Hi Guys,

In the spirit of the season, I will be detailing my visit to these beautiful cities on a tight budget. Lyon and Chamonix Mont-Blanc are in the South of France while Geneva is in Switzerland.

The beauty of free movement among member states in the Schengen zone cannot be overemphasized as it has created lot of opportunities and revenue for the participating countries. Even Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria have applied to join the zone seeing what other countries are benefiting.

So my journey started from Paris. I booked a Bus from the Bercy Seine Station en-route to Lyon, the trip was about 5 hours and it costs €17.

My plan is to spend a night in Lyon and 2 nights at Geneva with a day return tip to Chamonix since it is just an hour away from Geneva.

So follow me as we explore

Pics - Bus to Lyon

following

Quick tip
When visiting Geneva, remember that it is a very expensive city, and staying on the French side is cheaper. So get a hotel or place to stay in Ferney Voltaire/Ornex (France) for example, and just commute to Geneva (5mins Uber ride).

Okada, e don do. Abeg drop me here. I want follow my oga explore

Oga driver, abeg drop me, I don chee chumtin

Interesting

MrBrownJay1:
Quick tip
When visiting Genva, remember that it is a very expensive city, and staying on the French side is cheaper. So get a hotel or place to stay in Ferney Voltaire/Ornex (France) for example, and just commute to Geneva (5mins Uber ride).

You are right. It is expensive to live in Geneva.

Pics they say speaks more than thousand words..

So keep em pictures rolling


No one should bring any nonsense comparisms here oo

LYON

I am not a big fan of road travel but my stay in this part of the world has changed my orientation towards it so much that i have done a 12-hour bus trip from Paris to Berlin.

So i got to Lyon by 1:30pm and checked in at the Hotel (Hotel De Normandie) which was very close to the Gare (Station) Lyon Perrache. I wanted to go for an Airbnb but the cost between one and a fairly good hotel was not much so i opted for the hotel option.

After resting a bit, i went out to explore the 3rd largest city in the French Republique after Marseille and Paris.

Picture 1 & 2: La Basilique Notre Dame de Fourvière: It was dedicated to the Virgin Mary whom they said saved the city from a plague that swept Europe in 1643 and also, candles are lighted across Lyon in what is called Fête des Lumières (Festival of Lights)
The inside is actually quite beautiful. Mass still holds so one has to be quiet. I am not a Catholic but i wanted to attend a Mass but it was starting late so maybe next time.
Also you can have a good view of the city from the Basilica as it is at the top of a hill and has a dedicated train (Funiculaire) which runs at a steep angle.

Picture 3: Place des Jacobins - it is classified as World Heritage Site by UNESCO and one of the famous in Lyon.

Picture 4: Place des Terreaux - another UNESCO World Heritage Site (Under renovation)

MrBrownJay1:
Quick tip
When visiting Geneva, remember that it is a very expensive city, and staying on the French side is cheaper. So get a hotel or place to stay in Ferney Voltaire/Ornex (France) for example, and just commute to Geneva (5 mins Uber ride).

Yeah, Geneva is quite expensive so it is better you stay in an Airbnb. Hotels are for the rich. Lol. When i calculated the cost of accommodation and commuting from the French area to the city centre, it was almost the same as staying in the city.

Since it's Mr David's thread, I've no other option than to perch.

Following like twitter.

Still with Lyon, the first picture is a view of the Basilique Notre Dame from the Street (Vieux Lyon) and as i mentioned earlier, it is at the top of a hill and has a wide view of the whole city.

Picture 2 & 3: Musée des Confluences (Confluence Musuem) - A science and anthropology museum with a beautiful structure which also has a nice viewing centre at the top. It is free to enter but some of the artworks are restricted, so you have to buy a ticket to access it.

Picture 4: Parc de la Tête d'Or (Park of the Golden Head) - it features a lake on which boating takes place during these period (summer) and to rent a boat for 30 mins cost about €25. It can be a good family outing. There is also a small zoo in the park.

davide470:
Still with Lyon, the first picture is a view of the Basilique Notre Dame from the Street (Vieux Lyon) and as i mentioned earlier, it is at the top of a hill and has a wide view of the whole city.

Picture 2 & 3: Musée des Confluences (Confluence Musuem) - A science and anthropology museum with a beautiful structure which also has a nice viewing centre at the top. It is free to enter but some of the artworks are restricted, so you have to buy a ticket to access it.

Picture 4: Parc de la Tête d'Or (Park of the Golden Head) - it features a lake on which boating takes place during these period (summer) and to rent a boat for 30 mins cost about €25. It can be a good family outing. There is also a small zoo in the park.

I could have helped you with your luggage naa. Make I just dey carry am everywhere.
I so love France. I'll tour that beautiful country someday

Thanks for the thread, OP.
I hope that you will also share with us about the museums that document vividly their sociocultural, socioeconomic and even physical evolution for us to be inspired to identify parallels with our own history, which we are unfortunately not adequately familiar with.
Will this beautiful thread make the front page? I hope so but I don’t think so.

...

Following your thread op.
France is so beautiful!

