Set on two mighty rivers and hemmed in by very steep hills, Lyon, known as France’s second city, is a place of broad vistas and flowing water, with homes, shops, and churches scattered across islands and climbing sharp slopes. Undeniably pretty, the city’s history is nonetheless gritty.
Stepping onto a funicular dating back to 1891, I was spirited to the summit of La Croix-Rousse, “the hill that works,” an 800-plus-foot rise that was once the heart and soul of the city’s blue-collar community. While the area has since been gentrified, Lyon’s famous silk industry thrived here for centuries, the remaining 18th- and 19th-century workshops in the city testifying to its importance. The big buildings with vaulted ceilings are still connected by hundreds of “traboules” (“to cross on foot,” translated from Latin), passageways cutting between the main streets, forming a labyrinth—a city within the city.
