A walking tour of “Old Lyon” (Vieux Lyon)

Today you are about to walk through the spaces of about 1,000 years of history and discover the Lyon of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. In “Old Lyon” you will discover buildings, churches and streets built by wealthy merchants who made their fortunes from trade between the Italian peninsula and France.

The immense architectural wealth you will encounter there makes this neighborhood the largest Renaissance area in France, and second in Europe only to Venice. It is therefore not surprising that UNESCO has declared it a “Lyon "Old Town" as a World Heritage Site.

Before we begin our tour, let me highly recommend you read my article on theHistory of LyonI will tell you briefly about each of the buildings you will encounter during the trip, but the article I recommend will give you a general historical background and put you in order.

Because I don't know where You will live in Lyon.Let's line up and start our tour outside the Vieux Lyon – Cathédrale Saint-Jean metro station (for those coming from outside the neighborhood, this is line D).

Have you arrived? Great! Get out of the metro and let's get going!

The itinerary in Vieux Lyon

As you will see, some places are very close to each other and some are a little further away. To save writing, I will not write how to get from point to point, because the map above can easily tell you that. Instead, I will write a little about each place you will reach, so that you can get a little background on what you are about to see.

Saint Jean Cathedral

This impressive church is dedicated to John the Baptist and was built over a period of about 300 years (as Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris). That is why it is seen as a combination of building styles – from Romanesque to Gothic. Since it is the residence of the Archbishop of Lyon, it is also the most important church in the city.

On the front of the church you will find about 300 medallions depicting stories from the Old and New Testaments. For example, near the main church you can find the story of Noah and the Ark or the story of Adam and Eve. Note that many of the angels, which are above the main entrance, are missing their heads. This is the work of German mercenaries who conquered Lyon together with French Protestants, during the Wars of Religion of the 16th century.

Before you go inside, don't miss the side doors of the church. There you will find fantastic creatures that have nothing to do with the Bible, including monsters, knights, and more. The purpose of these reliefs is to provide the masses with a kind of "fantasy book" that will attract them to visit the church, in the days when most people could not read or write, but since it is not something "educational" or part of the Bible and the New Testament, these reliefs were placed on the sides.

One of the highlights of this church’s history is the coronation of Pope Clement V (reigned 5-1305), which took place there. However, it is an event that many medieval residents would like to forget, because during the ceremony a wall collapsed and spectators fled for their lives. During the panic that ensued, the Pope fell and one of his crown stones also fell and disappeared. So if you see a precious stone among the pews, you are welcome to call the Vatican…

What else will you find inside the cathedral?

Without a doubt, the most interesting thing in the cathedral is the 14th-century astronomical clock, which shows the positions of the moon, sun, stars, and Earth. As Saint Germain Church In Paris, this church is undergoing a long renovation process, during which part of the church has already been renovated and part has not yet been renovated. When you walk there, pay attention to the side chapels in the southern part and the beautiful stained glass windows there – some of which have survived from the 13th century (!).

Archaeological Garden

Not far from the cathedral, there is the archaeological garden. Here you will find the remains of some of Lyon's oldest churches, namely the churches of Saint Croix and Saint Etienne (the latter built during the 4th century AD, shortly before Christianity became a legal religion).

Beit Shamaria (Maison du Chamarier)

Chamarier, meaning a justice of the peace who dealt with commercial matters during the 16th century. He also collected taxes during the various fairs held in Lyon and thus became fairly wealthy, since any amount he managed to collect, beyond the quota, went into his pocket (for example, another tax collector became wealthy, who built the palace that would later become thePicasso Museum in Paris).

If you manage to get inside, don’t miss the ceiling, where you’ll find a lovely fresco. Also, don’t miss the well, which was used as a status symbol in the Middle Ages. If you had a well in your yard, you wouldn’t have to go fetch water from the river, which was often polluted, so only the wealthy could enjoy a constant supply of clean water – and so a well was a status symbol.

Before you continue on, pay attention to the patisserie called Bruno Saladino, which is located right across the street. It specializes, among other things, in pralines and I highly recommend ordering a brioche with pralines there. You will thank me, your dietician… less. Also, if the gate to the courtyard happens to be open, try to sneak inside and discover a charming courtyard, designed by none other than one of the greatest architects of the Renaissance, namely Philibert de Lorme.

