I love history anyway, so I can easily get excited over seeing someplace like Hadrian’s Wall or Egyptian pyramids and temples or battlefields like Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, Yorktown, Culloden, the D-Day landing beaches, etc. Smaller historical events are also intriguing to me.
Whether you are fascinated by history or not, knowing just a little bit about a place can make it much more interesting, such as what is the significance of an old cemetery? Who is buried there?
In St Augustine, Florida, I was fascinated by the fort. It had been built by the Spanish prior to the English settlements at either Jamestown or Roanoke, Virginia or Plymouth, Massachusetts.
In Israel, Masada would have just been several piles of rocks up on a high, hot plateau without knowledge of its history. For those who hadn’t read up on it before the trip, there was a short film down at the base that everyone watched before taking the cable car up to see it.
At Thermopylae in Greece, without knowledge of what had taken place there a couple thousand years ago, just looking at a monument to Leonides and the 300 Spartans who fought and died there wouldn’t have been all that fascinating. Since I knew the story, I could use my imagination. And a good imagination was necessary. The topography has changed quite a bit since 480 BC.
On this trip, my knowledge of Joan of Arc came in handy while in Rouen. I knew that the museum dedicated to her was in the very building where her trial had taken place. I also knew about all of the other locations associated with her.
In Avignon, I was aware of the history of the town, the Pont de Avignon, and the Palais des Papes. Despite it being a very hot day, my back hurting, and lots of stairs to climb, I was very interested in seeing it all.
Sometimes when visiting a place where you already know the history, you can find that seeing the place itself can make your understanding of it much clearer. It was one thing to read about traboules (the secret passages that had been used by the French Resistance to escape detection), but quite another to actually walk through a few of them. They had been built in the old, Renaissance portion of Lyon back when that part of the city was new. People who lived there knew about them. But people who didn’t live there were at a loss. To this day, only a handful of them are open to the public.
Although most people are well aware of who Napoleon was and his role in history, I always find it to be fun to see personal objects used by such iconic public figures. In Napoleon’s case, it was his hat on display in the library of Malmaison – the home he shared with Josephine. It made him seem more human. Like when I saw one of Queen Victoria’s gowns and Admiral Horatio Nelson’s uniform.
Hadrian’s WallSphinx & Great PyramidLuxor TempleGettysburg Little Round TopFredericksburg Sunken RoadYorktown BattlefieldCulloden, ScotlandNormandy Omaha BeachSt Augustine Spanish FortMasadaThermopylaeJoan of Arc MuseumAvignon Palais des PapesLyon Tour RoseNapoleon’s Hat
We had docked in Lyon during the night. When we awoke, we found ourselves not only in the third largest city in France (after Paris and Marseilles) but docked on the Saône instead of the Rhône. Lyon straddles both rivers.
Founded as the Roman city of Lugdunum on Fourviére Hill in 43 BC, Lyon became the capital of the Gauls. The Archbishop of Lyon is still referred to as the “Primat des Gaules”. Interestingly, Lyon was not under French control until the 14th century.
The silk trade was one of the main drivers of the city’s development during the Renaissance. During that time the system of secret passages known as traboules were created in the part of the city now known as Vieux Lyon. These came in handy during World War II. Klaus Barbie, the Nazi “Butcher of Lyon” had his headquarters at the Hotel Terminus. The French Resistance was very strong in Lyon and used the traboules as a means of escaping the Gestapo raids.
During the morning while the bicycle race was taking place and the streets of Lyon were mainly closed to any other vehicles, I got the tags for my cases and packed everything that I wouldn’t need until we got to Paris. I also wandered around the top deck and took some photos of the city from up there. Back in my cabin, I got some nice photos of swans, boats, kayaks, and even the tail end of a group of cyclists who shot by on the other side of the Saône.
We had a grilled lunch up on the open top deck of the ship with steak, salmon or burgers as our choices. Several sides were also served. A couple flavors of ice cream were provided for dessert.
Our tour of Lyon began as a coach tour. The part where we first departed from the tour coach, took place at the same place as the city began — Fourviére Hill. We went by the Roman remains of the Theatre of Fourviére and the Odeon of Lyon on the side of the hill (photo included) and parked up on the top of the hill.
There was quite a view of the city from up there (photo included) plus a truly gorgeous basilica. Occupying the site of the Roman forum of Trajan at the top of Fourviére Hill, the basilica was actually quite new, having been built between 1872 and 1896. Next door was a lovely bell tower and Shrine of Notre-Dame de Fourvière. It had a golden statue of Mary at the top.
We were given some free time to visit the basilica before we needed to return to the tour coach. But first I needed to visit a smaller facility near the wall overlooking the city.
When I entered the little building, I discovered a turnstile to get in and a machine attached to the wall from which a ticket needed to be purchased. Although I could get by with what I remembered from high school French fairly often (like when making purchases at the market at Tournon), there were plenty of times when I was completely lost. I looked at the machine and realized that I understood enough French to purchase the ticket. Whew!
Most ticket-operated turnstiles I had encountered before were the type where you slid a ticket into a slot and the turnstile let you through. Instead, this one read the code on the ticket when you placed the ticket against a little screen. Fortunately I figured that out too and found myself headed down the stairs to the rest rooms.
In France, sometimes rest rooms are separated between “Hommes” and “Dames” and sometimes it is everyone together. These were separated and very clean. Perhaps not everyone wanted to spend 0.70€ and waited until they could find one for free. I was the only person down there.
