We spend one full day in Vichy and because we really want to try the spa we choose a five star hotel that allows us direct access to one of the spas. It is very cheap really even compared to Lyon, likely it simply is that Vichy is not that popular which is surprising for one of the major spa towns in France. The room is nice but unfortunately has an AC that cannot keep up with this hot summer, luckily we do not stay during the day indoors.
What we really like is the large balcony. It is L shaped with a great view over the Napoleon III Park and we enjoy sitting there for a while to relax in the cooling breeze.
We also receive a few bird bonuses, a couple of wood pigeons visiting us on the balcony and lots of crows in the trees surrounding the hotel.
The balcony also allows us to see a beautiful sunset over the river and park while the moon is passing slowly across the sky. Very romantic, except the mosquitoes so in we go to recuperate after a long day exploring.
The hotel is linked via a covered passage to the spa and that is what we intend to use in the afternoon but first we want to explore a little. No car today, it stays in the garage with the Ghostbusters car while we explore on foot.
But the first order of business today is finding a place to eat breakfast. As usual there aren’t that many open breakfast places but we find a busy cafe that at least has an open table and in we go.
We get some coffee and orange juice to go with the croisssants and other bakery items. All of them are quite good and refreshed we are ready to continue exploring.
We explore first the Parc des Sources, described separately, before reaching the downtown area of Vichy. Here there are many historical buildings that together led to Vichy being declared an Unesco World Heritage Site.
The other major attraction here is the downtown church, Eglise Saint-Blaise de Vichy. It is a relatively new church being built in 1930s in Art Deco Style on top of an older 17th century church that is now a chapel of the old one.
The frescoes are quite interesting, they are in a different style, more modern, than what we usually encounter in churches.
We also visit the old church, now a chapel, you can barely guess that it is older than the main church. It also has again a Black Madonna, we find it very surprising how many of them we see recently.
Part of our exploration is also finding a place to eat dinner, we choose a crepe place that also serves some French specialties like Deviled Eggs. We order Deviled Eggs, of course, but also crepes quite a few of them.
AAll of them are good we enjoy both the specialty ones and the sweet ones and filled we are ready to explore the riverside in the evening.
And of course during the day we stop at the spa. We get a half day pass and explore the spa with a focus on the mineral hot tub which is quite popular. We also use the rooftop swimming pool, why not if it is included? And then after another night in the 5 star hotel it is time to return to Lyon as our relative has to leave from the Lyon airport at the end of the day.
