As of February 2019, I have moved to Lyon, France. Since then I have been exploring different parts of France, starting from the busy touristy spots to a bit different types of places. In this post of my blog, I am sharing my travel experiences as well as my views about the French culture and lifestyle. Contrary to the popular hype of centering France about Paris only, I will be sharing my experiences of travelling to some amazing places which I liked way better than Paris. Of course Paris is a beautiful city to travel, but there is more in France beyond Paris :)
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Chamonix
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Located at the heart of French Alps, Chamonix is one of the beautiful mountain towns I have ever been in my life. Chamonix is more like a ski destination for most of the people. It is located near the French-Swiss border in the Alps region. If you want to visit here during the peak ski months like December to February, you have to book hotels several months earlier. Chamonix is a paradise for mountain lovers, especially if you like outdoor activities & adventures. One of the strong reasons to visit Chamonix is the Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps, and to see the beautiful Aiguille du Midi glacier by cable car or by hiking. Chamonix is a very charming and lively town with tons of hotels to stay, lots of cafes around, quaint little shops for buying souvenirs, & of course a great place to buy mountaineering & hiking equipment. People are very friendly here, & most of the people can speak in English (unlike most of the French cities where it gets very hard to find English speakers). I always prefer visiting mountains in winter to see the crystallized frozen beauty & to enjoy the snow. However, it is hard to visit certain places in winter because of road closure due to snow. With a plan to come back to Chamonix again in winter (in fact, you just can't see everything in Chamonix in a single trip), I decided to have a first visit of the place in summer of 2019.
It was the month of August. I chopped out a 4 days plan from Lyon to Chamonix by taking couple of days off from work (thanks to the long weekends). I booked cheap Ouibus tickets, which cost about 40 Euros for the return trip.
On 15th of August, I left in the morning around 7.30. The bus was scheduled to depart at 9 AM from Lyon Perrache bus station. The bus was on time, & I got a window seat. In a few hours as the bus entered in the Alps region, I was starting to get mesmerized by the views outside the glass window. We passed the beautiful city of Annecy on our way. In about 4 hours, the bus arrived Chamonix Sud bus station, which is the main bus stop of Chamonix. As soon as I got off the bus, surrounding snow capped peaks came into the panoramic view in the beautiful sunny weather.
By then, I got very hungry. But I had to check-in to the hostel first. Started walking from the bus station, I will be staying at Chamonix Lodge. It was about 10 minutes of walk through a beautiful tiny road with nicely decorated little houses on one side & the vast mountains on the other side. The hostel is situated at a very calm & quiet neighborhood having beautiful views of the mountains all around. A nicely decorated tiny cottage in the midst of mountains, what else do you want in life! :)
Although the check-in time was from 4 PM, they allowed me to check-in earlier. I got a 3 bed dorm room in the first floor. Beautiful view from the window, & a nice backyard downstairs.
The weather started to cool a bit. I took a quick hot shower to get freshened up & went out of the hostel towards the town center to fill my appetite. From a nearby cheap kebab place, ordered a filling meal with grilled chicken. Now it's time to start exploring the place & get familiar with the local environment.
First, I went to the ticket counter of Aiguille du Midi cable car, which is located about 2 minutes if walking distance from the Sud bus station. This is the most famous attraction of Chamonix, where the cable car takes you to an altitude of 3,842 meters in about 20 minutes. This is a world record of highest vertical climb by cable car. You will get a full panoramic view of French, Italian & Swiss Alps, along with a very close view of the Mont Blanc. The ticket cost 80 Euros. Actually it is a multi-day pass which covers access to many places including the Midi cable car. The pass I got, is valid for 2 days. However, having a pass doesn't guarantee you a spot in the cable car. Since it gets extremely crowded, you have to get the slot on the same day morning, probably as soon as possible. The lady at the reception gave me the pass & told to come before 8 AM at most, to secure a spot in the cable car.
Rest of the afternoon I just strolled around the beautiful town. Beautiful views all around & nice decorations with beautiful flowers everywhere!
Spent some time walking beside the river Arve.