And one last thing, if you want to buy yourself scarves or anything else made of silk, you can find, right next to the patisserie, a very cute shop where you will see, among other things, an original weaving loom!

Lawyers' House (Maison des Avocats)

You have arrived at one of the most photogenic places in Lyon, so it is not surprising that you will find quite a few photos of this house on all sorts of Instagram accounts. When you arrive here you will feel as if you have jumped into Renaissance Italy for a moment, as Italian architectural influences are evident in every corner.

In the 14th century, an inn stood there, and to this day you can see in the courtyard the doorway through which the carriages entered. During the 16th century, the place became a law school, where lawyers learned their craft, hence its name.

Today it is a museum dedicated to cinema and miniatures (Musée Cinéma & Miniature). The museum was created by an interior designer named Dan Ullman, who came to Lyon fromParisThe interior designer's hobby was building miniatures, and after an exhibition of his miniatures was a great success in Lyon, it was decided to create a permanent museum for them.

You will find tiny structures there, built by the artist, who designed them in detail, alongside all kinds of artifacts from all kinds of Hollywood movies, including Batman's mask. I visited there and enjoyed every moment. I highly recommend the museum, especially for parents visiting Lyon with their children.

You can buy tickets at the museum box office, but if you have arrived in Lyon for a few days and want to visit several museums and use the city's public transportation, it is recommended that you buy theLyon City Card, which will allow you to enter all the city's museums, including free use of all the city's public transportation.

• Address: 60 Rue Saint-Jean
• Opening days and hours: Open every day from 10:00-18:30. Last admission at 17:30.
• More Information: can be found On the museum website.

Have you finished visiting the Miniatures and Cinema Museum and are you hungry?

Let me recommend you a great bouchon called Les Lyonnais, which is located not far away. You will eat traditional Lyonnais food there and I highly recommend trying the chicken liver cake (Gâteau de foies de volaille). It is highly recommended to book in advance, as it is a super popular restaurant.

Link to the restaurant website

The Long Trabule (La Longue Trabule)

If Paris has thePassages Well, Lyon has the Trabules. The word trabule comes from the Latin word Trans Ambular, which means “passage between houses,” and that’s exactly what you’ll find here.

In the past, the trebuchets were used as a shortcut to reach the river, where the poor could pump water for themselves (the rich, as mentioned, enjoyed a private well). Those who needed the river for purposes other than drinking were workers in the silk industry, and therefore quite a few silk workshops were located there.

There are about 100 traboulas in Lyon, but many of them are closed. Fortunately, the longest and most impressive traboulas is open to the general public.

The entrance to the Traboulaye is at Rue Saint Jean 54, not far from the lawyers' house. All you have to do is open the gate and walk along the Traboulaye to Rue du Boeuf.

By the way, since the Trabouillet is inaccessible, suffers from low light and high salinity, due to its proximity to the river, you will be happy to know that you can rent an apartment there long-term at very reasonable prices, in case you ever feel like living in historic Lyon 🙂

The Pink Tower (La tour rose)

To get to the Pink Tower (which is actually not exactly a tower), you must enter a small trapeze at Rue du Boeuf 16 (not far from the exit from the previous trapeze you visited).

If you come to the area during silk season, you will find silkworms crawling on a small table. For someone like me who is less connected to worms and insects, it is a slightly less appealing sight, but the nature lovers and curious among you may enjoy the sight.

Gadagne Museum

Paris has the Carnival Museum Lyon, on the other hand, has its little brother, the Musée Géden, located at 1 Pl. du Petit Collège. If you love history, like me, I highly recommend you not to miss it.

Here you will learn about more than 2,000 years of Lyon's history, from the days of ancient Rome to the present day. It is important to note that unlike the Carnival Museum, this is not a particularly large museum and you can finish it in less than an hour.

While visiting the museum, you will discover that this building was built by an Italian merchant family named Gadagni, who “added” their name, after becoming permanent residents of Lyon, and called themselves Gadagne. This reminds me of something similar done by the most famous French Baroque composer in the 17th century, after changing his name from Giovanni Battista Lully to Jean-Baptiste Lully.