My time inside the basilica was limited to just a few quick photos instead of being able to tour the entire building. But my half hour had dwindled to fifteen minutes, so I did what I could after taking several photos outside. It was a beautiful building.
After driving around the modern parts of the city and some of the 18th and 19th century parts, we stopped just outside of the old Renaissance portion of the city known as Vieux Lyon (Old Lyon). There we got off of the tour coach again and took a walking tour. All of the streets were narrow and cobbled, so were pedestrian only. Our local guide led us through a couple of the traboules into the courtyards from which the buildings could be entered. The courtyards were quite lovely and definitely a “back in time” experience.
Vieux Lyon is the largest, intact, Renaissance neighborhood in Europe and is a protected district. It has three distinct sections:
The Saint Jean Quarter, which is the oldest, dating to the Middle Ages. It was mainly a center of religious and political power.
The Saint Paul Quarter, dating from the 15th and 16th centuries. This section was dominated by Italian bankers and merchants and contained several mansions.
The Saint Georges Quarter also dated mostly from the Middle Ages. The silk weavers moved in during the 16th century. The traboules were built here.
Traboules were created as a means to pass through buildings and their courtyards, connecting streets directly with one another. At the time, there weren’t a lot of streets that ran parallel between the hill and the Saône. So these passages (which were closed off by doors) were quicker routes to get where one needed to go. But you had to know they were there.
Even now, with only a handful of traboules open to the public, the majority are still secret passages. The first one we entered had a long, dark, narrow corridor with heavy wooden doors at each end. The second one had a shorter, wider passage with the doors open on each end. This one had some elegant shops in the courtyard. It also had a famous tower called the Tour Rose (Pink Tower).
In that same courtyard was an old, wooden door with loads of nails that was labeled “Institut des Sciences Clavologiques”. It means “Institute of Nail Sciences” and is a joke. There is a private society that meets there and nobody knows what they do. I am certain it has something to do with drinking.
Next time – Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and Chateau Cromatin
Our whirlwind introductory tour of Europe in 1984 included some time along the Cote d’Azur (including Eze, Monaco, Nice, Cape Ferrat, Beaulieu-Sur-Mer, and Cannes). Then we followed the Rhone River north to Avignon and Lyon.
We passed Monaco to get to Eze, which is a small, medieval village known mainly for being a small, medieval village and for its perfume industry. The same factories that made very famous, expensive perfumes also made what was basically the same formula, but with a different name at a cheaper price.
From Eze we drove to Nice and checked into our hotel. It was a fairly small, older hotel on a quite, narrow street, not too far from the beach (just a few blocks). After dinner, we took a trip to Monaco to visit the casino at Monte Carlo.
They had separate areas for the tourists and the high rollers. I decided in advance how many francs I was willing to lose and proceeded to lose them. In 1984, there was no European Union or Euros as of yet.
For many years after when I was asked if I liked to gamble, and I said, “Not much.” and was then asked if I had ever tried it (with the idea being ‘don’t knock it if you never tried it’) and if they got around to asking me, “Where?” people tended to look at me a little askance when I said, “Monte Carlo.” I knew they didn’t believe me. But I didn’t give gambling another try until 2005 when I tried a one-armed bandit in Deadwood. I made enough to pay for lunch and quit while I was ahead.
After losing the francs I had set aside, Mom and I watched a few other people for a little bit (there were a few roulette tables) before heading for a little cafe where we could get some ice cream before returning to Nice.
Both of my brothers rode special racing bicycles back then and were big fans of the Tour de France and other international races. I had drawn a little map from a Motobacan shop that we had passed to the hotel so that we would be able to find our way over there after breakfast. I wanted to get a jersey for the one brother and some gloves for the other.
Back in 1984, there were not yet many French who spoke English (or who would admit it if they did). That would require another generation. So, I needed to use my limited French to tell the proprietor what I wanted. We seemed to understand each other well enough and I left with what I wanted to buy.
Next we stopped at a place that had tennis dresses. It was Mom’s birthday and she saw a tennis dress she wanted. At another shop, I bought a touristy T-shirt and cap for myself. Then we retraced our steps back to the hotel, dropped off our packages and walked to the beach.
After lunch we departed for Cannes, Avignon, and Lyon. At each place we just had a short bus drive around before heading to the next location.
Avignon was a walled city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region of Southeastern France along the Rhone River. It was the location of the Pope from 1309 to 1377. A palace is still there, although it is empty.
The bridge Pont Saint-Benezet, also known as the Pont d’Avignon, was originally a wooden bridge spanning the Rhone between Villeneuve-les-Avignon and Avignon. It was built between 1177 and 1185. This bridge was destroyed in 1226 and was rebuilt, beginning in 1234, with 22 stone arches. The bridge was abandoned in the mid-17th century as the arches tended to collapse each time the Rhone flooded making it very expensive to maintain. Four arches and a gatehouse at the Avignon end of the bridge have survived. The bridge was the inspiration for the song “Sur le pont d’Avignon”.
Lyon was the capital of the Gauls at the time of the Roman Empire. During World War II, the Nazis used Lyon as a center for their forces. Lyon was also a major center for the resistance. Klaus Barbie, known as the “Butcher of Lyon” made his headquarters at the Hotel Terminus.
This was the hotel where we stayed the night. Our room had a chandelier, a lovely fireplace, and brass beds. At dinner, we all sang “Happy Birthday” to Mom.