The only missing item on a chilling afternoon was a cup of coffee. Cafe bluebird is a cafe run by the owner of the hostel I was staying, & they offer 20% discount to the people who is staying in the same hostel. I ordered a regular Americano & had a sit outside. To my utter surprise, I noticed two beautiful dogs under the table I am sitting. They belong to one of the employee of the cafe. They told me that these are mixed breed dogs coming from Brazil. For the time being, I forgot about Chamonix & fully concentrated on playing with them :)
A picture on the wall of the cafe drew my attention. Yes, it is the quotation of a lifetime :)
By that time, it was starting to get dark a bit. I called it a day & started returning back to the hostel. I already had heavy food in the afternoon. So just got a light sandwich for dinner. After coming back to the hostel, I freshened up & was relaxing with a cup of tea. After sometimes, another person checked into the same dorm. He is coming from the UK & has been hiking in the Alps region for a while. Having a common interest between us, we were chatting a lot during the evening. I got some very useful information from him about some local places. By 9 PM, I fall asleep.
Next day I woke up early. After freshening up, first I went to get the cable car slot. By the time I reached (around 7.50 AM), it was already crowded. I got a slot at 9.30 AM. Ahh finally! Now I can relax.
Ordered a breakfast with bacon sandwich, egg omelet & cappuccino at cafe Bluebird. Also I got one additional sandwich for the day. Since I had more than I hour left, I thought of walking around a bit. Noticing some paragliding activities in the sky, I started walking towards that area to have a closer view. In the beautiful sunny morning, the snow capped mountains were looking just gorgeous. I passed the Aiguille du Midi train station & was walking uphill by crossing the rail track. Now I could listen the cheers of the paragliders. There were so many of them! Although it looked really tempting to try once, But I restrained myself. Usually I try to avoid the activities on which I have minimum or no control & involves life risk (note that, mountain climbing does not fall into this category, where you have your own control). Took some photos & started going back to the lift station. It's almost 9.30 now.
The cable car was scheduled on time. It took about 30 people for a single trip. As we climbed up, we passed the rugged rocky faces of the mountains and dense forests. The sharp change of the landscape slowly converged into a small plateau of dry land. This is the place Plan d'Aiguille du Midi where we have to change the cable car. Visitors can optionally exit from here and hike to the Montenvers station.
The next cable car took us to the Aiguille du Midi. It was a ridiculously steep ascent. In fact from below it was looking like totally void as if it's suspended to nowhere and merges to the hard granite on top of the mountain.
Beautiful panoramic views around. The Mont Blanc is just at a stone-throw distance. I could see the hikers crossing the ridge of the mountains, which was enough to accelerate my adrenaline to do the same. A number of mountain peaks of the Alps were visible from the viewpoint.
There is also a souvenir shop and restaurant at the top (no phone network though). Being exposed to the direct sunlight, I helped myself to apply more sun cream on my exposed skin. I spent about 10-15 minutes there. The temperature dropped to below zero degrees, & I was freezing without my winter jacket!
Actually after stepping out of the cable car station, we were given a ticket for the return cable car. From there, I took the panoramic cable car. This is just impossibly beautiful to explain. Basically the cable car (or gondola) is a horizontal 5 Km traverse from the Aiguille du Midi at the French side to the Pointe Helbronner to the Italian side in 30 minutes. So you will be crossing the border. This is open from June to September and costs 30 Euros.
The cable car traverses the Glacier du Geant. This glacier is huge and feeds the Mar de Glace glacier (which I will visit later). This 30 minutes of cable car ride is just the experience of a lifetime. The views from the cable car is astoundingly beautiful that I can't express.
We were traversing so close to the glacier, the crevasses were visible clearly. Some people were hiking on the glacier. Actually there were covering the same route as the cable car. Spellbound by view of the mountains over the glacier, I was feeling like living in my dreams :)
I spent about half an hour on the other side. People from Italian side were coming by another cable car. Although it was not recommended without proper gear, I took a chance to step on the glacier at least once. The mountains are so different from the type of mountains I have seen before!
By the time I came back to Chamonix, it was around 3 PM. As my plan for rest of the day was to visit the Mer de Glace, I started walking towards the Montenvers station.
A little train station, accessible by the Mont Blanc pass. I had to wait for about 30 mintes for the next train.
