Page 133 - Lonely Planet Europe’s Best Trips (Travel Guide)

4 Mama Shelter Design Hotel €€ 17th-century houses wrapped around a traboule
(%05 57 30 45 45; www.mamashelter.com/ (secret passage) with preserved features such
en/bordeaux; 19 rue Poquelin Molière; d/tr as Italianate loggias make this an exquisite
from €79/129) With personalised iMacs, video place to stay. Individually decorated rooms woo
booths and free movies in every room, Mama with designer bathroom fittings and bountiful
Shelter leads the way in cutting-edge sleep. antiques, while decadent facilities include a spa,
Crisp white rooms come in small, medium or a Michelin-starred restaurant (menus €95 to
large, with family-friendly XL doubles touting a €115), a swish cafe and a cross-vaulted bar.
sofa bed. The ground-floor restaurant (mains
€13 to €29) sports the same signature rubber
rings strung above the bar as other Philippe Aix-en-Provence c
Starck–designed hotels, and weekends usher 5 Le Petit Verdot French €€
concerts, gigs and other cultural happenings
onto the small stage. (%04 42 27 30 12; www.lepetitverdot.fr; 7 rue
d’Entrecasteaux; mains €19-25; h7pm-midnight
Mon-Sat) Great Provençal food and great FRANCE 8 ESSENTIAL FRANCE
Lyon 9 Provençal wines – really, what more do you want
from a meal in this part of France? It’s all about
5 Le Poêlon d’Or Bouchon €€ hearty, honest dining here, with table tops made
(%04 78 37 65 60; www.lepoelondor-restaurant. out of old wine crates, and a lively chef-patron
fr; 29 rue des Remparts d’Ainay, 2e; lunch who runs the place with huge enthusiasm.
menus €17-20, menus €27-32; hnoon-2pm & Expect slow-braised meats, seasonal veg, sinful
7.30-10pm Mon-Fri; mAmpère-Victor Hugo) This desserts and some super wines to go with.
upmarket bouchon, around the corner from the 4 Villa Gallici Historic Hotel €€€
Musée des Tissus, is well known among local (%04 42 23 29 23; www.villagallici.com; 18 av de
foodies who recommend its superb andouillette la Violette; r from €350; paWs) Baroque
(chitterlings) and pike dumplings. Save room for and beautiful, this fabulous villa was built as
the delicious chocolate mousse or the vanilla a private residence in the 18th century, and
crème brûlée. Yummy. Well worth the detour.
it still feels marvellously opulent. Rooms are
4 Cour des Loges Hotel €€€ more like museum pieces, stuffed with gilded
(%04 72 77 44 44; www.courdesloges.com; 2-8 mirrors, toile-de-jouy wallpaper and filigreed
rue du Bœuf, 5e; d €200-350, ste €250-600; furniture. There’s a lovely lavender-filled garden
aiWs; mVieux Lyon) Four 14th- to for breakfast, plus a super pool for lazy evening
swims. It even has its own wine cellar.

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