Lyon's Cathedral dates back to the 12th Century with stained glass almost as old

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Lyon's Cathedral dates back to the 12th Century, with stained glass almost as old. In Lyon you're never far from water - or indeed from a watering-hole. Every other building seems to house a restaurant, bar, bistro, boulangerie, patisserie or a shop selling hand-made chocolates.The Cathedral bells were calling me, though, so I crossed the river by one of the several passerelles, or foot-bridges, to Old Lyon, the biggest and best-preserved Renaissance district in France. The smaller Saone has come down through Macon and in Lyon merges with the Rhone, which flows on past Avignon and Arles and through the Camargue to the Mediterranean, about 150 miles distant.

Another man had brought his bees, his stall piled high with jars of golden honey, and little beeswax carvings. There were tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, courgettes, fresh figs, raspberries and strawberries, melons and mangos. Above the market hubbub came the ringing of cathedral bells, for on the far bank of the River Saone stands Lyon's Cathedral of Saint-Jean.As if to emphasise its richness, Lyon has two rivers running through it, and meeting while they're there. One stall sold only garlic, and another overflowed with mushrooms. You could even pick your own, from a chunk of tree trunk the stall-holder had brought along with him.

Jealousy may be a factor, as Lyon and the area around it is said to have more renowned chefs than anywhere else in Europe, which would certainly make Parisian noses sniff disdainfully. The chefs are attracted by the produce in this fertile part of France, and as I strolled along the Sunday morning market on the Quai Saint Antoine I could understand why There were butchers, bakers and paella makers There were spice stalls, cheese stalls and fishmongers. On the bus to the city centre, I looked out to see row after row of sunflowers, and I smiled back at them Welcome to France, they said. Lyon is France's second city, the place people flash past on their way to Provence or the coast. Parisians look down on it, but then Parisians look down on almost anything beyond their own nose. Buses leave Ramnagar every afternoon and return each morning, or you could hire a jeep for the day (pounds 12 plus).. The green hills below the plane were low and rounded, and lush with recent rain. Swimming pools were scattered across the countryside like turquoise beads, as if the pilot could have used them to guide him to the airport at Lyon.