Lyon again

Rather beautiful, the old town of Lyon. With lots of those medievally stone bits I love. But this is a beer not an architecture blog.

I plan hitting a beer pub in the old part of town. But we get there four hours before it opens. Instead we eat in a bouchon close by. Very nice. And pretty cheap for what it is. No beer, though. We drink wine with the meal.

Wandering back through the old town, I spot a small beer shop. All its beers come from the region. I've not heard of any of the breweries which makes choosing something a challenge, until the owner gives me a hand. And points me in the direction of some good dark beers. The prices in France are bizarre. I could get 5 or 6 bottles of cheap wine for the price of one 75cl bottle of beer. The beer averages around 7 euros.

In the evening we leave the kids watching American Dad on Alexei's laptop and head north. Croix Rousse is our destination. it requires two changes. The final metro line seems odd. "This is a bit steep isn't it?" I remark to Dolores. It seems as steep as the funicular we took to the Roman theatre earlier in the day. I notice something when we get off: a line of teeth running between the rails. It's a funicular underground line.

Our destination is Ninkasi Croix Rousse. Ninkasi is a chain of pubs, with a brewery in (I think) one of them. we're lucky enough to get a seat outside. Bit sweaty inside. They've no Porter so I get a Tripel and Dolores a Witbier. The Tripel is pretty good. Pleasantly spicy with lots of coriander, clove and orange flavours. I'm glad I ordered half a litre. So glad that I order a second to watch the sun go down with. I try not to think about the price. Two rounds of a pint and a half have cost more than any of the meals we ordered at lunch.

Like I said, weird pricing in France.



Ninkasi Croix-Rousse
159 Boulevard de la Croix-Rousse
Lyon.
Tel: 04 78 28 00 17 60
http://www.ninkasi.fr/fr/ninkasi/croix-rousse.html