Riviera Thomas Hardy - Burgundy, the River Rhone & Provence – Avignon>Lyon – Day 8 - Lyon

Day 8 – Thursday 18 September 2025 – Lyon

 

How my eggs came from the kitchen, I helped myself to bacon and beans from the buffet

 

 

We had a cooked breakfast and boarded the coach which left at 08:09 and arrived at the airport at 09:00. There were no demonstrations but there were delays caused by roadworks and the volume of traffic in Lyon.

 

I don’t know if this is standard on Riviera but four people who hadn’t booked their flights with Riviera were on the bus. Two were catching the same flight as the 39 booked through Riviera to Heathrow and two were flying to the Middle East.

 

The BA flight to London Heathrow was due to take off at 11:40 and the check-in desks were not due to be announced till two hours before the flight. Riviera’s representative told us to wait by the info screen and she’d be there at 09:40 to escort us to check-in and she then took the Middle East couple to their check-in desk.

 

At 09:40 she took us to the check-in desks: there were two, one for business class, the other economy. The Riviera Representative insisted that everyone waited there until the last person had  checked-in, and then she’d take us all to security. As we were flying business class, we’d quickly been checked-in and wanted to go to the business class lounge.

 

As a matter of courtesy I told her so she wouldn’t be looking for us.

 

“The business lounge is after security”, she replied.

“Yes”

“But you can’t -  I have to take you to security”

“But we want to go to the lounge now”

“But the business lounge is after security”

The conversation continued going through this loop, till Joan cut in, saying “We’re going now”, and we went.

 

After several glasses of Champagne we landed at Heathrow at 12:22  (London time but 13:22 French and body time.) and two and a half hours later we were at home looking forward to fish & chips, a bottle of bubbly and an early night. 

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Riviera Thomas Hardy - Burgundy, the River Rhone & Provence – Avignon>Lyon – Day 7 - Lyon

Day 7– Wednesday 17 September 2025 – Lyon

 

We arrived in Lyon about 07:30 after sailing all night from 18:00 yesterday.

 

There was tediously long disembarkation talk at 09:45 and we were told that because of the possibility of demonstrations our departure would “be a little earlier” than the 08:40 we had been told before. The coach to the airport for our flight would depart from the boat at 08:00.

We spent the morning on the sunny warm sun deck.

 

 

Confluence Museum - photo by Krisie

 

 

At 13:00 was a 4h15m coach tour of Lyons. Instead we decided to go to futuristic Confluence Museum. Joan decided we’d walk; the distance isn’t great. But the route we took wasn’t straightforward and involved stairs and underpasses, seedy areas, diversions and lots of road crossings. By the time we got to the museum we were in need of a drink in the rooftop café which had good view over the city and a view of the confluence of the Saone and Rhone Rivers. I’d thought the museum was about the rivers but its name just referenced its location. ( https://museedesconfluences.fr/en )

 

 

Saone River on right joins Rhone, photo taken from the Confluence Museum

 

When we were museumed out we caught a tram from outside the museum entrance which swiftly took us to a stop right opposite the ship to which we headed while Dan and Krisie stayed on the tram to continue sightseeing.

 

 

 

Mooring location - Lyon: https://what3words.com/brushing.winters.crispy

Link to Day 8

Riviera Thomas Hardy - Burgundy, the River Rhone & Provence – Avignon>Lyon – Day 6 - Chalon-sur-Saone

Day 6 – Tuesday 16 September 2025 – Chalon-sur-Saone

 

The Mooring

 

The ship was still cruising when we woke. It moored at about 13:30 at an abandoned industrial site with rusted dock cranes a little north of the city. The only reason for cruising this long way was for the ‘Burgundy’ part of the cruise title.

 

We’d cruised past other hotel boats moored in the centre of the city and Dan suggested the reason for us mooring here was that it was cheaper.

 

Four coaches drove inland to Beaune, the capital of the Burgundy region. The advertised cellar tasting of Burgundy wines had been replaced by a visit to Hospices Civils de Beaune, l’Hôtel-Dieu, the mediaeval hospital founded in 1443 and famous for its coloured tile decorative roof.

 

Dan & Krisie in the courtyard of Hospices de Beaune - photo by Dan

 

As we’d visited Beaune and the Hospices de Beaune several times before and didn’t fancy nearly two hours in a coach we stayed behind while Dan & Krisie went to Beaune.

 Joan & I stayed on board when Krisie & Dan went to Beaune - photo taken from shore by Dan

 

We strolled back along the river bank and had a look around Chalon-sur-Saone.

 

Fish'n'Chips - crispy tempura batter but where's the malt vinegar?

 

When Dan& Krisie returned they said they been given a timed ticket to enter the Hospices de Beaune, and the rest was all ‘free time’, they didn’t get the guided walking tour promised on the daily schedule.

 

Dan said they’d been told on the coach that the mooring position was cleverly chosen as the coaches avoided congestion driving through the centre of Chalon-sur-Saone.

 

At around 18:00 the ship sailed back downriver towards Lyon.

 

 

Place Setting, Scroll is the Menu, DJ is the Napkin

 

Filet Mignon Looked Good

Chocolate Nougat Tart

 

Dinner that night was only available in the main restaurant. Everyone had to go in at the same time for the Chef’s Signature Dinner. This was a multi-course experience meant to highlight the chef’s skill, but the tough stringy ‘filet mignon’ main course showed that skill didn’t extend to his choosing butchers. (This may be unfair to the chef who probably had to take what was delivered by the supplier which had tendered lowest to the company’s accountants.)

 

Mooring location - Chalon-sur-Saone: https://what3words.com/brushing.winters.crispy 

Link to Day 7