One of the many things I find interesting in France (this may true of other countries in Europe, but I have the most experience with France) is the number of large churches and cathedrals in most cities, and even in many of the towns. For example, during my visit to Lyon this past weekend, I saw how there were two large churches (they could reasonably be called cathedrals) within sight of each other.

Here is the best photo I took of them (late in the evening, after dinner):

(click on the thumbnail for a larger image, email me if you are interested in seeing the full resolution photo)

The upper church is fairly recent (late 19th century, I believe), built in commemoration of the Virgin Mary saving Lyon from an outbreak of cholera (I need to research the details, sorry for the incomplete story). I have no details on the lower church, other than it is much less ornate inside, but has its own features of interest.

Here is a photo taken inside the lower church, during the afternoon. I have some other images of the interesting light cast through the stained glass windows, but the photos need some serious cleaning up before posting.

(click on the thumbnail for a larger image, email me if you are interested in seeing the full resolution photo)

Somehow, though, the very old, 13th century churches of Brugges (an old town in Belgium, once called “the Venice of the North”) hold more fascination for me, even though they are much rougher in appearance both inside and outside.

One of the other very interesting things about Lyon is the passages between buildings in the oldest quarters of town. The crazy-quilt pattern of building in the eras immediately before the Renaissance created a maze not only of streets, but of passageways that led both between streets and to small courtyards between the various buildings. The passageways were used by the Resistance against the Nazis during the occupation of France in the Second World War to avoid capture by the Gestapo. Again, I need to do some more research, but I believe the Gestapo had a major headquarters in Lyon to suppress the Partisans.

Here is a photo of one of the courtyards, showing one of the spiral staircases typical of the architecture of the region. Somewhat poetically they are called escalier escargot, the literal translation is “snail stairs”, with the spiral of the snail shell making reference to the spiral structure you can see in the arches in this photo. I haven’t had time to properly adjust the contrast of this photo yet, and I neglected to put on the polarizing filter before I took the shot, so it is not as nice a picture as I would prefer. It does not do the sight justice.

(again, click on the thumbnail for a larger image, email me if you are interested in seeing the full resolution photo)

I’ll try to post more photos later, once I’ve had time to make the images look a bit better.

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