Our return flight from Madrid took off about thirty minutes after the scheduled time, but still landed in Lyon on time. Since bus connections from the airport to city center did not look very convenient, we were lazy and took a taxi to hotel Victoria in Perrache quarter on the Presqu’île. We did not do much in Lyon, but had dinner at the neighboring Mademoiselle Simone restaurant and jazz bar, where we had dined before and we knew the food to be good. Before heading out for dinner we had Flower GinFizz cocktails (made of gin, lemon juice, lavender and violet syrup, sparkling water, and lemon zest) in the hotel’s lobby bar that were included, together with the breakfast,  in the promotional prize of the room. For dinner, Tei had salmon dish and Tomi a Cambodian noodle soup with very authentic flavors. We finished the meal and the evening with Café gourmand.

The next day’s final destination was Vienne, and on the way there the site of the 2000-year-old Roman aqueduct of the Gier. It was built in the first two centuries AD to bring water from the Pilat Massif to the Fourvière Hill in Lyon (then Lugdunum, an important city in the Western half of the Roman Empire that served as the capital of the Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis). With its length of 86 kilometers it was the longest of the four aqueducts present at the time, with 90% of it underground. Nowadays it is the one of the best-preserved of these structures; the most significant remains of the aqueduct are located in Chaponost in Rhône department, where a row of 72 arches running for over 550 meters is still visible. Its mere height makes it a very impressive construct.

We visited two sites of the aqueduct, Plat de l’Air (above) with the best preserved section of the aqueduct,  and Beaunant (below) with the famous siphon bridge.

The next day we drove to Condrieu, a small commune by the river Rhône known for its white wine made exclusively from Viognier grapes. We started the easy hike following the bike path (ViaRhôna) by the river, then climbed to the village to find a busy market there. After returning back to the river, we finally climbed up to Tupin-et-Semons on the road winding through the vineyards. We enjoyed our lunch sandwiches on the top at the sightseeing point with a nice view over to the river valley and the surrounding vineyards.

Before driving to Lyon to return the car and taking the train home, we climbed to Belvédère de Pipet to admire the beautiful Vienne in the early morning sun. On the sightseeing point there are Chapelle Notre Dame de Pipet and the statue of Notre Dame de Pipet towering over the ancient Roman theater of Vienne.

Encouraged by our successful marathon finish in Madrid, we already registered for a 12-kilometer race here in the Grésivaudan valley on May 31. That is going to be a completely flat route. We are also contemplating of running a half-marathon race in Finland mid-August, and started a new Polar training program with that in mind. ¡Vamos!