It’s a surprise, even a discovery, I spent a night at Villa Maïa and let you draw the portrait of a guilty, complicit and luxurious pleasure.
During my last trip between Paris and Marseille entitled The 1000 Miles Electric in Audi e-tron Sportback. I spent a night in this establishment where the corridors of time plunge you into other eras, where behind the doors, architecture has overturned the codes of urban planning and built a city with many faces. A city where gastronomy is an art of living, where art is plural and multidisciplinary, where design is interpreted in all its diversity at all times.
Arriving in Lyon and moving from the modern district to historic Lyon with its streets teeming with onlookers strolling under an invigorating sun. My curiosity is growing. I had been told about a new place, a quiet interlude interpreted by three great names, Jean-Michel Wilmotte for the architecture, Jacques Grange for the decoration and Louis Benech for the gardens.
The closer I got, the more impatient I became. After spending more than 6 hours in the e-tron Sportback, I was in great shape knowing that between my playlist and the pilot control, the trip was very pleasant. Especially since the same evening I had a date with my friend, the beautiful Claudia. A Lyonnaise who loved her city every time, she gave me a portrait of her city, its characteristics and details. She was even the one who first told me about Villa Maïa. She often told me “In no other place. The Villa Maïa dominates Lyon. Its view is breathtaking and its history is great! Three great names have imagined an exclusive retreat “.
And then, as I cross the Saône on the Bonaparte bridge, I see the Saint-Jean Cathedral, then the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière with the Villa Maïa below, my destination… that’s it, I’m there . I escape through the narrow streets and climb the montée du Gourguillon. I arrive at my destination. The welcome is already grandiose! A sincere and friendly “hello Mr Trajan” marks the beginning of the Well-being Festival that I am about to experience in this place.
So here I am in a place on a human scale! A man accompanies me through the hotel to my resting place. Silence is golden here. The style is sublime. Each room is a work of art in which you can move easily.
In the evening, we dine with Clara at the table of the gastronomic restaurant “LA TETEDOIE” located in front of Villa Maïa. We will enjoy, we exchange on the world around fresh, fine and delicious food before returning to the resort. We walk through the contemplative and evolutionary garden imagined by Louis Benech, cross the ancient vaults and access the wellness area. To spend the last minutes of the day at the Spa.
In front of us, in an exceptional light, a 20-metre long pool stands out. If the beige Champagne stone and Hainaut blue stone were preferred to build the decor, if the Pompeian ceiling and staff vibrating walls were designed by Jacques Grange and made by the Lyon-based Atelier Rouveure-Marquez, the basin as for it is adorned with a mosaic taking up the pattern of the one discovered during the excavations which took place before the construction site started.
In the jacuzzi we enjoy the moment. The contemplative garden rightly bears its name and becomes a source of inspiration. We lose ourselves admiring the outside while enjoying the moment in the warm water. You can imagine!
Morpheus calls us, we head towards the imposing bed for a long, long night… In the early morning, the sun is still asleep, but the morning light is already asleep. Time to hit the road again…
When closing the door, a pinch is felt. Strange feeling! Actually no, not so strange in fact … I am leaving a place of high quality, the result of a reflection centred around well-being!
I feel good about it and I already know that I will come back to it soon, quickly, very quickly even…