Today it is time to leave Lyon towards our next major stop, Vichy, another Unesco World Heritage Site city. However we are planning to drive there and stop along the way in the beautiful French countryside enjoying small towns and attractions along the way. For that we need a car that we are planning to pick up at the train station. We take a taxi to the train station and then it takes quite a bit to find the car rental counter. And then we wait and then we pick up the car, so only around 10AM we are out and ready to explore. Luckily the first planned stop is relatively nearby, Fossilea, a new museum opened only this year but focussed on fossils, one of our main interests.
In fact at the entrance they are surprised to see foreigners visiting the museum and try to understand how we even know about it. But it isn’t such a mystery, we were looking for attractions on Google Maps and this one seemed really interesting. And it is, with a huge Ichthyosaur and a Nautilus dominating the exhibit hall and quite a few interesting exhibits.
There are two levels and the top level is focused more on geology and human impact on the Beaujolais landscape, famous for its wines that are mostly driven on the special geology and weather patterns here.
There are some interesting rock samples both used by humans to create flint stones and one full of Nautilus fossils which is quite impressive.
Then we descend to the lower level which is more popular and has most of the exhibits. The descent is also quite interesting passing next to actual rock that is incorporated into the museum and already has quite a few fossils visible.
There are some very interesting exhibits cases here with interesting fossils. Many of them are Nautilus fossils, it seems they are the majority of the fossils found here.
However the piece de resistance here is the Ichthyosaur skeleton that was found nearby and of which a huge model hangs above our heads at this point. There are a few other exhibits related to it including one showing how the bones found relate to the Ichthyosaur and where they fit and one showing a recreated Ichthyosaur swimming peacefully through the ocean. This one is very popular especially with kids but also with other visitors.
There is also another section to this museum, an outside botanical garden that can only be accessed through the museum. We decide to explore the area a bit and see what we can find.
What we find is surprising, a lot of prehistoric mammals that lived here recreated on a live-sized scale. In fact the reindeer scare us initially, they are so lifelike that we assume they must be real.
There are also a few bushes with some good descriptions of the uses of the fruits and leaves and lots of slugs. They must have been scared from their hiding holes by the rain, not sure if going on the pavement was the best decision though. And then it is time to return to the car we still have a few more stops planned, next one is the historic village of Oingt.
