Make the most of a 3-Day Break
DAY 1: Vieux Lyon
No visit to Lyon would be complete without a journey into Vieux Lyon. This old part of Lyon lies between Fourvière and the Saône, and was formerly the hub of Lyon, and the focus of its silk-working industry with as many as 18,000 looms in operation in the mid-16th century. Many of the city's wealthy inhabitants lived here, in magnificent town houses, more than 300 of which still stand. Space, however was at a premium, so this led to the construction of a number of narrow alleyways, known as traboules. They are a fascination not to be missed, built perpendicular to the Saône, they were the solution to lack of sufficient space in which to develop a conventional network of streets, by linking the various buildings together.
You can spend a whole day here, wandering the alleyways that beckon like an impatient child; it's an atmospheric place with the tang of la vraie France luring you on, and a galaxy of restaurants and bouchons giving plenty of reason to stop for lunch. There is a temptation to be drawn upwards to the basilica on Fourvièvre Hill, but if time is at a premium then to be honest this, for all its renown, brings little reward: the view over Lyon, while impressive, is only truly great in certain light, and the big church is just a big church of interest only to those who like big churches or study architectural evolution. Of course, you could justifiably visit the splendid Musée Gallo-Roman, for which you need the St Just funiculaire, alighting at Minimes. But, on balance, you might feel that you can more usefully commit your time elsewhere than on Fourvièvre.
More on Vieux Lyon P 44.