Lyon - attractions, sightseeing and getting around by bus

Located in central-eastern France on the rivers Rhône and Saône, Lyon is the third largest city in France - after Paris and Marseille. It is the capital of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. The city itself has a population of about 522,000, although the Lyon municipal unit has a population of more than one and a half million. Lyon was founded by the Romans in 43 B.C., giving it the name Lugdunum, derived from the sun god Liga. Over time, the center became a major one in the province of Gaul. In the 13th century Lyon was granted a city charter, and since 1307 it has been part of France.

Lyon is a city of cinema - here the Lumière brothers built their cinematograph and shot the first film. It's famous for its textile industry, most notably as the silk capital of the world, and it's also the capital of gastronomy - you can find a veritable plethora of great restaurants in the city, many of them with Michelin stars. It is also a city for walking. Kilometers can be racked up there at will, walking the numerous parks, along the rivers, climbing every now and then, or descending the hills or shortening them - choosing narrow, hidden passages, the so-called traboules.

Lyon - attractions to see in the city

If you want to know what you can see in Lyon, here are some hints of the most important and interesting attractions.

Vieux Lyon

This historic part of the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There you'll find numerous Gothic and Renaissance townhouses and monuments, including the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, whose main attraction is a 14th-century astronomical clock that shows the correct time despite the erroneous assumption that the sun orbits the Earth.

Basilica Notre-Dame de Fourvière

This church, located on Fourvière Hill, dates back to the 19th century. It was built as an expression of gratitude by its inhabitants after saving Lyon from the Prussian army and a sign of commitment to Christian values. To see the temple up close, you have to climb a bit, or take a cable car, but the panorama of Lyon and the beautiful body of the building are able to compensate for any hardships. The basilica's appearance is reminiscent of Romanesque and Byzantine architecture. Its richly decorated interior is dominated by mosaics, beautiful stained glass windows, paintings and sculptures. It also houses the Museum of Sacred Art.

Ruins of Roman buildings

In ancient times Lyon was the largest center and capital of Gaul. Nowadays there is an archaeological park on the Fourvière hill with the ruins of ancient buildings - the Galloroman theater, the oeon, the thermae and the aqueduct. Especially worth seeing is the amphitheater - the oldest in Roman Gaul and able to accommodate up to 10,000 spectators.

Place Bellecour

This is the largest light square in Europe, that is, one with no greenery, trees or any other kind of obstruction. It features only a statue of King Louis XIV on horseback from 1825, and a statue of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, a famous resident of Lyon, at the edge of the square. Bellecour is the most representative place in Lyon, and a central point in the city that serves as a meeting place. It was once the site of the largest-ever Lyon boules tournament.

Musée des Confluences

Opened in 2014, the museum and science center is distinguished by its modern, deconstructivist exterior that somewhat resembles a giant spaceship. The museum's intersecting and alluding exhibitions explore the origins of life, and the species diversity of the Earth's flora and fauna, as well as the development of civilization and research into the future.

Croix-Rousse

The Lyon neighborhood of Croix-Rousse is famous for its so-called traboules, or various secret passages, corridors and staircases hidden between buildings and the narrow streets that connect them. Most of them date back as far as the 15th century, when Lyon was developing as a center for weaving. It was with silk weavers in mind that such passageways were constructed, which significantly shortened the distance when carrying heavy bales of material, further protecting them from the rain and the sun's rays.

Murals in Lyon

The city is famous for its many wall paintings, which not only effectively cover up drab or uninteresting tenements, adding to Lyon's atmosphere, but are a tourist attraction in themselves. The Mur de Canuts is the largest mural in the city. It is 1,200 sq. m in size and owes its name to the former residents of the Croix-Rousse neighborhood - silk weavers. It was made using a three-dimensional technique, making it hard to tell at first glance what is part of the building and what is a painterly fiction.