www.grenoble-tourisme.com. Guarded by the limestone waves of the Chartreuse Massif to the north, the crowded peaks of the Belledonne range to the east, and a circlet of lesser, but still significant heights to the south and west, Grenoble unfolds across a broad valley on the banks of the rivers Isère and Drac. The city has a reputation for independent thinking: its Day of the Tiles, when the locals protested at Louis XVI’s attempt to suppress the local parlement by raining tiles on his troops, predated the storming of the Bastille by 13 months; the city later welcomed Napoleon on his return from Elba in 1815. Local glovemakers established the first French trade union in 1803. Industry boomed in the 19thC, and the rivers were harnessed to generate hydro-electricity. Today, nuclear, chemical and medical laboratories are major local employers. Grenoble has also been a university town since 1339, and its three universities, foreign language and technical schools attract some 40,000 students. As the capital of Dauphiné, the city’s economic and cultural influence extends throughout the French Alps.

A busy, partially-pedestrianized jumble of streets around place Grenette, on the left bank of the Isère, constitutes the city centre. The 19thC author Henri Beyle, better known as Stendhal, was born here at 14 rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau, now the small Musée de la Résistance et de la Déportation; while his grandfather’s apartment at 20 Grande Rue is used for temporary exhibitions. For genuine Stendhalalia, the Musée Stendhal, 1 rue Hector-Berlioz, overlooks the Jardin de Ville. To the north, the cafés of place Saint-André provide a pleasant view of the Flamboyant Renaissance Palais de Justice, and the occasional sighting of a white-fronted avocat or scarlet-caped judge whisking past an open window. The belfry of the Eglise de Saint-André, built by the Princes of Dauphine in the 13thC, is a local landmark; while a short walk east, the Cathédrale de Notre-Dame (currently under-going a facelift) dates back to the 11thC. South of the centre, the Musée d’Histoire Naturelle, 1 rue Dolomieu, details the first stirrings of homo sapiens in the Alps alongside more traditional displays of geology, fauna and flora. For more exotic flora, stroll on to the hot houses of the adjacent Jardin des Plantes.

The most famous symbol of the modern city is the télépherique, the world’s first urban cable car inaugurated in 1934 (timetables from the tourist office). From quai Stephane-Jay on the left bank of the river, it sends a frequent shuttle of perspex bubbles across the Isère and up to the Fort de la Bastille towering above the city with tremendous views over the rooftops to the encircling mountains.

You can walk back down to the city along a network of paths through the old fortifications to the Eglise de Saint-Laurent, off quai Xavier-Jouvin, where archaeologists have performed an autopsy on the nave of the church to reveal a 6thC crypt; and the Musée Dauphinois, 30 rue Maurice Gignoux. (Both are accessible from the Old Town via the pedestrian Pont Saint-Laurent, which marks the spot where the first Roman bridge spanned the river.) The museum, housed in a former 17thC convent, offers a fascinating introduction to the lifestyle of the ‘Gens de là-Haut’ (‘people from up there’). There are everyday objects from a shepherd’s pocket sundial and box bed to painstakingly decorated furniture and drinking gourds. The postman is painted in a startling new light as a contrabandier with a log dragged behind his bike as a primitive brake; animals were also handy smugglers, as illustrated by a selection of body-hugging flasks built for man and beast. The architectural models are works of art with their tiny tiles, horse-hair thatching and animal noises supplied from the wings; and do not miss the stunning Chapelle de Sainte-Marie in the basement with its frescoes and gilded baroque altar.

The autumn of 1993 saw the reopening of the Musée de Grenoble at 5 place de Lavalette. Widely recognized as one of the finest collections outside Paris, its Italian section is first rate, there is a marvellous Rubens, and the 19th-20thC collection represented by Bonnard, Picasso, Klee, Matisse, Miró, and Arp (the list goes on) is exceptional by any standard. Temporary exhibitions are displayed in the Centre National d’Art Contemporain (nicknamed Le Maga-Sin) on Cours Berriat.

The Grenoblois eat well and play hard. Long-stay visitors should invest in a copy of the student guide Dahu (named for a legendary beast with two long and two short legs which enable it to circle mountains). This definitive guide to clubs, pubs, entertainment and cheap dining is also available in English. If you have had your fill of local cuisine, there are around 60 Chinese restaurants in town; and the little Italy’ quarter on the right bank of the Isère is packed with pizza and pasta joints