2 Best Sights in Lyon and the Alps, France

Shady, imposing Place Bellecour is one of the largest squares in France, and is Lyon's fashionable center, midway between the Saône and the Rhône. Classical facades erected along its narrower sides in 1800 lend architectural interest. The large, bronze equestrian statue of Louis XIV, installed in 1828, is the work of local sculptor Jean Lemot.

The four majestic horses rearing up from a monumental 19th-century fountain in the middle of this large square are an allegory of the River Saône by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, who sculpted New York Harbor's Statue of Liberty. The 69 fountains embedded in the wide expanse of the square are illuminated by fiber-optic technology at night. The notable buildings on either side are the Hôtel de Ville and the Musée des Beaux-Arts.