The train ride was indeed a "vintage" experience. It's more like a "toy train" than an actual train. The ride took about 20 minutes through the beautiful zig-zag funicular railway track providing stunning views of the Chamonix valley. The train dropped us near the glacier. The panoramic viewing platform beside the station offered a wide range of view of the Mer de Glace glacier, as well as some of the famous peaks of Chamonix.
The meaning of 'Mer de Glace' is the 'sea of ice'. Due to the global warming, the largest glacier in France (Second largest in Europe) is noticed to be retracting backwards every year. I was looking at some old photos of the glacier, & the retraction is very clear from what I am seeing right now.
Another big attraction in that area is the famous 'ice cave'. By climbing down about 500 steps (or by a small cable car), you can reach at the entrance of the cave, which will take you into the heart of the glacier. Every summer, the ice cave is re-sculptured every summer due to the constant flow of the glacier. I remembered my experience of the ice hotel in Quebec city :)
By 6 PM I came back to the main town of Chamonix. I just relaxed for rest of the evening & strolled around the town. Called it a day by having a super amazing delicious Tartiflette at Le Boccalatte.
After consuming almost a litre of melted cheese, I headed towards the hostel. As I was planning for the next day, I was chatting with the person in my dorm. He suggested me to give a shot to visit the 'Eagle's Nest' or the famous Nid d'Aigle. It was a great suggestion from him, otherwise I would have missed one of the best parts of Chamonix! This is why I always like staying in the hostels, where you have the opportunity to meet many people & interact with them.
Next morning I left around 9.30 AM. I have to take bus #1 from the Sud bus stop towards the direction Les Houches (bus ticket is covered in the Chamonix pass). It took about 20 minutes to reach Bellevue cable car station. With the Chamonix pass, I got access to the cable car, which took us to Bellevue in 5-7 minutes. I notice that the number of people in the cable car & in this area is considerably lower than the Midi cable cars, probably because this is not among the top tourist destinations. The Bellevue area is rather flat. There are some hiking routes around. Actually this location is somewhere on the Swiss-French border with some amazing views of Mont Blanc.
The quaint train station of Bellevue is en route of the historic Tramway du Mont Blanc. The place has an unimaginable level of calmness and serenity around. With no signal in my cell phone network, I was feeling to be a part of the nature.
This is the place where you want to spend the whole day by lying down on the ground and reading a book for the whole day. Thank god that this place has not been among the top tourist attractions!
As I was looking at the zig-zag narrow tramway track, I was completely lost in the surrounding beauty. The train came after an hour or so. This is the highest railway track in France, and one of the beautiful train rides I have ever had in my life. The train takes you to the foot of Mont blanc in about 20 minutes.
The Refuge (the only shelter in the area) is located close to the train station, and is reachable by a short hike. People who climb the Mont Blanc, usually take shelter there for a night or so. By hiking a bit more through the trail, I reached near the famous Bionnassay glacier.
What a view! Standing beside the 5 Km long bluish glacier at the base of a mountain of Mont Blanc massif, I was completely overwhelmed.
The glacier was actually visible from the bus window when we were approaching Chamonix. I was so close to the glacier, I could notice the constant rock falls from the glacier. It must be extremely dangerous to traverse it without proper planning and gear!
Sitting on a rock on the slope of the mountain, I finished my lunch with the sandwich I bought, while absorbing the spectacular mountains and the panoramic views around. Thank god that I was carrying my sandwich, the reflection of Sun from the ice was too strong for naked eye.
After spending a few hours, I turned my way back. It was almost evening when I came back to the hostel. I thanked the person in my dorm who recommended me this route (otherwise I was planning to explore the Planpraz-Brevent area). That evening I explored the markets, got a nice souvenir cup, had dinner with cheese-loaded food items, & went to bed early.
On my last day at Chamonix, I had bus in the afternoon. The receptionist of my hostel recommended me to try the short hike to a waterfalls Cascade du Dard. Nothing special, but you can have an intense workout in a short time by the hike.
