7 Best Sights in Lyon and the Alps, France

Measuring 143 yards across, the Théâtre Romain is one of the largest in Gaul. It held 13,000 spectators and is only slightly smaller than Rome's Theater of Marcellus. Rubble buried Vienne's theater until 1922; excavation has uncovered 46 rows of seats, some marble flooring, and the frieze on the stage.

Across the Rhône from the town center is the excavated Cité Gallo-Romaine, covering several acres. Here you can find villas, houses, workshops, public baths, and roads, all built by the Romans. Views of the site can be had from the stunning glassed-in museum, which houses temporary exhibitions, mosaics excavated at the site, a boutique, and a pleasantly bright café.

The last vestige of the city's sizable Roman baths is a Roman gateway decorated with delicate friezes.

Rue des Orfèvres (off Rue de la Charité) is lined with Renaissance facades and distinguished by the church of St-André-le-Bas, once part of a powerful abbey, with beautifully restored 12th-century capitals and a 17th-century wood statue of St. Andrew. It's best to see the cloisters during the music festival held here and at the cathedral from June through August.

Although religious wars deprived the cathedral of St-Maurice of many of its statues, much of the original decoration is intact; the portals on the 15th-century facade are carved with Old Testament scenes. The cathedral was built between the 12th and 16th centuries, with later additions, such as the splendid 18th-century mausoleum to the right of the altar. A frieze of the zodiac adorns the entrance to the vaulted passage that once led to the cloisters but now opens onto Place St-Paul.

Beside the Rhône is the church of St-Pierre—note the rectangular 12th-century Romanesque bell tower with its arcaded tiers. The lower church walls date from the 6th century, and there is a collection of Gallo-Roman architectural fragments on display.

The remains of the Temple d'Auguste et de Livie, accessible via Place St-Paul and Rue Clémentine, probably date in part from Vienne's earliest Roman settlements (1st century BC). The Corinthian columns were walled in during the 11th century, when the temple was used as a church; in 1833 Prosper Mérimée intervened to have the temple restored.