Relaxing Evenings in Lyon

Occasionally in the evening, especially after a big lunch, we decide to go to a wine bar for a light dinner and glasses of wine.  There are numerous options within easy walking distance of our apartment, and we try to strike a balance between the “tried and true” and “new territory.”

At the top of our list of “tried and trues” is “Le Café Juliette”.  We have been going there for several years, and a couple of the waiters know us and greet us (sometimes in English  L).  It’s quite the happening place, and there’s often music playing!  “Suits” and others come here after work to meet friends, have a refreshing beverage (lots of choices), and unwind before heading home.

Typical summer evening at the Juliette

It’s a great place to enjoy the atmosphere and have some wine with some charcuterie (platter of mixed meats accompanied by lots of slices of fresh baguette) or maybe frites avec parmesan (addictive!).

David enjoying some Rosé and  charcuterie

We have recently gone to another place new to us.  This one was recommended by Annette, a friend from our Découverte de la France class and fellow wine enthusiast.  “The Wee-An” is also an easy walk from our apartment so we decided to give it a try.  Annette told us they have an extensive wine list, and she definitely was not exaggerating!  It is a huge binder! 

Photo from Wee-An's website showing platters of cheese and charcuterie

They also offer platters of charcuterie and platters of a variety of cheeses among many other options.  The food and wine are very good, and the wait staff is very,very pleasant and knowledgeable.   The perfect combination! We have gone there twice now and will likely return.

We finished the evening with a bit of this Armagnac. 
(Vintage the year we were married.  Anna explained
to the waiter that she was 10 years old at the time.  Right!)

 

Our Annual Pilgrimage to Solutré Pouilly

When we came to Lyon for a year, we made numerous side trips to learn more about the region.  Among the amazing things we discovered was the Roche de Solutré. We have made it a point to climb the Roche de Solutré and then visit the amazing restaurant in the village of Solutré Pouilly almost every year we've stayed in Lyon.   

Roche de Solutré (photo from the web)

There are actually three of these amazing rocks that seem to pop up out of the surrounding vineyards of Burgundy.  The Roche de Solutré has a well-defined, groomed trail to the top, an excellent museum at its base, and even a small coffee shop nearby.  It was a logical choice when we first started our visits.

The history of this imposing landmark (designated a “Grand Site of France”) is also impressive.  Neanderthals pursued reindeer, bison, and horses (back when they were quite small) here, and later Cro-Magnons established a settlement here.  You can imagine how excited Adrien Arcelin, a local archaeologist, must have been when he discovered the site in 1866.  The result was one of Europe’s most extensive records of prehistoric times. 

But, back to our visit this year….Since Anna had had arthroscopic surgery a little over four months earlier, we agreed it would be wise for her to wear her rather impressive brace just to give her knee a little more support and protection.   The look was stunning – quite the fashion statement! 


Anna on the rock with her brace
 (that's the village of Solutré Pouilly behind her)

And, she was very happy to be shed of the brace when we got back to the car and drove to Solutré Pouilly for lunch at La Courtille de Solutré, one of the very best restaurants we have ever experienced.  We discovered this restaurant (actually an auberge) the first time we went to The Roche de Solutré.  The village of Solutré Pouilly is a short drive or reasonable walk from the museum parking lot, and La Courtille de Solutré was pretty much the only restaurant around.  Our experience was fantastic from the setting to the chalk-board menu to the service to the incredible food.   We have gone back each time since and were not surprised to see that it was mentioned in Le Guide Michelin for the last eight years or so.

Anna at our table at the restaurant
(note the red Guide Michelin awards on the window).

David's main course

Anna's main course

Our wine with lunch.

After another amazing lunch, we went to the tourist/wine shop nearby to taste and purchase some wine.  The Pouilly-Fuissé AOC (Appellation Controllée) is reknown for its Chardonnay for whites and Gamay for reds. 

L'Atrium (the tourist/wine shop)

Needless to say, we came away with a bottle or two or more.  We were pleased to find a very pleasant young woman running the shop.  She was not only very, very knowledgeable but also had a great sense of humor.  It wasn’t long before she and Anna had formed an alliance and were ruthlessly teasing David.  We agreed we had to have a photo of “Les Femmes Formidables”!

Les Femmes Formidables

Yet another pleasant visit to Roche de Solutré, Solutré Pouilly, and La Courtille de Solutré !  We’ll definitely be back !

2018 Bike Trip - the Barbecue

Since Tom’s wife Christine had come over from England and Tom and Christine were staying with the Micallefs, Roger volunteered to host a ‘Celebratory Barbeque’ the Thursday after we returned.  We had done this once before, after one of our Loire bike trips, but since Tom comes over from England for these trips, and Christine is not always in Lyon, the timing does not always allow us to do this.