I had direct bus to Lyon in the afternoon. I left Chamonix with some amazing experiences of French Alps. I have to come back again, there is so much to do here :)
Grenoble is one of my favourite cities in France, although French people don't like the city that much I guess (at least according to the opinion of my French colleagues). As a weekend gateway, I felt Grenoble to be a very refreshing destination. Located at the foot of French Alps surrounded by Drac and Isere rivers, Grenoble is a city which is popular for winter sports and museums. The city is also renowned for many research centres and Universities. I heard that there are many hiking trains near Grenoble, but I didn't get a chance to explore these (moreover, these places are usually not accessible by public transport).
In the month of May 2019, I took a weekend off. Got a cheap 10 Euro return bus ticket in Flixbus, which takes about 1.5 hours from Lyon to Grenoble. The last part of the journey was indeed very enjoying as we entered in the Alps region. Grenoble bus station is located just beside the main train station. It was just a perfect bright sunny morning to explore everything by walking. A city is always charming when you can see mountains from everywhere.. the streets, sidewalks, tramlines.. :)
I was enjoying my walk towards the hostel I will be staying, Citotel Trianon. It took about 20 minutes to reach there. A descent hostel, clean and quiet (although it's more like a hotel than a hostel). I checked in & asked a city map from the reception. They suggested me some areas that might be worth exploring today, since the weather is good. But first, I need to have lunch. In a nearby Kebab place, I ordered a very heavy meal. Initially they were having trouble in understanding english, but another person helped me. He was joking with me, "You have come to France and you don't know the language!" ;)
Life is good when you have you stomach filled-in. Now I am ready to explore. My first destination is the famous Bastille by cable car. I started walking towards the cable car station which is located beside the river. I found the city to be pretty nice with tiny little houses having mountains in the background.
The Grenoble cable car is one of the oldest in the country which was built back in 1934, and is one of the main iconic attractions of the city. In fact, this is one of the oldest city cable car in the world. A return ticket costs about 8.5 Euros, which will take you to the top of a fortress at 1,561 feet by a group of "bubble"-like cable car compartments. The ride itself is beautiful, and you can see a nice panoramic view of the whole city from the glass window of the cable car. It takes about 10 minutes to reach at the top.
What a beautiful view! The city at the foothills of the Alps was looking just like a postcard :)
The original bastille is almost ruined these days, and there are shops, restaurants in the area where you can relax and enjoy the beautiful mountains around. I explored the area, relaxed for a while by sitting down on an edge, and did some photography trials.
Came back by the cable car after couple of hours or so. Rest of the afternoon, I explored the alleys of the city by walking. Explored the beautiful old town area and just walked through the bank of the river.
Visited some of the popular places like Place Victor Hugo, Saint Laurent bridge, etc.
Ended the day with a chicken wrap from a nearby kebab place. Went to bed by 10 PM.
Next day the weather wasn't that great, it was drizzling a bit. I started the day by having a nice cup of cappuccino and spinach filled Ravioli at the popular French coffee shop.
I had bus in the afternoon, so I decided to explore as much as possible by walking. By half an hour of walking, I visited the Paul Mistral Park. Nothing special, but a calm and quiet place to relax and read a book.
Following the city map, I explored different areas of the city by walking around.
Also visited the local indoor food market Halle Sainte Claire. Lot of food items are sold there by local merchants in the market. A good place to see the local culture (wherever I go, I always like the local markets).
Somewhere I was surprised to see a "Made in India" store ;)
Came back to Lyon by evening. Grenoble was indeed a refreshing weekend, and I won't mind coming here again in some weekend when I am bored with regular life.. :)
I had direct bus to Lyon in the afternoon. I left Chamonix with some amazing experiences of French Alps. I have to come back again, there is so much to do here :)
Lyon is the city where I am living. Being the third largest city in France, Lyon is called the food capital of France. I am enjoying my stay in Lyon so far. I believe that the city really reflects the authentic French culture and styles. I will share mostly photos with some description..
The city of Montpellier is located at the Southern part of France, near the Mediterranean sea. This is more like a 'student city' because of the University. I have been in this city for a few days, but didn't get a chance to fully explore. I am sharing some photos through which I will try to represent some parts of the city and the culture.
