Part-Dieu: Lyon

The left bank of the Rhône is to business what the right bank of the Saône is to tourism. The so-called pencil of the Part Dieu is surrounded by and essentially made up of offices. There is a marvelous view over Lyon from the top floor of the restaurant panoramique le Méridien. Those who travel by train know that the train station is an ideal pretext to go shopping in the huge shopping centre of the Part-Dieu. Seems uninteresting to tourists? Not if one considers the contemporary architecture and especially the Cité des Gratte-Ciel complex, one of the first workers' housing developments of the 1920s, situated near the Hôtel de Ville de Villeurbanne which marks the architectural grandeur of the period. © WCities