Passage de l'Argue
Île Barbe bakery at the Halles de
Lyon-Paul Bocuse
Parc Olympique Lyonnais
Both Vieux Lyon and the slopes of Croix-Rousse are known for their narrow
passageways (named traboules) that pass through buildings and link streets on either
side. The first examples of traboules are thought to have been built in Lyon in the 4th
century.[54] The traboules allowed the inhabitants to get from their homes to the Saône
quickly and allowed the canuts on the Croix-Rousse hill to get from their workshops
to the textile merchants at the foot of the hill.
Lyon has a long and chronicled culinary arts tradition. The noted food critic
Curnonsky referred to the city as "the gastronomic capital of the world",[55] a claim
repeated by later writers such as Bill Buford.[56] Renowned 3-star Michelin chefs
such as Marie Bourgeois[57] and Eugénie Brazier[58] developed Lyonnaise cuisine into
a national phenomenon favoured by the French elite; a tradition which Paul Bocuse
later turned into a worldwide success.[59] The bouchon is a traditional Lyonnais
restaurant that serves local fare such as sausages, duck pâté or roast pork, along with
local wines. Two of France's best known wine-growing regions are located near the
city: the Beaujolais region to the north and the Côtes du Rhône region to the south.
Another Lyon tradition is a type of brunch food called "mâchons", made of local
charcuterie and usually accompanied by Beaujolais red wine. Mâchons were the
customary meal of the canuts, the city's silk workers, who ate a late-morning meal
after they finished their shifts in the factories.[60]
Other traditional local dishes include coq au vin; quenelle; gras double; salade
lyonnaise (lettuce with bacon, croûtons and a poached egg); and the sausage-based
rosette lyonnaise and andouillette. Popular local confections include marron glacé and
coussin de Lyon. Cervelle de canut (literally, "silk worker's brains") is a cheese
spread/dip made of a base of fromage blanc, seasoned with chopped herbs, shallots,
salt, pepper, olive oil and vinegar.
More recently, the french tacos was invented in Lyon suburbs (Vaulx-en-Velin) (or Grenoble according to some theories), in
the early 2000s and is now famous worldwide.[61][62]
Lyon is home to the football club Olympique Lyonnais (OL), whose men's team plays
in Ligue 1 and has won the championship of that competition seven times, all
consecutively from 2002 to 2008.[63] OL played until December 2015 at the 43,000-
seat Stade de Gerland, which also hosted matches of the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Since
2016, the team has played at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais, a 59,000-seat stadium
located in the eastern suburb of Décines-Charpieu.[64] OL operates a women's team,
Olympique Lyonnais Féminin, which competes in and dominates Division 1
Féminine. They won fourteen consecutive top-flight championships (2007–2020), and
additionally claim the four titles won by the original incarnation of FC Lyon, a
women's football club that merged into OL in 2004 (the current FC Lyon was founded in 2009). The OL women have also
won the UEFA Women's Champions League eight times, including in five consecutive editions from 2016 to 2020. Lyon
hosted the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup semi-finals as well as the Final on 7 July at Stade de Lyon.
Lyon has a rugby union team, Lyon OU, in the Top 14, which moved into Stade de Gerland full-time in 2017–18. In addition,
Lyon has a rugby league side called Lyon Villeurbanne that plays in the French rugby league championship. The club's home
is the Stade Georges Lyvet in Villeurbanne.
Gastronomy
Sport