Okay now it's time to discuss about the most iconic place in France, the city of Paris. I have been in Paris many times. It takes about 2 hours by high speed train from Lyon (the distance is about 565 Km, but the train is really fast). There has been so many articles, blogs, stories about Paris, I am not feeling to write detailed description of my visits (I am sure that I won't through any new insight of the city, everything has already done before). I haven't explored all areas of Paris, and I believe that it will take at least 2 weeks to do that. I feel the city to be too much touristy to see the culture (every time I go there, I see multiple groups with tour guides leading them with a speaker explaining everything and showing around). I am not negative about Paris, but this is the way I felt about it. May be I need to explore more, beyond the areas I have travelled to get the actual taste of Paris. I am looking forward to that. Meanwhile, I will share describe Paris as a photo blog ;)
Although the check-in time was from 4 PM, they allowed me to check-in earlier. I got a 3 bed dorm room in the first floor. Beautiful view from the window, & a nice backyard downstairs.
The weather started to cool a bit. I took a quick hot shower to get freshened up & went out of the hostel towards the town center to fill my appetite. From a nearby cheap kebab place, ordered a filling meal with grilled chicken. Now it's time to start exploring the place & get familiar with the local environment.
First, I went to the ticket counter of Aiguille du Midi cable car, which is located about 2 minutes if walking distance from the Sud bus station. This is the most famous attraction of Chamonix, where the cable car takes you to an altitude of 3,842 meters in about 20 minutes. This is a world record of highest vertical climb by cable car. You will get a full panoramic view of French, Italian & Swiss Alps, along with a very close view of the Mont Blanc. The ticket cost 80 Euros. Actually it is a multi-day pass which covers access to many places including the Midi cable car. The pass I got, is valid for 2 days. However, having a pass doesn't guarantee you a spot in the cable car. Since it gets extremely crowded, you have to get the slot on the same day morning, probably as soon as possible. The lady at the reception gave me the pass & told to come before 8 AM at most, to secure a spot in the cable car.
Rest of the afternoon I just strolled around the beautiful town. Beautiful views all around & nice decorations with beautiful flowers everywhere!
Spent some time walking beside the river Arve.
The only missing item on a chilling afternoon was a cup of coffee. Cafe bluebird is a cafe run by the owner of the hostel I was staying, & they offer 20% discount to the people who is staying in the same hostel. I ordered a regular Americano & had a sit outside. To my utter surprise, I noticed two beautiful dogs under the table I am sitting. They belong to one of the employee of the cafe. They told me that these are mixed breed dogs coming from Brazil. For the time being, I forgot about Chamonix & fully concentrated on playing with them :)
A picture on the wall of the cafe drew my attention. Yes, it is the quotation of a lifetime :)
By that time, it was starting to get dark a bit. I called it a day & started returning back to the hostel. I already had heavy food in the afternoon. So just got a light sandwich for dinner. After coming back to the hostel, I freshened up & was relaxing with a cup of tea. After sometimes, another person checked into the same dorm. He is coming from the UK & has been hiking in the Alps region for a while. Having a common interest between us, we were chatting a lot during the evening. I got some very useful information from him about some local places. By 9 PM, I fall asleep.
Next day I woke up early. After freshening up, first I went to get the cable car slot. By the time I reached (around 7.50 AM), it was already crowded. I got a slot at 9.30 AM. Ahh finally! Now I can relax.
Ordered a breakfast with bacon sandwich, egg omelet & cappuccino at cafe Bluebird. Also I got one additional sandwich for the day. Since I had more than I hour left, I thought of walking around a bit. Noticing some paragliding activities in the sky, I started walking towards that area to have a closer view. In the beautiful sunny morning, the snow capped mountains were looking just gorgeous. I passed the Aiguille du Midi train station & was walking uphill by crossing the rail track. Now I could listen the cheers of the paragliders. There were so many of them! Although it looked really tempting to try once, But I restrained myself. Usually I try to avoid the activities on which I have minimum or no control & involves life risk (note that, mountain climbing does not fall into this category, where you have your own control). Took some photos & started going back to the lift station. It's almost 9.30 now.
The cable car was scheduled on time. It took about 30 people for a single trip. As we climbed up, we passed the rugged rocky faces of the mountains and dense forests. The sharp change of the landscape slowly converged into a small plateau of dry land. This is the place Plan d'Aiguille du Midi where we have to change the cable car. Visitors can optionally exit from here and hike to the Montenvers station.
