France Guide
The Rhône valley
Traboules
The streets running down from boulevard de la Croix-Rousse, as well as many across the river in Vieux Lyon, are intersected by these traboules. Normally hidden by plain doors, they are impossible to distinguish from normal entryways; hence they proved an indispensable escape network for prewar gangsters, wartime Resistance fighters and, more recently, for anarchists, who used them in thwarting police efforts to capture them during the 2005 riots, forcing the authorities to resort to temporary curfews. The traboules are indicated by subtle signs on the walls: try going up rue Réné-Leynaud, passing St-Polycarpe on your right, then take rue Pouteau via a passage. Turn right into rue des Tables Claudiennes, and enter no. 55 emerging opposite 29 rue Imbert-Colomes. Climb the stairs into 14bis, cross three more courtyards and trek up some steps, where you finally emerge at place Colbert.
Officially the traboules of La Croix-Rousse and Vieux-Lyon are public thoroughfares during daylight hours, but you may find some closed for security reasons, especially as the area is gradually being gentrified. The long climb up the part-pedestrianized Montée de la Grande Côte, however, still gives an idea of what the quartier was like in the sixteenth century, when the traboules were first built. Take a look at the pretty place Sathonay at the bottom, where a public garden and a lively local café are overlooked by Croix-Rousse Mairie.