Tarare - A place we never heard of before

Tarare is about 20 odd kms further on from Lyon. We didn't want to stay in Lyon again. We were there previously and although we enjoyed it, we were sprinting across to the Loire to be with friends. Sue booked this place called Tarare in a four story, two century old villa outside of Tarare on the hill overlooking the village. On arrival we were pleasantly surprised by the villa and the surrounding gardens. The home is owned by Bruno and was established by his great grandfather who was a pharmacists of sorts. Bruno had posters of this ancestor's products and one suspects they were "cure all" concoctions. He told us he also started a newspaper of some controversial nature.

The autostrada high above the country road we travelled on.

We decided today to move from the AutoStrada to country roads.
You do save a lot of time however you do miss out on the little villages along the way.

The owner, Bruno told us that the house was built by his great grandfather so it has been in the family for three generations. He told us after breakfast that the section below where the guest rooms now are, were once a conservatory.

Bruno's modest Maison in Tarare.

The once Conservatory has been converted to 3 private guest rooms.

Although the gardens were a little unkempt on our arrival, Bruno and his lady were working on the property.

Scenes from Tarere

The village itself has an older historic section as most French villages do. In the 1700s it had a textile industry. Today its population is 11,000. I suspect that many of the young people have moved on to more prosperous areas, possibly Lyon to improve their lifestyle and future.

Along our travels in and out of Tarare, there were several aqueducts like to one you see here that we passed under.

Some of the half wooden structures still exist in Tarare.

I call these, "ghost signs" and I saw many as we were driving through small villages. The signs usually belong to businesses no long in existence. Some advertise auto or alcohol.

The other thing that intrigues me is the murals on walls, sometimes of a lady looking out a window where there is no window.

We were a bit tired after our drive from Chambery and through Lyon to Tarare and so Sue suggested maybe we should just have nibbles on the terrace outside our bedroom. Sounded good to me so it was terrines, pate, cheese and grapes with wine of both colours. A fitting end to the day.

We opened my bottle of Chianti presented for completing the 135 km L'Eroica course.
It would have been too heavy to take home anyway.