After exploring the city of Lyon, it was time to move on to the next destination - Geneva, Switzerland. The distance between both cities is about 2hours 30mins by road and i got a deal of €9 with Eurolines which was quite good.

The journey was actually one of the best i have been in, because of the beautiful sights along the way. Everything was just so structured and pleasant to look at, even the bushes. It was so arranged.

I got to Geneva by 8pm and took a bus to my Airbnb accommodation which is close to the United Nations Office.

Picture: On the road to Geneva from Lyon. I bet that is somebody's village

GENEVA - smallest of the big cities

I got to my accommodation and it was beautiful. The host is a couple with a 3 year old son, staying in a 3 bedroom apartment (them get money), so using one of the rooms for Airbnb is really a good strategy. It costs €61 per night (67 CHF - Switzerland uses the Swiss Francs but also accept Euros). Hotels in Geneva are quite expensive! so if you are planning a trip, either go for an Airbnb or get a friend that knows a friend that knows a friend.

I started with the United Nations environs before going into the city centre.

Picture 1 & 2: Broken Chair - It stands across the street from the UN office. It symbolises opposition to land mines and cluster bombs, and acts as a reminder to politicians and others visiting Geneva.

Picture 3: A beautiful fountain close to the Broken Chair. It spurts out water from pores on the floor. A good place to go and do Romeo and Julliet

Picture 4: Palais des Nations (United Nations Office)

Everything Outside Nigeria Is Beautiful. Who Did We Offend Please?

castrokins:
Everything Outside Nigeria Is Beautiful. Who Did We Offend Please?

Nigeria is still a young country. We are getting there

damtan:

I could have helped you with your luggage naa. Make I just dey carry am everywhere.
I so love France. I'll tour that beautiful country someday

Lool

Yeah it is. Most people just visit Paris and no where else, but the beauty of France lies majorly outside Paris.

davide470:
Lool

Yeah it is. Most people just visit Paris and no where else, but the beauty of France lies majorly outside Paris.

Yes there is a lot a beauty all over France but the biggest/major tourist attractions are mostly located in Paris area. That's why most people 1st want to discover Paris and then if they have enough time, they discover other areas of France.

Still in the UN environs, i visited Musée Ariana, also called Swiss Museum of Ceramics and Glass which is purely devoted to ceramic and glass artworks, and it is one of its kind in the world.

A beautiful structure and it only showcase ceramics and glass!? I was as surprised as you were. Picture 1 and 2

The last picture is Moi, thinking about how much money i have left before this city will finish it . Everything is damn costly. A bottle of water goes for about 4.5 CHF (€4) while the same bottle goes for €1.5 in Paris & Berlin, even MacDonald's charges differently here. The good thing is, the people living here are not complaining much because they get paid well enough to survive in the city.

From the UN, i took a bus to the city centre where most of the attractions were.

Geneva has a good transport system as most of its buses and trams are electrically powered and they charge on the go with overhead cable lines (1st picture shows an example of how it works). This system is common in Europe but other cities majorly use for Trams. For Nigeria to get to this point, we need to solve our electricity crises first.

Picture 2 & 3: Jet d'Eau (The Geneva Water Fountain) - It is a fountain in Lake Geneva which shoots water 150 meters into the air. It is one of the city's most famous landmarks and a must see for all visitors. Also, Geneva has mountains surrounding it and some buses actually go towards that route.

davide470:
Nigeria is still a young country. We are getting there

Nigeria has been existing since prehistoric times just like France and Switzerland, which have also gone through several changes in their composition over time.

castrokins:
Everything Outside Nigeria Is Beautiful. Who Did We Offend Please?

There are so many beautiful things, places and people in our country. Just keep your eyes and mind open and move around to see them.
Bon voyage.

seguno2:


Nigeria has been existing since prehistoric times just like France and Switzerland, which have also gone through several changes in their composition over time.

When i said it is a young country, i meant in terms of technological advancement. Nigeria as a country has not been existing since prehistoric times. We were just clusters of kingdoms in a vast region and people were for the betterment of their kingdoms.

You cannot say the same for these countries. France began a republic in 1792 and the construction of the underground Metro in Paris began in 1898 alongside the many discoveries. Swiss became a country in 1291. These countries also went through "colonization" before they became stand-alone and started their own "colonization".

davide470:
Nigeria is still a young country. We are getting there

Everyone knows what a young country getting there looks like.....

Visiting the Hadron Collider? Missed this when i went

Jumps into thread.....

davide470:
When i said it is a young country, i meant in terms of technological advancement. Nigeria as a country has not been existing since prehistoric times. We were just clusters of kingdoms in a vast region and people were for the betterment of their kingdoms.

You cannot say the same for these countries. France began a republic in 1792 and the construction of the underground Metro in Paris began in 1898 alongside the many discoveries. Swiss became a country in 1291. These countries also went through "colonization" before they became stand-alone and started their own "colonization".

Surely, Nigeria as a country only existed since 1914.
However the component ethnic groups/nationalities have existed since forever doing internal colonisation like what was going on in Europe and Asia.
Enjoy your trip and please continue sharing the information for our distant education. Cheers