Lyon is a most wonderful city, hitherto undiscovered by me. Not only does it have two great rivers, LE Rhone and LA Soane, it has ‘La Colline qui Prie’ (The Hill that prays) with the Cathedral St. Jean and a Sacre Coeur style Basilica on the top; it also has ‘La Colline qui Travaille’ (the Hill that Works) where all the silk weaving of Lyon – and nearly all of France –took place in the 18th and 19th centuries by people in clogs (sabots) who were called Canuts. The word ‘Sabotage’ comes from the Revolte de Canuts, one of the first up- risings of the working classes to improve working conditions, sometimes in the 1830’s I believe.
Anyway, the Canuts are said to have taken off their Sabots one day and used them to smash up the silk- weaving looms, hence the word Sabotage…And you don’t walk in the streets of La Colline qui Travaille, you traboule through strange criss-crossing passage- ways which takes you through the Canuts’ houses and court yards.