The next cable car took us to the Aiguille du Midi. It was a ridiculously steep ascent. In fact from below it was looking like totally void as if it's suspended to nowhere and merges to the hard granite on top of the mountain.
Beautiful panoramic views around. The Mont Blanc is just at a stone-throw distance. I could see the hikers crossing the ridge of the mountains, which was enough to accelerate my adrenaline to do the same. A number of mountain peaks of the Alps were visible from the viewpoint.
There is also a souvenir shop and restaurant at the top (no phone network though). Being exposed to the direct sunlight, I helped myself to apply more sun cream on my exposed skin. I spent about 10-15 minutes there. The temperature dropped to below zero degrees, & I was freezing without my winter jacket!
Actually after stepping out of the cable car station, we were given a ticket for the return cable car. From there, I took the panoramic cable car. This is just impossibly beautiful to explain. Basically the cable car (or gondola) is a horizontal 5 Km traverse from the Aiguille du Midi at the French side to the Pointe Helbronner to the Italian side in 30 minutes. So you will be crossing the border. This is open from June to September and costs 30 Euros.
The cable car traverses the Glacier du Geant. This glacier is huge and feeds the Mar de Glace glacier (which I will visit later). This 30 minutes of cable car ride is just the experience of a lifetime. The views from the cable car is astoundingly beautiful that I can't express.
We were traversing so close to the glacier, the crevasses were visible clearly. Some people were hiking on the glacier. Actually there were covering the same route as the cable car. Spellbound by view of the mountains over the glacier, I was feeling like living in my dreams :)
I spent about half an hour on the other side. People from Italian side were coming by another cable car. Although it was not recommended without proper gear, I took a chance to step on the glacier at least once. The mountains are so different from the type of mountains I have seen before!
By the time I came back to Chamonix, it was around 3 PM. As my plan for rest of the day was to visit the Mer de Glace, I started walking towards the Montenvers station.
A little train station, accessible by the Mont Blanc pass. I had to wait for about 30 mintes for the next train.
The train ride was indeed a "vintage" experience. It's more like a "toy train" than an actual train. The ride took about 20 minutes through the beautiful zig-zag funicular railway track providing stunning views of the Chamonix valley. The train dropped us near the glacier. The panoramic viewing platform beside the station offered a wide range of view of the Mer de Glace glacier, as well as some of the famous peaks of Chamonix.
The meaning of 'Mer de Glace' is the 'sea of ice'. Due to the global warming, the largest glacier in France (Second largest in Europe) is noticed to be retracting backwards every year. I was looking at some old photos of the glacier, & the retraction is very clear from what I am seeing right now.
Another big attraction in that area is the famous 'ice cave'. By climbing down about 500 steps (or by a small cable car), you can reach at the entrance of the cave, which will take you into the heart of the glacier. Every summer, the ice cave is re-sculptured every summer due to the constant flow of the glacier. I remembered my experience of the ice hotel in Quebec city :)
By 6 PM I came back to the main town of Chamonix. I just relaxed for rest of the evening & strolled around the town. Called it a day by having a super amazing delicious Tartiflette at Le Boccalatte.
After consuming almost a litre of melted cheese, I headed towards the hostel. As I was planning for the next day, I was chatting with the person in my dorm. He suggested me to give a shot to visit the 'Eagle's Nest' or the famous Nid d'Aigle. It was a great suggestion from him, otherwise I would have missed one of the best parts of Chamonix! This is why I always like staying in the hostels, where you have the opportunity to meet many people & interact with them.
Next morning I left around 9.30 AM. I have to take bus #1 from the Sud bus stop towards the direction Les Houches (bus ticket is covered in the Chamonix pass). It took about 20 minutes to reach Bellevue cable car station. With the Chamonix pass, I got access to the cable car, which took us to Bellevue in 5-7 minutes. I notice that the number of people in the cable car & in this area is considerably lower than the Midi cable cars, probably because this is not among the top tourist destinations. The Bellevue area is rather flat. There are some hiking routes around. Actually this location is somewhere on the Swiss-French border with some amazing views of Mont Blanc.
