Lyon, France: Strolling History and Modern Charm
Right at the junction of the Rhône with the Saône rivers, Lyon has been a magnet since the Romans named it Lugdunum back in 43 BC. With a surge into economic, industrial, and financial predominance during the past 500 years, Lyon takes third place in the largest cities of France today, delivering lots of highly desirable experiences to today's urban discoverers.
Best Things to
Musée des Confluences
It's home to this striking building, designed by the Viennese firm Coop Himmelb(l)au and the crowning glory of Lyon's newest neighborhood, the Confluence, located at the confluence of the Rhône and the Saône rivers.
Musée des Beaux-Arts
This staggering museum shows France's finest collection of sculptures and paintings outside Paris, from antiquity onwards.
Basilique Notre Dame de Fourvière
Topping the hill, with beautiful vistas over the city from its balcony, this excellent example of late 19th-century French ecclesiastical architecture are lined with mosaics internally.
Lyon Confluence
Lyon's charge headlong into the future is encapsulated in this re-imagined industrial district to the south of Presqu'île tip. From a formerly bleak landscape of empty warehouses, it's become a vibrant area of modernity and innovation.
Cathédrale St-Jean-Baptiste
The partly Romanesque cathedral of Lyon, built between the late 11th and early 16th centuries, is given an entirely glorious Flamboyant Gothic facade and an astoundingly intricate astronomical clock.
Musées Gadagne
This twin-themed exhibition space occupies a 16th-century mansion built for two rich Florentine bankers; it incorporates an excellent local history museum with a unique puppet museum.
Place des Terreaux
The centrepiece of the Presqu'île's beautiful central square is this 19th-century fountain, made from 21 tons of lead and sculpted by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, the creator of the Statue of Liberty.
Opéra de Lyon
Lyon's neoclassical 1831-built opera house was modernized in 1993 with a striking semi-cylindrical glass dome by renowned French architect Jean Nouvel.
Parc de la Tête d'Or
This beautiful 117-hectare park is a godsend to nature lovers and families seeking a spot of green space so close to the heart. It contains a zoo, a botanical garden, and a lake with boat hire.
Théâtre Romain
This Roman theater was constructed around 15 BC, then enlarged in AD 120, to seat 10,000 spectators. The Romans presented programs of poetry readings and musicals in the amphitheater.
Fresque des Lyonnais
This handsome seven-storey mural is dotted with familiar Lyonnais faces, such as inventor of the loom Joseph-Marie Jacquard and Renaissance humanist Thomas Mornay.
Place Bellecour
Lyon's largest public square, the gravel-strewn Place Bellecour, was laid out in the 17th century. In the center is an equestrian statue of Louis XIV.
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