Alongside this museum, you will find another museum dedicated entirely to puppet theater. I am sure that both you and your children will enjoy it here, especially in the final part of the visit, where you can put on a small show using some of the puppets in the museum.

As in the previous museum, here too you can buy tickets at the museum box office, and here too I recommend that you come equipped with Lyon City Card, which will allow you to enter this museum, and the other municipal museums.

If you're not a history buff, you're welcome to go in just to enjoy the museum's beautiful courtyard. You can also take the elevator to the fourth floor (for free) and reach a nice rooftop where you can have a drink or two while looking out over the old city of Lyon from the roof.

• Address: 1 Pl. du Petit College
• Opening days and hours: Wednesday-Sunday between 10:30 AM-18:00 PM (last entry at 17:30 PM).
• More information: can be found atMuseum website.

Looking for a good restaurant near the Gadagne Museum?

Let me highly recommend Cabaretier. It is a bistro that serves great Lyonnaise food (try their snout salad and sausage) and is run by a husband and wife (I don't know if they are a couple or not), who have a sense of humor and good spirits. Here too, it is highly recommended to make a reservation in advance, otherwise you may be disappointed.

Link to the restaurant website

Lyon's main courthouse (Palais de Justice)

During the Middle Ages, the Counts of Forez lived here, and during the Renaissance, it became a royal palace. During the 19th century, the old palace was demolished and on its ruins, Louis Pierre Baltard (1764-1846) built a neoclassical courthouse in 1842.

If the name Baltard sounds familiar to you, it's because of his son Victor Baltard (1805-1874), the man who went down in history thanks to the Church of Saint Augustin in Paris and of course the famous wholesale market of the City of Lights, aka... La God.

The facade of the building consists of 24 columns, and behind them you will find a recurring motif of the Fascio on the wall. The Fascio is a bundle of twigs, with an axe in the center, and since the days of ancient Rome it has been a symbol of unity (after all, one stick can be easily broken, but if you join several sticks together, it will be very difficult to break them).

Since King Louis Philippe (reigned 1830-1848) sought a unifying symbol, it is not surprising that he and his successors adopted the fascio, and this symbol can therefore be found on quite a few public buildings in France. Another adopter of the fascio was the Italian ruler Benito Mussolini, who named his movement Fascism after this bundle of twigs…

The building still functions as a courthouse today, and if you arrive on a day when a trial is in progress, you may be able to go inside and see the very impressive main hall. Try to imagine how the “Butcher of Lyon,” aka Klaus Barbie, who served as the head of the city’s Gestapo, was tried here (you can read more about him in my article on the history of Lyon).

Rue Des Trois Maries

The somewhat strange name of this street is based on a Provençal legend that tells of three Marys (or Mary in Hebrew) who came from the Holy Land toProvence, after the death of Jesus:

• Mary the Shulammite, mother of Saint James
• Mary of Jacob, Jesus' aunt
• and Mary Magdalene (Mary Magdalene), who may very well have been the wife or lover of Jesus

The reason the street is named after them is because there is a broken statue at house number 7, depicting these three saints. Also pay attention to the building where the statue is located, it is definitely worth a look or two.

One last thing, pay attention to the steps in the trebuchet yard and you will find that there are holes there. No, this is not a housing for young mice, but probably a way to drain the water, when the river overflows its banks.

If you have a better idea why the holes are there, I'd be more than happy to hear it 🙂

Place de Baleine

Belen in French means whale, so this square could be called “Levite Square.” The name of the square, they say, comes from a wooden sign found there, and in this square, starting in the 16th century, the fairs that made Lyon such a wealthy city were held.

Another place worth checking out, if you're looking for a place to have lunch or dinner, is the Aux Trois Maries restaurant, named after the nearby street.

Government Square (Place du Gouvernement)

A charming square made up of 4-story houses. As you will see, each building is completely different and you are invited to pay attention to the small tower with two parallel doors. Don't let the pastoral appearance of the square fool you. In the past, this was the square where people were executed (similar to the square where theHotel de Ville of Paris).

