Lyon (sometimes called Lyons in English) is the second largest city in France, centered upon the convergence of the Rhone and Saone rivers. The geographical location of Lyon has enabled the Lyons districts to extend towards the East plain over two millenia, thus providing a remarkable physical continuity in its urban fabric that can easily be explored on foot. The Fourviere Hill is where Romans founded Lyons (as Lugdunum) in the 1st century B.C to provide shelter to the veterans of Caesar's army. It is today the location for many religious buildings, including the highly decorated Notre-Dame de Fourviere Basilica. Below the Fourviere Hill, Vieux Lyon is noted for narrow passageways (traboules) that pass through buildings and link the streets either side, and a large concentration of renaissance buildings. Lyons presqu'ile (peninsula) between the Rhone and the Saone is home to a thousand years of architecture, centered around the largest clear square in Europe, the Place Bellecour. The historic center of Lyon is a
UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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