Our Viking Rhone River Cruise: Exploring Lyon

Today, I’m sharing the last part of our journey on our Viking Rhone River cruise we took in October/November. What a memorable trip it was. I took so many pictures that it’s hard to narrow it down to just a few, so again I’ve gone overboard with pictures, but that’s what vacations are for, right? I hope you enjoy these last excursions we took. We ended the cruise in Lyon, with excursions in the region. All of them were fantastic as you’ll see below! Come along with us as we explore more of the surrounding countryside of Lyon, France.

Lyon

The city of Lyon is France’s third-largest city and it straddles the Rhone and Saone Rivers. It’s sometimes compared to Paris in culture and looks, while being significantly smaller. That’s actually fine with me. I’ve been to Paris and it’s beautiful, but also so big and vast. Lyon was beautiful in its own way with red-roofed buildings and tree lined boulevards, with riverside promenades. We really enjoyed our tour of Lyon as we walked the cobblestone streets in a short walking tour.

There are many silk vendors here and I picked up a silk scarf for myself and one for my sister for her birthday.

The grand basilica, Fasilica of Notre-Dame de Fourviere, sits on top of Fourvierre Hill and we did a wonderful tour inside.

It was magnificent, inside and out.

Little Eiffel Tower

Perouges

Next on our stop is the medieval town of Perouges, built in the 12th century. It was something to see!

We did a walking tour here with a guide and she told us all about the walled city as well as who lives there. There are 80 people living inside the walls and 1200 people in the town. It looks like a movie set!

Inside the church of Perouges.

These cobblestone streets are something!

We found out a speciality of this town is the sugary bread, galette, which is like a sugar pizza. We got a taste at the end of the tour.

This small town is full of charm.

The galette.

Selfie time.

We finally got to taste a galette and it was very delicious. The galette is a thin brioche dough with lemon zest, butter and sugar which caramelizes on it when cooked.

We sat in this restaurant for a bit and got something to drink until it was time to head back.

They had these beautiful fresh arrangements on the table.

Visiting a Goat Farm

We also got to visit a goat farm and hear all about making goat cheese, which we love. Goat cheese is so good on salads, dips and just to eat.

The goats were especially cute.

And there was a nice tasting of goat cheese available in the shop. It was delicious and so fresh!

Beaujolais & Truffles

Another fun excursion day was the day we did the truffle farm. After visiting the goat farm, we headed to lunch at this truffle expedition.

The owner with his truffle dog. He was so cute and hung out with us at lunch.

He has a spacious room on the bottom of his house and we all got to enjoy a delicious stew that was made for us.

Hearty stews seem to be very popular in France and this one was tasty as well.

The truffle dog went from table to table hoping for dropped crumbs. I’m sure he’s accustomed to all the people coming through from the cruise ships.

Then we headed to the woods where the dog demonstrated how he digs for truffles. It was quite fascinating. I am not sure I really get the hype about truffles. I’ve had them in food and flavorings (like truffle fries, which are amazing!), but these delicacies are quite pricey. Truffles are big business in the food industry.

He would get the dog going and focus him on finding spots on the tree roots to dig and dig he did, always coming up with a truffle.

They are blobs that look like dirt, but are worth a lot of $$.

We held them to see them up close and it’s amazing that these are world renowned. I like the taste of truffles in food, but again, it sure is a big business, because it’s so hard to get them.

In the countryside heading back. We had one more winery to visit.

This one was so pretty, in Fleurie-Poncie.

We did a little tour of the vineyard and then headed inside for wine tasting.

I loved the bark of these sycamore trees.

The vineyards are vast in the south of France.

Wine tasting time.

And more beauty on the drive back to the ship.Those vineyards go on forever.

With a surprise windmill spotting along the way.

I hope you enjoyed this journey through the south of France on our Viking Rhone River cruise. We certainly had the time of our lives and I can’t imagine a better trip. We are so thankful that Viking invited us to go on this cruise and we of course, would recommend these cruises and would do another one in a minute. The experience on Viking cruise ships are amazing, the food is fantastic and we saw some of the most magnificent sights we could ever imagine.

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