The most impressive building on this square is the Government Building (Hôtel du Gouvernement) and it was built in the 15th century. This was where the king's representatives, appointed by him to run the city, lived. This was also where the king himself lived when he came to Lyon (many times on his way to the Italian peninsula).

You can enter a building that leads to a small trapeze. It is recommended to climb the stairs to see the courtyard and the stables, where the king's horses were kept. You can continue down the stairs and eventually exit to the river, but be aware that you will not be able to get back in if you do not know the code. So, if you are traveling together, make sure that one of you holds the door open while the other looks out.

Exchange Square (Place du Change)

This is Lyon's elegant version of Lilenblum Street in Tel Aviv (in the days when it was not easy to obtain foreign currency in Israel).

This was where most of the stalls of Lyon's various fairs were located and where, of course, money was exchanged. The money changers, most of whom came from the Italian peninsula, sat on benches outside, and since the name for benches in Italian was Banco, they were called bankers.

However, sitting on a bench in the heat, cold and rain was not very comfortable, so they decided to build a building in the square called the “Exchange Office” (Loge du Change), which is the main building in this square. What makes it unique is the fact that at the time it was the only building with four facades, so it is recommended to surround the building and enjoy each of these facades.

Today, the god of money is not worshipped here at all, as the banking business has moved to another location in the city. Instead of money and bankers, you will find a Protestant church here.

La Maison Thomassin

This is one of the oldest houses in the city, still standing today (its construction began in the 13th century).

If you're lucky, you can go inside the courtyard, which is painted entirely in red. It's an absolutely spectacular sight.

Jews' Street (Rue de la Juiverie)

This is where Lyon's ancient Jewish community lived during the Middle Ages, until they were expelled from the city during the 14th century.

Today you can find various types of artisans there, one of the most famous of which is a watchmaker, who named his shop at number 20 after a movie that was filmed there called “L'horloger de Saint Paul.” Here is the trailer for the movie in question:

At number 8 on the street you will find another famous building called Hôtel de Bullioud. If you manage to enter the courtyard, you will discover a beautiful Renaissance building, built by one of the greatest architects of the French Renaissance, namely Philibert Delorme.

When you look at the building, you can clearly see the inspiration the architect received following his visit to the Italian peninsula, and you can also see the same architectural genius that would characterize his most famous creation, the Palace of Fontainebleau.

House of Henri IV (Maison Henri IV)

This house is named after Henry IV (who ruled France from 4-1589) and all because he stayed there… for one night.

When you look at it from Jewish Street, it doesn't look that impressive, but if you turn left at the end of the street and go up, you can see a very impressive staircase in the corner with a bust (head statue) of the king on it.

Saint Paul's Church (Église Saint-Paul)

If you retrace your steps to the Exchange Square and pass the Saint Paul train station, you will reach the church of the same name.

This is a very old church that has stood here since the 6th century AD (!). As you will see, most of the church is a mix of Gothic and Romanesque styles, but following renovations during the 19th century, more modern parts were also added to the church.

Inside the church you will find beautiful stained glass windows and an impressive fresco of Saint Paul, who falls from his horse as Jesus suddenly appears before him (leading him to become a Christian).

We end our tour at this church. You are welcome to go find yourself a good restaurant or a nice cafe to rest in. You have honestly earned it :-).

Where should you live to explore the old city of Lyon?

In my opinion, the ideal hotel for a perfect introduction to the old city is Cour Des Loges, where I lived during September 2022.

This hotel has two main drawbacks. The first drawback is its not-so-low price, while the second drawback is the fact that between October 2022 and May 2023 it will be under renovations, so you will not be able to stay there. In that case, let me give you two pieces of advice:

• Log in toHotel page, click on its address and then see what hotels are nearby. These hotels will benefit from the same location and if they are suitable for you and have a score of 8 or higher – take them.
• If you can't find a hotel in the old town, you should look for a hotel on the Presqu'île, which is just across the river. If you live near the river between Place Bellcour and Place de Terreaux, you can get there in a 10-minute walk. If you want to live there, you can find a number of recommended hotels in the article Recommended hotels in Lyon that I have collected for you with tweezers.