Villefranche-sur-Saône, France

Arriving at home in the summer

Villefranche centre

Villefranche covered market

The village of Jarnioux, seen from a footpath, 9 km away

The Beaujolais hills

A village in Beaujolais

La Dombes

The river Saône in Lyon

Painted wall of the Canuts 2013 Croix Rousse hill

Basilique de Fourvière seen from place Bellecour

Walking along the river Rhône in Lyon

Lyon from Fourvière hill

A painted wall in Lyon

Fourvière basilica

Platinum

Member since

2007

Open for exchange

Exchange dates	Duration
January 13, 2019 - November 30, 2019	2 weeks
We are flexible.

1 story house in VILLEFRANCHE SUR SAÔNE, near the Beaujolais hills and Lyon, France

Our house was built in 1996. It's a pleasant house to live in as it is surrounded by a garden and is a ten minutes' walk to the city centre where there are some French Renaissance houses, good restaurants and busy cafés.
We have a washing-machine, a computer with an Internet connexion and the wi-fi, but we don't have a television, and we don't have a dishwasher. Intervac partners say they’ve enjoyed the peace and quiet here.

Villefranche is called the capital of Beaujolais. It is a market town of 40,000 inhabitants, with all sorts of nice shops in a picturesque 1-km long main street. It is also famous for its fruit and vegetable covered market, which takes place 5 times a week in the morning. On Saturday there's also an organic market outside.
If you like browsing second-hand shops, there's a big and well-organised store round the corner, selling all manner of recycled goods : furniture, bric-a-brac, records, toys, books, clothes... The goods are sold to help provide for those who need it.
https://www.fndsa.org/bric-a-brac/bric-a-brac-villefranche-sur-saone.html
It is closed in August though, however there is another one about 3 km away.
In the Beaujolais hills you can taste Beaujolais wine of course, but also go cycling on quiet roads leading to golden stone villages, and go walking on easy footpaths. The river Saône valley is quite near too. A little further east, the area of the Dombes is full of fishponds and lakes ( 1000 they say !) with a lot of birds. The restaurants there have a reputation for gastronomy.
If you're interested in Christian religion, Ars, the village of St Jean-Marie Vianney, the patron saint of catholic priests, is only 8km from Villefranche.

http://ladombes.free.fr/
http://www.parcdesoiseaux.com/uk/
www.destination-beaujolais.com
http://www.beaujolais-wines.com/
http://andre.rampon.free.fr/rampon-gb.htm
www.villefranche.net