Sunday morning markets – first a general one with some great-looking fresh produce, other food and household stuff, then a market selling a wide variety of art.

 

At random, we chose L’Amphitryon for lunch. Empty except for us at noon, it was packed by 1pm, as were all the other bouchons (typical Lyonnaise brasseries) in the old part of the city.

Everyone, naturally, wants to go to the three-Michelin-starred Paul Bocuse Restaurant. We didn’t have time to even try, but we did attempt to visit the indoor market “Les Halles de Lyon – Paul Bocuse” in Part Dieu shopping centre, recommended to us by David and Becky. It was closed for Sunday afternoon, which was fair enough. So we took a cheap and easy tram back to Confluence. This is a very convenient city to visit by boat!