Free to enter, but modern updates have made this Roman monument somewhat disappointing…read more You can take the funicular to take you up the hill. It's still used for modern concerts, which would be a fun thing to do. We saw them setting up for an event which was part of the annual Fête de la Musique.

Wonderfully preserved Roman ruins just downhill from the Basilica de Notre Dame de Fourvière. It's…read morea great place to stop off and rest after visiting the basilica! So very peaceful there and I got a kick from resting my tired old butt on the same seats as some Roman citizens did 2000 years ago. I gotta say, those Roman architects knew how to build and design seating that was surprisingly comfortable, bare stone and cement that they are! If Vieux Lyon is old then these ruins - formerly known as Lugdunum - was ancient Lyon. It really is quite awesome thinking about the layered history of this city. The open air theaters' are still used today; there is a museum too but unfortunately wasn't open on the day we visited. I would have loved to learn more about Lugdunum and its evolution into modern-day Lyon.

One of the best things to see in Lyon. These are narrow passage ways between buildings built in the…read moreMiddle Ages and used to transport goods from the river to the buildings along the shores. There are many of these clearly marked with plaques but many that are just behind doors with no signs. Some amazing architecture can be seen comprising of gothic, renaissance and also some classic Italian designs. These old passageways have had a fair bit of Italian influence and many of the buildings along these passageways look like buildings from Venice. We explored a number of these during our walking tour and I loved it :-) would come back here in a heartbeat and explore some more. A photographers paradise :-)

One of our favorite parts of Lyon was the traboules or "secret passageways" in Vieux Lyon. We were…read moreonly in Lyon for a couple of days and no guided tours were available in English so we opted for a walking audio tour which included Vieux Lyon and Croix-Rousse area. We only did the Vieux Lyon walking tour but if we had more time, would def have done Croix-Rousse as well. Traboules are secret passageways that lead you from one street to another....in the old days, this allowed tradesmen to move textiles. Our walking tour took us through a few traboules and it was kind of fun trying to find the entrance to the traboules. From what we gathered, the traboules are in private buildings but since they are tourist attractions, many of the traboules are still open and tourists are allowed to walk through them. Some of the traboules lead past courtyards and allow you to see old Lyon buildings from a completely different perspective. Super awesome. This is the walking tour we took. We had to carry around big audiosets which was pretty cheesy but walking through the traboules made it all worth it. http://www.en.lyon-france.com/Guided-Tours-Excursions/The-100-essentials/Old-Lyon-Renaissance-district-and-its-Traboules