In France for the Olympics? Check out Lyon

The summer Olympics are in full swing across France. Apart from the Paris region, cities like Marseille, Saint-Etienne, Nice, Bordeaux, Nantes, etc. have also been chosen as Olympic venues. And yet another venue that is playing host to several football matches at the Olympics is the eclectic city of Lyon.

Strategically located at the confluence of the Rhône and the Saône rivers in France, Lyon is a city that has many aces up its sleeve. From tracing ancient Roman history to visiting unique museums and discovering the craft of silk weaving to sampling local delicacies, Lyon, which is a two-hour train ride from Paris, makes for a truly insightful visit.

Tryst with Roman History

Being the second largest urban area in France, Lyon has been a bustling commercial and industrial city for centuries. It dates back to 43 BC when the Romans called it Lugdunum. Fourvière Hill is the perfect place to start your exploration of Lyon for it is from here that you can view the awe-inspiring Roman ruins that were excavated in the 1900s. Fourvière Hill is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is easily accessible by a funicular, which you can board from the city’s old town.

As you reach the top, the vast sea of stone remnants dating to the Roman period is an imposing sight. The key sites in the ruins, which were once the city centre of Lyon, include the majestic amphitheatre that could seat as many as 10,000 people as well as the Odeon, which was a smaller theatre. Today, this area plays host to the Les Nuits de Fourvière, an annual arts and music festival that is held every summer. Apart from theatres, the site is replete with ancient reservoirs, aqua ducts and tanks.

Unarguably the best way to immerse yourself in Lugdunum’s history is to visit the Lyon Fourvière Museum of Gallo-Roman Civilisation, which was founded in 1975. This multi-level museum houses a treasure trove of artefacts and information related to the Roman remains and includes objects like pots, utensils, tools, wheels, stone plaques, statues, sculptures, and jewellery.

Fourvière Hill, which is also known as the “hill that prays”, is home to the renowned Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière. This minor basilica, which was consecrated in 1896, is one of the most popular sites in Lyon attracting millions of pilgrims and visitors each year. Standing tall at 86 metres, this basilica has been designed incorporating the Byzantine, Gothic and Romanesque styles of architecture.

Museum Hopping

Apart from the Museum of Gallo-Roman civilisation, Lyon is a haven for museum lovers with several insightful museums spanning the fields of art, architecture, science, commerce and even cinema. The Museum of Confluences (Musée des Confluences) with its unusual facade of glass and steel is located at the place where the Rhône and Saône rivers meet. It is dedicated to science, anthropology and houses four major exhibitions related to the origins of the world, species of the universe, societies and eternities. If you are an art lover, the Lyon Museum of Fine Arts (Musée des Beaux-Arts), which is located close to Lyon’s city hall, is a must visit. It is France's biggest museum after the Louvre with more than 70 rooms filled with paintings, sculptures and antiquities.

If you are a fan of the unusual, visit the Museum of Cinema and Miniatures (Musée Cinéma et Miniature) housed in a beautiful Renaissance building in the old town. Apart from discovering movie sets, props and a unique collection of cinema exhibits, it also has an amazing collection of miniatures by Dan Ohlmann and other artists. Whether it is Charlie Chaplain’s iconic stick or the accessories used in the film Indiana Jones, or the sculptures made for Will Smith’s Men in Black, you will find them all here.

Embark on a Silk Trail

Another interesting aspect of Lyon is its silk weaving heritage, and to explore this one head to the city’s historic La Croix-Rousse neighbourhood; it was the epicentre of silk production during the 15th to 17th centuries. The bohemian Croix-Rousse (which translates to the ‘hill that works’) district was home to thousands of canuts as silk weavers were known back in the day. The locality is filled with upwardly sloping lanes that housed the residences of weavers who had looms in their homes as well as narrow passageways called traboules that were used by canuts to transport finished goods.

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