Commonly cruises leave the day you board the ship. This cruise started with the ship spending the night in Lyon. We awoke to a beautiful sunny day with a projected temperature of 70 degrees later in the day.

River cruises commonly include free excursions; we only had to select which one wanted to go on. AmaWaterways wisely has offered similar sightseeing tours that were geared to your energy level-a regular level, an active level and a late starter level. Today’s sightseeing tour focused on the sights in Lyon. There was an alternative tour that focused on touring the local market (Les Halles) in the city and the last option was a bike tour using the dozen or so bikes that the ship carries on its voyages.

We had all chosen the “regular” four hour city tour which involved a bus ride to some of the sights and a short (45 minutes) walking tour in old town, with some free time in old town. We were all proved “Whisperers” which allowed us to hear what the local tour guide was telling us without having to be standing next to her. These are a marvelous addition to making tours more enjoyable. We first rode to the top of the hill surrounding the city to view the city below and see the marvelous Catholic basilica located there.

It was then back down the hill where we walked through the old town area of the city. Like most old towns this one features narrow cobble stone streets, shops and many small restaurants and coffee shops-a delightful place to wander and experience. Surprisingly we learned that Lyon had/has a flourishing silk industry that dates back to the time of King Louis XI (1466). By the 16th century Lyon was the silk capital of Europe and at one time over 14,000 looms were in use.

The highlight in old town was walking through some secret passageways called “Traboules” that have existed here since the days of the French Revolution. They were established as a means of getting from one street to another without having to walk a longer way on the few streets that existed. At one time there were over 400 in the city; today about 50 still remain in use. The Traboules played an important role during WWII as the French resistance movement used them extensively to hide from the Germans.

We were back to our boat by 1 PM, just in time for a sit down lunch before we retired to our rooms to take a nap, read a book, or like me, to sit on the upper deck and work on this blog and watching the river flow by. Life is tough!

A bit of trivia: There are 120 passengers on this cruise and the ship capacity is 156. The ship, built in 2017,  is 443 ft long, with a beam of 38 feet.

There is a cocktail hour every evening at 6 PM with the briefing on what will happen tomorrow. Tonight we signed up for dinner at the Chef’s Table specialty restaurant, offered to each passenger at least once per cruise and featuring a special 7 course tasting menu. We did not know what to expect but it turned out to be a very pleasant meal as the 7 courses were really bite-sized portions, so the meal was not overwhelming.

There was an after dinner French singer who entertained us by singing American blues tunes in the lounge. He accompanied himself on guitar and he was very good with it. For a moment I thought we were back in Chicago or Memphis!

Then it was a bed call for those of us who are not used to staying up to all hours of the night. The ship spends the night here in Lyon and will be here until mid-day tomorrow.