Historic Site of Lyon Site historique de Lyon
Begin on the Saône quay in Vieux Lyon, where pastel façades lean towards the water and the logic of the place starts to make sense. From there a single day can carry you up to Roman theatres carved into the Fourvière hillside, through courtyards linked by covered passages the locals call traboules, across the huge gravel expanse of Place Bellecour and up the steep Croix-Rousse slopes where silk weavers once worked. UNESCO protects 427 hectares of it, and the appeal is how little the layers get in each other's way: Roman stone, a Romanesque and Gothic cathedral, Renaissance staircases and nineteenth century workshop blocks all sit within a short walk. The little funiculars nicknamed les ficelles haul passengers up to Fourvière in minutes, though the queue on a sunny Saturday is real. Lunch belongs in a bouchon, ideally over pike quenelles or a pot of cervelle de canut, the herbed fresh cheese that only sounds alarming. Finish on the terrace by the basilica, where on a clear day the Alps hang on the horizon over the red tile roofs.
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