Unfortunately the weather was windy and threatening so we were unable to enjoy lunch on the terasse.  We still managed to have a very convivial time, with a variety of barbecued meats, vegies, starches, and cheeses. 

Photo taken by Anna

Photo taken by Christine

We spent some time discussing ideas for next year’s trip.  Roger suggested us ‘junior members’ [Tom & me] as  candidates for taking on the responsibility of finding a suitable destination and planning some of the itinerary.  One problem that cropped up – Gérard’s car is already heavily loaded with four bikes, four people, and luggage.  Since we had discussed the idea of ‘graduating’ to electric bikes, we needed to look at whether the added weight of electric bikes could be managed.

A solution will be found and the adventure will continue!

2018 Bike Trip - Day 7

We had breakfast at the hotel in Avignon – juice, bread, croissants, jam, tea/coffee.  We then took a short tour - about 3km- around the walled town on our bikes, and took a few photos at the square where the Palais des Papes is located.

Palais des Papes - Avignon

Roger at the Palais des Papes

The rest of the crew at the Palais des Papes

I drove leaving Avignon, which turned out to be a bit of an ordeal as they are putting in a tramway system outside the walls and traffic was backed up everywhere.  It took us about 40 minutes just to get through town and on the way to the A7.  

We somehow missed the turn for the A7 north and wound up heading northeast on a smaller road.  We were going in the right general direction so we headed in a direction we hoped would take us eventually to the Autoroute. 

We stopped in a small town for lunch on the square then Tom drove.  Roger wanted to find a winery so we could get some rosés for Dominique, so we found one and pulled in.  A very nice woman met us and poured some roses for us to sample.  Roger selected two different wines – one for drinking on the terasse, and one a more serious wine.  I bought a red Vayqueras, which is a Cote du Rhone appellation. 

We finally found the A7, and headed for Lyon, arriving in the evening.  We stopped at Roger’s place and unloaded our stuff.  I rode my bike from Roger’s place as driving to our apartment would take longer than riding my bike and Gérard still had to take his car to his place.  I left my six bottles with Roger until our semi-traditional BBQ get-together on Thursday at Roger’s.  I managed to hang a couple of bags from my handlebars with the honey and the Vayqueras.

2018 Bike Trip - Day 6

I woke up after a restless night with a bit of a sore throat, dizziness, etc.  No doubt because of my overdoing the sightseeing rather than taking an opportunity to rest in the afternoon.  It’s difficult not to explore and learn when this is probably your only visit to a particular town or area.  So - no biking for me this day.

Roger and Gérard biked to Cavaillon by an alternate, easier route to pick up the car.  Tom and I had café au lait, wandered around Apt, then had crêpes for lunch.  Roger and Gérard appeared with the car shortly after lunch, we loaded our bikes and headed for Avignon. 

On the way we stopped at the village of Ménerbes, a touristy perched village that was the actual location of “A Year in Provence”.  We did a bit of exploring and I discovered a cellar where there was wine tasting, presided over by an extremely knowledgeable woman.  There was only me and French couple tasting so we were able to converse a good deal about the wines.  A waiter from the restaurant above the cellar would appear occasionally with glasses of wine for the woman to taste, so she was apparently quite the expert. 

I bought six bottles – a really nice rose and two different red blends based mostly on syrah and grenache.  I also bought a couple of jars of local honey to take home.  The French couple asked which wines I had purchased and said they were good choices.  Always nice to be validated by your fellow-tasters!

Photo of Ménerbes from the web

Scene in Ménerbes - Tom and Roger

View from Ménerbes

Another view from Ménerbes

Yet another shot from Ménerbes

Unfortunately the weather was a bit hazy so the sky was not as blue as in the photo from the web!

It was just a short drive from Ménerbes to Avignon.  We stayed at what looked like a non-descript hotel just outside the old walled portion of Avignon.  The hotel turned out to have a nice inner courtyard and garden that our rooms opened out onto.

We walked into old Avignon to find a beer and then a restaurant for dinner.  Tom came up with a good place using his phone to search for recommendations.  We ate outside on one of the narrow streets, under umbrellas.  We had a nice meal although the service was a bit spotty as the restaurant was packed and the staff was continually setting up more tables outside.

We then headed back for a well-deserved night's sleep after another of our annual adventures.

2018 Bike Trip - Day 4

We all four rode for a while after leaving Manosque, then we once again split into pairs so that Tom and I could avoid some of the steeper hills.  We passed through farming areas with very green hills and fields.  One village we passed was setting up for a sort of Renaissance Fair, something the French love to participate in. The odd thing is that Roger and Gérard, on their route, also passed through a village with a Renaissance fair.

