We wandered today…starting off in Vieux Lyon. We discovered ‘traboules’ or passageways that wind their way through different buildings and courtyards from one street to another, hidden behind old wooden doors. If you live here you know where they are, but if you’re visiting you can google the addresses to locate them. They lead to stairways for private apartments above. There are even switches to turn on lights if it is too dark.
Speaking of old doors…there are so many beautiful ones to see. I imagine, if they could talk, would have many stories about what has passed by, or through them, over the centuries.
We found a stairway and decided to take a chance to see where it led. Turned out that the part that was visible from the bottom was only a portion of the entire climb. We had committed so we continued. We ended up at the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourviere which sits on the top of the hill overlooking the city. Yep…that’s the one in the photo below.
The Basilica is spectacular inside so definitely worth the hike but there is a funicular that you can take up for a couple of Euros which is probably a better idea.
The walls are lined with scenes created with mosaics, the pictures don’t do them justice. Outside are sweeping view of the city below.
Later, we met up with our travelling companions for the week and continued exploring the old town.
We happened to come across the Chavrvet Clock which was build in 1864. Every quarter of an hour, Harlequin and Polichinelle, characters from the commedia dell’arte, ring 4 gilt bronze bells, while Gnafron and Guignol, strike the biggest bell. We arrived in time to watch this happen. If we had been there on the hour, a trumpet comes alive to announce the grand bell.
It’s Friday night and the bars and cafes were busy…so we joined in for a drink before calling it a night.
Leave a Reply