Lyon, France: Medieval and Ultramodern Surprising

Lyon: medieval and ultramodern surprising

Once you drove through it, now you drive around it on the way to the Alps, the Mediterranean Sea or the Ardeche. What has not changed is that the freeway is always busy. Many Dutch are also usually not when it comes to Lyon. And that knowledge has in fact already obsolete. Because in the ring to Lyon (Rocade-Est) is now so busy that the French themselves often yet again the route chosen by Lyon. Moving south towards Marseille ignore the signs, riding north signs to forget Paris. In both cases, just driving in Lyon …
Who does that and decides to make a stopover, met with a surprise. Lyon is both a metropolis and a city full of history. With 1.3 million inhabitants it is the second city of France.
Under the name of Lugdunum, the city was already the capital of the Gallic part of the Roman Empire. Also in the Renaissance and the nineteenth century, the town flourished. Long time, the textile industry (especially silk), an important pillar of the economy of the city.

Like other southern French towns, the city is still a Roman amphitheater, next to something younger monuments like the Cathedral of St. John’s Basilica and the Opera House Fourvière. The old town (Vieux Lyon) has lively shopping streets and countless attractive, affordable taverns, called bouchons.
This is particularly well on the traboules: mostly covered alleys and narrow staircases, sometimes hidden behind doors. They are private property, but may simply be used by everybody. Today they are just easy, they were used as escape routes in riots and the resistance.

The city is not in the past keep stabbing. On the banks of the Rhone as the epitome of modern architecture Cité Internationale, which included a casino and a museum of contemporary art.

Lyon, at the confluence of the Rhone and Saone, has about 30 museums. A tip for saving Dutchmen four regional museums in Lyon and its surroundings on Thursdays free. It is the Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Gallo-Roman civilization (including archaeological site) in Lyon, the museum and the archaeological site of Saint-Romain-en-Gal and the Doll Museum in Marcy l’Etoile.

Under the city are still wide corridors, partly medieval, partly Roman. These are essentially disused sewers and aqueducts. A small piece of them with some effort and care to visit.