Heading up the hill after splitting up

 We had to backtrack a mile or so at one point as we had missed our turn.  We then found ourselves on a road that had once been a railroad right-of-way, so there were no hills for a while.  As it got towards noon we looked around for a town to have lunch in.  The nearest one was St-Michel L’Observatoire, which was actually on our original route.  We headed for it and discovered we had a 3km uphill climb to reach it.  I managed to bike a large portion of it, so got ahead of Tom.

Near the town, which is atop a hill, is a government astronomical observatory on an adjacent hill, hence the name.  As I waited for Tom just below the town, a man came by carrying several baguettes.  I asked him if there was a restaurant up in the town, and he said there was.  I then watched a large tour bus disgorge about 40 people who headed up to the town, presumably for lunch. Tom then appeared, and we headed up to the town square.   I was a bit worried that the restaurant would not have room for us, but they found us a table.

We apologetically were asked to change tables after we arrived as they had a big family group they wanted to set up for.  No problem – we moved to nearby table and ordered lunch.  Really excellent pork that had been cooked for several hours with a delicious honey-mustard sauce.  Also had a nice bit of rosé to go with it.  We spent a very leisurely lunch, about 2 hours and 40 minutes!  Below are pictures of our plats - note the fabulous presentation in this very small village!

 

David's Plat

 

Tom's Plat

 Two charming efficient women, along with one man appeared to be handling all the tables with 60+ people. 

After lunch, we walked around the square with its World War I monument inscribed with the names of the village’s many dead.  We noticed that the buildings around the square all appeared to be in excellent repair so the village is apparently very prosperous – tourists and the observatory.  There is a great view over the surrounding countryside from the edge of the square.

Most of the rest of our ride to Céreste was easy, much of it downhill - at one point my speedometer recorded 46km/hour!  On arrival in Céreste we were surprised to find Gérard and Roger already there.  It turned out they had also taken a shortcut after leaving Forcalquier, which Tom and I had bypassed before lunch.  Tom and I had covered 42km, Roger and Gérard a bit more.

I thought the hotel was a nice little place – a bit warm with no A/C – but found out later that Roger and company’s room smelled of cigarette smoke.  When they talked to the manager about it, they did not receive a very service-oriented response.

Hotel in Céreste

I did my usual exploration of the town with the help of a map from the nice lady at the tourist office.  The town was a Roman town, on the Via Domitia that linked several Roman towns in the area.  A flood in the river through town a few years ago uncovered the foundations of an original Roman bridge.  There are also several old buildings from the Middle Ages.

Information about the Roman Road

Close-up of the map

Old Town Gate in Céreste

Medieval House in Céreste

For dinner we went to nearby restaurant.  I was not very hungry after all that food at lunch but had a great entrée of a mushroom-ravioli soup that was delicious.  Tom and I split a fish dish for the plat that was quite good, with another excellent rosé chosen by our serveur.  For dessert – always necessary, I had a very nice moelleux au chocolat with vanilla ice cream.

Dinner in Céreste

Excellent local rosé

Next door was a jazz venue with a small combo – two saxes and a drummer - that we adjourned to after dinner, along with wine and beer while we listened. 

2018 Bike Trip - Day 5

The next segment was fairly short – about 23km – and relatively easy.  It had been planned that way on purpose as we had had a quite strenuous last few days.  Gérard and Roger are much more experienced bikers than Tom and I, but even they admitted to being very fatigued.

We started out with an uphill climb, then into a series of ups and downs, luckily trending mostly down, through fields and vineyards.

The last 10 or 11km is on a Voie Vert, in this case a bikes-only route built on a former railroad right-of-way.  As railroads cannot manage steep hills, such paths have very slight gradients.  This one was mostly down which made for easy riding.  Along the way we passed an old abandoned passenger station for the town of Saignon.  Saignon is actually an old perched village some distance away that we could not see as we were in a wooded area.

Abandoned Gare for Saignon - web photo

Saignon from the web

We arrived in Apt in time to have lunch at a restaurant next to our hotel, then did some exploring around town.  Apt is a Cathedral city, but St Anne’s is not terribly impressive as the building is in poor repair and closely hemmed in on all sides.  It’s almost impossible to get an exterior photo of the building as one cannot get far enough away without having one’s view blocked by other buildings.    The interior was more impressive but in dire need of repair.

Interior of Ste Anne's Cathedral in Apt
 

Someone had created a tableau in Apt

We had dinner at a restaurant near our hotel - plain but pleasant.

Waiting for Dinner in Apt.

We had arranged for a hotel stay in Avignon the following night before heading home, but decided to skip that and just drive back to Lyon once we picked up the car in Cavaillon.  Unfortunately we were not able to cancel our reservations, so decided to stay a night in Avignon as planned.

2018 Bike Trip - Day 3

The next day, Friday, we headed out towards Manosque, the biggest town in the Department – about 25,000 people.

