Lyon; Friday, 07 November, 2025

I’d stayed overnight at a hotel close to Heathrow, so that I didn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn. Normally it should take less than 5 minutes to get from the hotel doors to the central bus station in Heathrow, but today that turned out not to be the case as about half an hour before I left the hotel there had been a major accident at the entrance to the airport tunnel, the only road access route to Terminals 2 and 3 at Heathrow. When I stepped out of the hotel the traffic on the Bath Road was at a standstill and it was clear that I had a big problem.

I crossed over the road with the intention of catching a bus back towards Hatton Cross, but it was only at this point I discovered both tunnels were closed, which meant no buses could get out of the airport either, so instead I had to walk the half mile or so down to Harlington Corner, the first place where buses not coming out of Heathrow stop, and pick up a H98 bus there all the way back to Hayes and Harlington station where I could pick up the Elizabeth line back down into the terminal.

Due to the number of people having to use the train either coming down from Hayes, or being diverted to Terminal 5 and having to come back from there, the escalators had been switched off so everyone was forced to use the lifts. By the time I finally made to Terminal 3 it had taken almost exactly an hour.

Thankfully, I’d left enough time but it was still a rushed breakfast in the lounge before heading down to the gate to board the flight, which the gate agents and cabin crew were all saying was completely full, but as we pushed back on time it was clear quite a few people had been stuck in the traffic and chaos as there were plenty of empty seats.

It was a smooth flight down to Lyon and despite the queues a relatively quick journey through immigration and out of the terminal. I had a choice, I could spend €16 on the Rhonexpress tram that would get me to the main station and then I’d have to get a separate tram for another €3 over to the hotel and get there in about 50 minutes, or take the €3 bus to the end of the metro line and change onto that within the hour for free and get to the hotel about 30 minutes later. Suffice to say about 25 minutes later as the stuffy bus crawled through some roadworks I was regretting being cheap.

I eventually made it to the hotel, checked in and dropped my bags before heading back out again. I walked back up to the tram stop and retraced my steps a few stops before changing metro lines and heading underneath the Saône River and over to Vieux Lyon, the oldest part of the city located around and on top of the Fourvière hill. I started by having a wander around the area at the bottom of the hill, in particular Place Saint-Jean by the cathedral, before heading over to the funicular station and letting that take the strain all the way up to the top of the hill.

At the top of the Fourvière hill is the Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière, one of the defining sites of the city and often used as one of it’s emblems. Whilst the church was still open to look around with just 45 minutes left until sunset I instead opted to have a wander around the top of the hill, most notably taking in the terrace at the rear of the church that looks over the whole of the city centre, taking in some pretty stunning views of Lyon and getting a good idea of the layout of the city.

From there I had a walk along the top of the hill before reaching one of the oldest parts of the area, the Théâtre Gallo Romain, the remains of a large roman era theatre complex that uses the natural slope of the hill as a basis for the structure of the seating area. I spent a little time wandering through the ruins at dusk, slowly making my way down to stage level, and having a wander around there before heading further down to the main road to pick up the second of the city’s funiculars – the St Just Funicular to head back down to river level.

I wandered through some of the back streets of the lower part of the old town before heading over to the river and crossing over the Saône via the pedestrian bridge by the impressive courts of justice. The bridge is particularly well placed for views back on Vieux Lyon, especially in the evening with the buildings floodlit and showing off the different heights the old town is located on.

From the bridge I wandered through the streets of this part of the city, eventually making my way to the square in front of the town hall from where I stopped for a well-deserved dinner, having only realised a short while before that I’d totally missed lunch. After dinner I walked the short distance back to the town hall metro station and headed back to my hotel for an early night.