Traboules, Lyon

Le Vieux Lyon is the largest Renaissance district of Lyon. Covering an area of 424 hectares between the Fourvière hill and the river Saône, it is one of Europe’s most extensive Renaissance neighborhoods. There are three distinct sections: Saint Jean, Saint Paul and Saint Georges. In 1998, Vieux Lyon was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List along with other districts in Lyon because of its historical importance and architecture

Passing through le Vieux Lyon

Rue Mercière is a street of Les Cordeliers quarter in the 2nd arrondissement of Lyon. It belongs to the zone classified as World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Rue Mercière is a lively street with lots of restaurants and shops.

Strolling along....

A cozy square on Place de la Baleine with restaurants setting up lots of outdoor tables.

Les Traboules

A Traboule is a network of hidden passages through Renaissance apartment blocks in the heart of Lyon.
In the 15th and 16th centuries Lyon became a center for the silk trade and traded heavily with Italy, at that point the center of the world as its art, architecture and the new-fangled concept of banking were the envy of Europe. Italian bankers settled in Vieux Lyon, building some sumptuous palazzos, and Italian architects were brought in to give the medieval town a suitable make-over, and the dense medieval streets were filled with tall Renaissance apartment blocks.
One thing Lyon's founders had forgotten was to do some proper urban planning as most streets ran parallel to the river, making it relatively hard to get from one street to the next without making a massive detour. The solution is by connecting building courtyards with a network of passages, a large number of shortcuts was created, normally hidden by doors that otherwise served as the entrance to an apartment building.

We are now at Rue des 3 maries you can take the traboules passages along the odd number side of the street towards the Saône. This one is and the first courtyard that is visible, dating from the late 15th, with carved windows and facades.

The Latin 'transambulare' (to cross, pass through) became 'traboule' in Vulgar Latin (a phrase that suggests antique kinkiness but, alas, that's not the case) and this is still the name in use today. The traboules became associated with the silk weavers who, either because they were carrying heavy loads or because they were lazybones, took advantage of these urban shortcuts as they made their way from the river into town.

Long narrow corridor leading to a small courtyard.

Tour guide explaining the traboule in the middle of the courtyard.

There is another corridor leading to another courtyard.

It is really small and there are people leaving here so everyone try to be respectful and keep the noise to a minimum.

Half the fun of exploring the traboules is finding them: most of them are unmarked and hidden by nondescript doors. Indeed, most of these doors are simply access doors to private apartment blocks. But if you know which doors to push you'll find that many of them give way to delightful hidden passages. We are now on Rue Saint Jean.

Entrance of another traboule on 6 Rue des 3 Maries

Small pink corridor and dimly lit.

This is the 1st courtyard dating from the 16th century.

Corridor leading to a 2nd courtyard.

2nd courtyard with beautiful archways

We are now on rue Jean Carries, another beautiful Renaissance street in the Vieux Lyon.

We are now crossing the River Saône by taking the Palais de Justice footbridge.

We are passage de L'arge a covered hall in the 2nd arrondissement.

Passage de L'Argue connects the rue de la République to the rue Édouard-Herriot and the rue de Brest. This is one of the oldest arcades in the French provinces.

Place de la Republique is a square located in the Bellecour Quarter and belongs to the zone classified as World Heritage site by UNESCO.

We are approaching L'hotel dieux.

NEXT.... Day 3-Chapel of L'hotel Dieu