Lots of hills, several downs.  Hot 75-80- little shade.  After 24 km, we stopped for sandwiches.  After lunch, Gérard suggested that Tom and I stay on main road to Manosque while he and Roger took marked cycle route on smaller, more hilly roads.  16km vs 28km so we had a shorter route also.  Our route had several nice descents, and relatively easy ups.  Tom and I arrived in Manosque about 3:10PM and went to a small square for a well-earned beer.  Gérard and Roger appeared at the square about 4:55PM after getting a bit lost.  Roger and Gérard were definitely ready for a beer – it had been a long day, and Tom and I were starting to get concerned but figured they would call if there had been a real problem.

Manosque just outside the old wall

Old Church in Manosque on the square where we had beers

 We went a short distance to our hotel where we were met by our charming hostess, stored our bikes, and checked in to the hotel.  Our hostess had recommended some restaurants in the area.  We all went to our rooms to clean up, change, and planned to meet in the lobby and go look at restaurants.  I, of course, went out to walk around as soon as possible and noticed that one of the recommended restaurants was located on a square that was completely torn up for renovation – not an attractive setting for dinner as we always ate outside when we could.  At seven when the others appeared, we decided to look at the other restaurant that had been recommended.  It was a distance away, but thanks to the wonders of cell phones and GPS, we soon found it.

The restaurant was called the L’Antidote, which we hoped we would not need after the meal!  It turned out to be an interesting place, almost next door to the local Communist Party headquarters.  The proprietor is a woman who talked to us a great deal about her history-she had worked at a number of different jobs- and who had other small businesses going beside the restaurant.

L'Antidote in Manosque

The Crew at dinner in Manosque

Our Dinner View - Party Headquarters

We had a good meal, but the bottle of Bandol Rosé we had turned out to have different flavors than I was used to.  I did not detect off-flavors that one might get from a corked or oxidized wine.  Roger took a photo of the label, and after we returned to Lyon I researched the wine online thinking maybe there was an unfamiliar grape in the blend.  My research did not indicate a different grape so I have to conclude that it was a bad bottle or a bad wine.

After dinner we did a short walk around part of Manosque.

Manosque town gate

Manosque Town Gate Plaque

Tom and I did 40km for the day, Roger and Gérard about 60km.

2018 Bike Trip - Day 2

The next morning, after coffee at the hotel, we set off east in a counter-clockwise direction for our tour around Luberon.  It is possible to go either direction around the area, and both directions set out from Cavaillon on the same route, then split.  The result was that we got going in the wrong direction and had to do some map-reading and cross-country biking to get on the route we wanted.

We had a light lunch at a food truck near the viage of Merindol.

The weather was pleasant, with minimal winds – we were fortunate during the whole week – no rain while we were biking, and little of the wind that the area can have, so we still managed to reach Cucuron, our first day’s destination, without too much trouble. 

Cucuron is in the hills, so we had a bit of climbing to do.  Tom and I both did some walking, but the weather was not too hot.

We biked through the town of Lauris, and I noticed several signs of interest.  One was on a florist shop that apparently used to be a music-performance venue as witness the sign and the musical instrument on the front of the building.  Tino Rossi [1907-1983], originally from Corsica, was a very popular French singer and movie actor from the 1930’s to the 1980’s.  The sign commemorates his first public performance outside of Corsica on September 14 and 15, 1930.

Tino Rossi Sign and Building where he performed

The other sign commemorates the introduction of asparagus as a crop to the area - the French love their cultural history..

The introduction of asparagus

I reached Cucuron before the others, so had time to get a beer and alert the hotel-owner to our arrival.  The town has a very large ‘etang’ or basin instead of a central paved square that apparently had originally been constructed to provide water power for a mill.  Around the basin, now containing carp, are 200-year old sycamores that have been pruned to cause them to provide a canopy over the whole area.

Our Hotel and the pond with trees

Apparently, the area is a great place for vacation homes as there are many businesses in town, and several restaurants, including a one-star Michelin restaurant!  I have yet to eat in a Michelin-starred restaurant.  I need to put it on my list.

The town was also used in the filming of “A Good Year” starring Russell Crowe and the gorgeous French actress Marion Cotillard.

Before dinner, I spent some time exploring the town, including old town walls and gates, and an old donjon on top of the hill, the remnant of a fortified chateau.  At the top of the hill was one of the best views I have ever seen – no haze, just vineyards and hills as far as the eye can see.  Did I bring a camera – No!!  The photo here, from the web, is hazy and only vaguely shows what I could see.

Two views of an old town gate in Cucuron

Beer and wine in Cucuron

 

No Haze when I saw the view!

We had a nice dinner with a really excellent local rosé wine that was picked for us by our Serveuse..  [I always try to sample local wines on these excursions.]  We covered 58km this day.