Vieux Lyon Walking Tour Experience

Overview

This walking tour traces the transformation of a city reinvented across two millennia. Begin your journey atop Fourviere Hill, where Roman soldiers once watched over their empire. Stand in the ancient Roman theatres where 10,000 spectators gathered for performances 2000 years ago. Step inside the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourviere, a 19th-century masterpiece of Byzantine and Romanesque architecture adorned with mosaics and golden ceilings. Descend through time into Vieux Lyon, one of Europe's largest Renaissance quarters. Navigate the traboules - secret covered passageways built in the 4th century for quick river access. These same passages later served the Canuts, Lyon's silk workers, who carried fabrics through hidden corridors. During World War II, the Resistance used these routes to evade Nazi patrols. Learn how Lyon transformed from Roman capital to Renaissance banking hub to the silk capital of Europe. Hear stories of emperors, merchants and resistance fighters who shaped Lyon !