Lyons, a world heritage city.

A river, a smaller river, two hills, the ideal spot to found a city. In 43 B.C., when the Romans stopped here to found the capital of the Gauls some Gauls were already living here. Since, the town has prospered, with its ups and downs. The architecture of the Préfecture of the region Rhône Alpes the third town in order of importance in France bears witness to its past. In 1998, a part of the old quarters of Lyons was declared world heritage by UNESCO and it is well deserved.

From the top of Fourvière, called the hill that prays–because of the numerous religious congregations that it harbours and its basilica in the ….bizarre end of C.19th style…you can see the whole of the town.

Quay of "la Saône
Photo B. Shoeffler C.R.T.

Just below, on the banks of the Saône, the Saint Jean quarter, also called the “old Lyons”, presents the town in its “renaissance, C.15th and C.16th “aspect , with its little, narrow, pedestrian streets , its “bouchons”, the typical Lyons restaurants in which one serves the local specialities for “well-prepared stomachs”: andouillettes, quenelles, cervelles de canut (see gastronomy)…
Saint-Jean is a protected quarter, with its ochre coloured houses , its “traboules” that allow you to go from one street to another passing through buildings in which you can admire the splendid courtyards. An important tourist centre, the place is lively, gay, fashionable and still inhabited by students , artists and dreamers…all that around a Gothic cathedral built over five hundred years, started in the C.12th . Which all goes to prove that this is really the place where you must take your time.

The Town Hall
Photo B. Shoeffler C.R.T.

Between the Rhône and the Saône , more to the East, lies the Presqu’île (Peninsula), a C.18th and C.19th quarter. This is the heart of Lyons, the place to be as far as high-style shops , restaurants and department stores are concerned. The Place Bellecour; an immense red square is a place to stroll; to meet, or to listen to concerts beneath the scornful stare of Louis XIVth turned to stone on his motionless horse.

To the North, a town within a town, the little hill of the Croix Rousse is the old quarter of the silk workers, the “canuts”. Tall, high, majestic, highly coloured buildings, dating from the C18th form a labyrinth of streets as far as the plateau, a little town centre. The Croix Rousse is where you find the fashionable bars, where you have all the cultural activities, the little bars all along what are here called the “pentes” (slopes). “When you go down , go up , see how the littl’un has grown” so goes a Lyons expression. True it is that in the Croix Rousse , “the hill that works”, to stroll, to have a drink, to get lost in the maze of “traboules” –even-to do your shopping along the main boulevard and put an end to the old clichés that are long in dying: no, the people of Lyons are not cold and pretentious , as people say! Here the locals are outgoing, amusing, modest and agreeable. All you need to do to be convinced of this is to listen to the conversations in a Croix Rousse bar or in a bread-shop

Part-Dieu tower

To the East of the Rhône begin the C.19th and contemporary quarters. Like a necessary evil , at the end of the 60’s there was built here the Part Dieu quarter, the biggest shopping centre in Europe, huge tower blocks and business centres. Around, you have the 6th 3rd 8th and 7th arrondissements the results of the extension of the town in the C.19th . They are not without charm; that is where the majority of Lyons people live . Big avenues that cross at right angles, facades that came into being at the time of Haussmann, the baron who refashioned Paris, a great park, the Tête d’Or and there too restaurants everywhere. Lugdunum has preserved from the times of Asterix the notion that everything begins and ends with a good .tuck in.

"La Tour Rose" Hotel
Photo B. Shoeffler C.R.T.

A mixture of Italy,( its Renaissance quarters ), of Paris and Marseilles, Lyons is unique for its relief, its colours and its surprising views when you stop at the top of a hill or a stairway. When you go down to Lyons, go up and see how more beautiful the town has grown…now that its facades, its bridges and its monuments are illuminated at night.


Information
Tourist office: Tel: 04 72 77 69 69