The quaint train station of Bellevue is en route of the historic Tramway du Mont Blanc. The place has an unimaginable level of calmness and serenity around. With no signal in my cell phone network, I was feeling to be a part of the nature.
This is the place where you want to spend the whole day by lying down on the ground and reading a book for the whole day. Thank god that this place has not been among the top tourist attractions!
As I was looking at the zig-zag narrow tramway track, I was completely lost in the surrounding beauty. The train came after an hour or so. This is the highest railway track in France, and one of the beautiful train rides I have ever had in my life. The train takes you to the foot of Mont blanc in about 20 minutes.
The Refuge (the only shelter in the area) is located close to the train station, and is reachable by a short hike. People who climb the Mont Blanc, usually take shelter there for a night or so. By hiking a bit more through the trail, I reached near the famous Bionnassay glacier.
What a view! Standing beside the 5 Km long bluish glacier at the base of a mountain of Mont Blanc massif, I was completely overwhelmed.
The glacier was actually visible from the bus window when we were approaching Chamonix. I was so close to the glacier, I could notice the constant rock falls from the glacier. It must be extremely dangerous to traverse it without proper planning and gear!
Sitting on a rock on the slope of the mountain, I finished my lunch with the sandwich I bought, while absorbing the spectacular mountains and the panoramic views around. Thank god that I was carrying my sandwich, the reflection of Sun from the ice was too strong for naked eye.
After spending a few hours, I turned my way back. It was almost evening when I came back to the hostel. I thanked the person in my dorm who recommended me this route (otherwise I was planning to explore the Planpraz-Brevent area). That evening I explored the markets, got a nice souvenir cup, had dinner with cheese-loaded food items, & went to bed early.
On my last day at Chamonix, I had bus in the afternoon. The receptionist of my hostel recommended me to try the short hike to a waterfalls Cascade du Dard. Nothing special, but you can have an intense workout in a short time by the hike.
I had direct bus to Lyon in the afternoon. I left Chamonix with some amazing experiences of French Alps. I have to come back again, there is so much to do here :)
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Grenoble
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Grenoble is one of my favourite cities in France, although French people don't like the city that much I guess (at least according to the opinion of my French colleagues). As a weekend gateway, I felt Grenoble to be a very refreshing destination. Located at the foot of French Alps surrounded by Drac and Isere rivers, Grenoble is a city which is popular for winter sports and museums. The city is also renowned for many research centres and Universities. I heard that there are many hiking trains near Grenoble, but I didn't get a chance to explore these (moreover, these places are usually not accessible by public transport).
In the month of May 2019, I took a weekend off. Got a cheap 10 Euro return bus ticket in Flixbus, which takes about 1.5 hours from Lyon to Grenoble. The last part of the journey was indeed very enjoying as we entered in the Alps region. Grenoble bus station is located just beside the main train station. It was just a perfect bright sunny morning to explore everything by walking. A city is always charming when you can see mountains from everywhere.. the streets, sidewalks, tramlines.. :)
I was enjoying my walk towards the hostel I will be staying, Citotel Trianon. It took about 20 minutes to reach there. A descent hostel, clean and quiet (although it's more like a hotel than a hostel). I checked in & asked a city map from the reception. They suggested me some areas that might be worth exploring today, since the weather is good. But first, I need to have lunch. In a nearby Kebab place, I ordered a very heavy meal. Initially they were having trouble in understanding english, but another person helped me. He was joking with me, "You have come to France and you don't know the language!" ;)
Life is good when you have you stomach filled-in. Now I am ready to explore. My first destination is the famous Bastille by cable car. I started walking towards the cable car station which is located beside the river. I found the city to be pretty nice with tiny little houses having mountains in the background.
The Grenoble cable car is one of the oldest in the country which was built back in 1934, and is one of the main iconic attractions of the city. In fact, this is one of the oldest city cable car in the world. A return ticket costs about 8.5 Euros, which will take you to the top of a fortress at 1,561 feet by a group of "bubble"-like cable car compartments. The ride itself is beautiful, and you can see a nice panoramic view of the whole city from the glass window of the cable car. It takes about 10 minutes to reach at the top.
