Day 28 ~ Traboules Ahead, Traboules Behind

Day 28 started with a trip to the pharmacist for cold meds for Stef, which went very well. Then we set off for lunch at another bouchon. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful…but it was awful. It was at a meat-centered place, and this was meat for purists – chitterlings and sweetbreads and raw steak, you have to be really dedicated to meat to enjoy this stuff, and that wasn’t us. Quelle domage. Dessert was wonderful, soft white cheese (a lot like yogurt) with a raspberry coulis, and Stef’s first profiteroles, choux pastry stuffed with ice cream with a marvelous chocolate sauce.

But we were happy to be on our way to Notre Dame Basilica. The faithful used to show their dedication by marching uphill, but we had the good fortune to ride a funicular up. This is just part of the transit system like a bus or a train.

This is a cathedral with something to prove. Everywhere you looked, there was lavish ornamentation begging to be noticed. The smallest square inch was attended to.

Stef is a sucker for stained glass and mosaics, and these were in abundant supply. Look at the detail on this mosaic!

Maybe the best thing about the cathedral is the view from the top. WOW.

We had forgotten that there was a Roman amphitheater near the basilica – super exciting, we love a Roman ruin. It did seem like there’d been a lot of restoration work done, and it was actually in use by groups of schoolkids, which was neat to see.

Then we headed down the hill to visit St. Jean’s Cathedral, which had impressed us so much from the outside. We got coffee and choux buns at a choux-specific patisserie. 2 things: 1) There are choux-specific patisseries? 2) This was Stef’s first real French patisserie. It was great. We got passion fruit, and chocolate with cherries, although the talk of the place seemed to be pistache, so maybe we missed the flagship flavor. C’est la vie.

We headed to St. Jean’s cathedral, and found it to be the kind of simple, elegant, soaring church Stef has liked the best.

We sat inside for a little while…the forecast had been for downpours of rain in the afternoon, and here it was. Thunder shook the rafters. A cathedral in a thunderstorm is pretty goth, it was neat. We also heard rain pounding down. Sensible people would have gone home. We are not sensible people.

We wandered into the deluge looking for traboules. In the 17th century, Lyon was the silk and textiles capital of the universe. The traboules were covered walkways around the neighborhood to get their goods to the river without getting soaked. Seemed like an appropriate activity for today. Like the hofjes we had enjoyed so much in the Netherlands, traboules wind through places where people actually live. You’re expected to be quiet and respectful, but the public is welcome. Our first was La Longue Traboule…you guessed it, it’s the longest traboule. It was completely enchanting.

Then only a few doors down, we found a petite little traboule, Traboule “Maison du Crible – Tour Rose.” (why the long name? I don’t know, it’s just what Google Maps called it)

We were getting thoroughly rained on by now, so taking photographs of the charming streets was pretty challenging, but we hope to get back in some dry weather tomorrow.

Hey look, there’s Notre Dame Basilica!

And with that, it was a bus back to our hotel for hot baths and dry clothes. It was a great day in Lyon.