The Capital of the Alps — a flat city ringed by 2,000-metre peaks on three sides, connected to a hilltop fortress by bubble cable cars that have been running since 1934, and home to one of France's most innovative universities and a modern art museum that rivals Paris
Grenoble (160,000; metro 450,000) is France's 'Capital of the Alps', enclosed on three sides by the Vercors, Belledonne, and Chartreuse massifs whose summits rise above 2,000 metres within 15km of the city centre. The Bastille fortress (16th century) is reached by the Téléphérique de Grenoble (bubble cable car, 1934) for panoramic Alpine views; the Vercors plateau and Chartreuse mountains are accessible for day hikes directly from the city. Grenoble hosted the 1968 Winter Olympics and is home to a major research cluster (Institut Laue-Langevin, European Synchrotron, CEA nuclear research) and…
Cularo, the Gaulish settlement at the confluence of the Drac and Isère rivers, was fortified by the Romans as Gratianopolis (named for Emperor Gratian, 4th century CE) — later contracted to Grenoble. The city was the seat of the Dauphiné, the province whose ruler carried the title 'Dauphin de France' — the title transferred to French royal heirs from 1349, making Grenoble the birthplace of the hereditary title that English-speakers know as 'the Dauphin'. Grenoble was the first city in France to revolt against royal authority before the 1789 Revolution — the 'Day of Tiles' (7 June 1788), in wh…