Lyon, 2014 Another album of France photos (almost done!). These are from a road trip to Lyon and back. Despite the name of the album, more than half of the photos are not actually from Lyon, but from places along the way from Montpellier. See Keewi's blog, Keewi's Adventures, for more photos, along with details like restaurant names, GPS coordinates, lodging info, etc. As with my other France photo albums, these photos have been contrast-balanced, and a few of them have been somewhat further manipulated with slight boosts in saturation or minor photoshopping to remove people, TV aerials, etc. Note that the "original" photos linked to in this set are reduced size, in fact, so contact me if you want a true original. Châteauneuf-du-Pape Châteauneuf-du-Pape is probably by favorite red wine, so we stopped off there for a brief visit. These photos are from the ruins of Pope John XXII's castle, at the top of the hill above the city. Orange A few photos from the town of Orange, a bit to the north of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The photo of the Roman amphitheater is extensively Photoshopped to remove all traces of the ugly iron railings that the French insist on putting up all over Roman ruins everywhere; this is the way that it should look. Driving north Views of the French countryside as we drove northward. Garde-Adhémar Garde-Adhémar is one of the official "Plus Beaux Villages" of France, and indeed, it might be the most beautiful village we visited (I think it was Garde-Adhémar; maybe Mirmande?). The whole village felt like one big garden; there were flowers simply everywhere. We saw very few tourists, and the town had an uncorrupted, timeless feel to it. Simply lovely. The town is set on a hill, and we walked all the way up to the top, and then all the way back down by a different route. Lyon Now we are in Lyon, being given a wonderful tour all over the city by our friend Ghislaine, whom we originally met on a tiny island in the Kuna Yala in Panama! These photos are of the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière. It sits atop a tall hill next to Lyon, and can be seen from almost everywhere; indeed, in the second photo above you can see it in the distance just above Ghislaine's head. The first three photos are of the exterior; they we go inside, look around, and come back out from a panoramic view of Lyon from nearby. The next to last photo is of Saint Jacques de Compostelle. Note the scallop shells on his clothes and on the path he's walking; those are the symbol of the path of pilgrimage for which he is famous. Lyon is a stop on that path. Now we are at the ruins of a Roman theater on the Fourvière hill. These three photos are from traboules, secret passages through the city that were used by the resistance during WWII. There is quite a maze of them through Lyon, apparently, some of which are now open to the public, but many of which are not. You walk along small, often fairly dark passages, and emerge in little courtyards between the buildings, then plunge into more passages. These three are from the Cathedral of St. John. Beautiful carved wood pews. Miscellaneous photos from our walking around Lyon. The fifth photo is of the Lyon city hall; the seventh is of Saint-Nizier Church. In the tenth photo we are walking in a neighborhood called the Croix Russe, looking over the city toward the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, and next to it you can see the tower that Ghislaine jokingly called the Eiffel Tower of Lyon, a TV/cell antenna tower. Aiguèze These last three are from the drive back, from a Plus Beaux Village called Aiguèze. It was quite scenic, situated above a river, but the day was quite overcast so it didn't photograph very well. Anyway, not as nice as Garde-Adhémar! These images copyright © 2015 Ben Haller. All rights reserved.