What a beautiful view! The city at the foothills of the Alps was looking just like a postcard :)
The original bastille is almost ruined these days, and there are shops, restaurants in the area where you can relax and enjoy the beautiful mountains around. I explored the area, relaxed for a while by sitting down on an edge, and did some photography trials.
Came back by the cable car after couple of hours or so. Rest of the afternoon, I explored the alleys of the city by walking. Explored the beautiful old town area and just walked through the bank of the river.
Visited some of the popular places like Place Victor Hugo, Saint Laurent bridge, etc.
Ended the day with a chicken wrap from a nearby kebab place. Went to bed by 10 PM.
Next day the weather wasn't that great, it was drizzling a bit. I started the day by having a nice cup of cappuccino and spinach filled Ravioli at the popular French coffee shop.
I had bus in the afternoon, so I decided to explore as much as possible by walking. By half an hour of walking, I visited the Paul Mistral Park. Nothing special, but a calm and quiet place to relax and read a book.
Following the city map, I explored different areas of the city by walking around.
Also visited the local indoor food market Halle Sainte Claire. Lot of food items are sold there by local merchants in the market. A good place to see the local culture (wherever I go, I always like the local markets).
Somewhere I was surprised to see a "Made in India" store ;)
Came back to Lyon by evening. Grenoble was indeed a refreshing weekend, and I won't mind coming here again in some weekend when I am bored with regular life.. :)
I had direct bus to Lyon in the afternoon. I left Chamonix with some amazing experiences of French Alps. I have to come back again, there is so much to do here :)
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Lyon
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Lyon is the city where I am living. Being the third largest city in France, Lyon is called the food capital of France. I am enjoying my stay in Lyon so far. I believe that the city really reflects the authentic French culture and styles. I will share mostly photos with some description..
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| A bridge over the river Rhone |
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| Lyon tram |
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| The apartment building where I'm staying |
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| Inside Parc de la Tete d'or, the largest urban park in France |
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| Collections at the musee des confluences |
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| The old town |
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| The Roman amphitheatre |
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| Basilica of Notre Dame de Fourviere |
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| A beautiful rainbow from my office window :) |
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| Street art, made up of garbage parts |
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| Lyon is incomplete without having Fondue & Raclette at Les Marmottes |
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Montpellier
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The city of Montpellier is located at the Southern part of France, near the Mediterranean sea. This is more like a 'student city' because of the University. I have been in this city for a few days, but didn't get a chance to fully explore. I am sharing some photos through which I will try to represent some parts of the city and the culture.
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Paris
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Okay now it's time to discuss about the most iconic place in France, the city of Paris. I have been in Paris many times. It takes about 2 hours by high speed train from Lyon (the distance is about 565 Km, but the train is really fast). There has been so many articles, blogs, stories about Paris, I am not feeling to write detailed description of my visits (I am sure that I won't through any new insight of the city, everything has already done before). I haven't explored all areas of Paris, and I believe that it will take at least 2 weeks to do that. I feel the city to be too much touristy to see the culture (every time I go there, I see multiple groups with tour guides leading them with a speaker explaining everything and showing around). I am not negative about Paris, but this is the way I felt about it. May be I need to explore more, beyond the areas I have travelled to get the actual taste of Paris. I am looking forward to that. Meanwhile, I will share describe Paris as a photo blog ;)
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| One of the famous book store in Paris.. & of course it's all about the movie Before Sunset :) |
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| One of the main train station of Paris, Gare de Lyon |
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| The Pantheon |
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| Luxembourg garden |
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| The iconic Notre Dame (after the burn-out) |
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| Delicious Cheese Fondue |
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| Starting the day with Cappuccino with Beagle & Croissant |
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| Hotel Madrigal, a nice hostel where I usually stay when I go to Paris |
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| Smashed potato & duck roast ;) |
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| Famous "love locks" of Paris ;) |
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| The famous 'Water Lillies' painting at the Musee de l'Orangerie |
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| The bank of river Seine |
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| Mussels with garlic sauce |
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| The Louvre |
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| Some collections at the Louvre |
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| The famous Monalisa painting |
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| Collections from the Egypt section |
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