A Historical View

One of my favourite characteristics of Lyon is it's location and it's geography. This might sound dull or tedious, but it holds the key to the history of the city, and continues to provide interest for people even today.

The town is located two hours south of Paris by TGV, and two rivers cut through the heart of the city, the Rhone and the Saône splitting it into three main sections with two hills. To the west of the city is the old town known as Vieux Lyon, the old medieval centre dominated by the Basilique de Notre-Dame de Fourvière on top of the hill. This is the main tourist attraction of the city, but despite the flocks of visitors it is worth ambling along the narrow, quaint Renaissance alleyways, through the different squares and up to the Cathedrale de Saint Jean. To the north is the Croix-Rousse district. Also rich in history, this is where the silk workers, or canuts, revolted in 1831, 1834 and 1848 against poor pay and deteriorating working and living conditions. It is now a calmer, residential area with a bohemian feel, except on those busy Sunday market mornings when the locals, and any tourists who dare, hustle and bustle amongst the stalls along the main Boulevard de la Croix-Rousse. I was lucky enough to live in this district for 4 months, with a view of the Basilica from my bedroom and of the Amphitheatre of the Three Gauls from my living room.

A quirk of these two arrondissements is the traboules or hidden interior passages of buildings. These covered walkways that join buildings together were constructed in Vieux Lyon for ease of access to the banks of the Saône for water, and in Croix-Rousse they served the canuts as a way of transporting their goods quickly to the river and also protecting their handicraft from the elements. Their hidden and confusing nature enabled the local resistance during the Second World War to pass arms and messages, hide people and sabotage the occupying Germans. The traboules number about 500 in Lyon, and many are open to the public to wander between; an afternoon outing that I would highly recommend.