A gastronomic centre in France, Lyon is a sprawling industrial city, yet the old part is well worth a visit. Lyon boasts a University specialising in medicine, an internationally known exhibition centre, a large selection of restaurants and hotels, museums and possibly the biggest oil refinery in France. It is also a converging point for motorway systems from six directions.
Old Lyon is on the right-bank of the Saône River and has fine surviving examples from the renaissance period (15th Century). There are some fine examples of 16th and 17th Century houses built for rich silk merchants who lived and worked in the city. Local silk is still produced but it has been overtaken by the synthetic fibre industry.
The Hôtel de Ville, some parts of which are Louis XIII, has an imposing facade with the equestrian statue of Henri IV, which looks across to the Place des Terraux with its monumental fountain. If a chill runs through as you walk in the area of the fountain, it may be because ‘Madame la Guillotine’ was erected here during the French Revolution and many hundreds of citizens lost their heads.
For more tourist information and history, see Premier Pages (Wine Regions, Places of Interest)