Tag: Bourgogne-Franche-Comte

Drove south, deeper into Burgundy to an area of wooded meadows and rolling fields filled with white and cream coloured cows. We were in Charolles in the Saone et Loire, the most southerly of the Burgundy Departments and home to the iconic Charolais Cow. More about the cows later.

Charollais is a sizeable village of some 3,000 people known in the area as the Little Venice of the Charolais. It’s nowhere near the sea but it sits at the confluence of the Aronce and Semence Rivers and is almost entirely surrounded by water. Introduce a couple of canals, exercise a little imagination and, bob’s your uncle, you have a Little Venice. I’m being unfair; it is a pretty little place (despite the darkening sky and the rain that fell during my wander around the place).

It’s classified as a ‘Village d’Etape’ which, in case you don’t know, is a designated ‘Stopover Village’. Such villages make travel around France, especially if you are using the motorways, so much more interesting. They must be located within 5 kilometres of the motorway and offer a full range of services (hotel accomodation, restaurants, shops, pharmacy, garage and petrol station, etc). Equally important they must be villages of less than 5,000 people with a tourist information facility and some points of interest (be they historical buildings and/or hiking trails) and they must be concerned to maintain their character as a village. At the last count there were more than 40 Villages d’Etape across France but their numbers are growing. I think this is a tremendous initiative.

A little bit more about this particular Village d’Etape before I get back to the Charolais Cow. There are two buildings which stand out in Charolles and are visible from just about everywhere in the village; the remains of a feudal castle and the church. There’s not a great deal left of the castle complex which used to belong to Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgendy. There’s the Charles the Bold Tower which sits on a rise over the village but most of what remains of the castle has been transformed into the Hotel de Ville by the town councillors.

The most impressive building in the town is the virtually reconstructed red sandstone church, L’Eglise de Sacre Coeur, which had to be rebuilt during the 19th century. It is famous for it’s Blumenroeder Organ which was installed in 2015 – a “majestic organ which was designed to perform 17th century European music… (that) has aroused the admiration of organists and music lovers from many countries… through the richness and clarity of it’s sound”. I cannot comment on that – the church was closed – but the townspeople here are very proud of it.

Most of the town is focused around the church. There are one or two pretty places and there are a few good restaurants; which is to be expected in the birthplace of two of the all time great French Chefs, Albert and Michel Roux. They left for London in the 1960’s and opened the Le Gavroche Restaurant (the first UK restaurant to win first one Michelin Star and then two Michelin Stars and then 3 Michelin Stars and, if that wasn’t enough, they trained both Gordon Ramsey and Marco Pierre White).

As was mentioned already, Charolles is home of iconic white Charolais Cow which supposedly produces the best tasting beef in the world and which has it’s own PDO (Protected Designation of Origin). The village has a museum dedicated to the cow (the Maison du Charolais); the official tour of which ends with a tasting of the meat!?! I elected to try the beef in a restaurant later in the evening and had reserved a table for Vanya and I at La Bonne Franquette near the centre of the village.

That evening Vanya and I took Nala and Beanie to La Bonne Franquette and after a warm welcome from the proprietors I ate a wonderfully tender sirloin with a quite exquisite taste (without the earthy taste which can sometimes mar the flavour of the beef). This may be because Charolais cows are fed only on local grass throughout the year? I don’t know but I can confirm it is excellent beef.

The worsening weather prompted us to head south west (we’re chasing the sun again) to Chateauneuf du Rhone. Otherwise we’d have stayed to visit the Saint-Christophe en Brionnais cattle market. It is a weekly affair and, supposedly, a real event.

I finally made it to Auxerre. This capital of the Yonne Department in the north west of Burgundy has long been on my list of places to visit in France but, for some reason, it just hasn’t happened… until now. Auxerre is a beautiful medieval city, not unlike Troyes with it’s many half timbered buildings and; it’s an easy place to walk with plenty of interest about it. Having now seen some of it, I think the city doesn’t have the profile it deserves and is too often overlooked by visitors to France in favour of lesser towns and cities. I really like the place and will definitely return when we are next down this way.

We parked the Van without any difficulty and within easy walking distance of the old town. The spires of the city’s Cathedral Saint Etienne d’Auxerre and the Abbey Saint-Germain drew us across the River Yonne to the old town by way of the Tournelle Bridge.

The easiest way to explore Auxerre and ensure that none of the city’s major attractions are missed is to follow a series of small bronze shields fixed into the pavement. These shields form the 5 kilometre long ‘Cadet Rousselle Route’ and they lead to the city’s numerous points of interest. Many of the shields are numbered (67 in total) and a brochure issued by the local tourist office (costing 1.50 Euros) provides background information on each of these numbered ‘points of interest’. Indeed, one numbered shield alongside a statue on Place Charles Surugue, serves to introduce Cadet Rousselle; an eccentric but very popular 18th century bailiff of the city after which the Cadet Rousselle Route was named.

The monument to Cadet Rousselle was created by the renowned French painter and sculptor Francois Brochet. He has at least two other monuments on show in Auxerre – the Restif de La Bretonne and Marie-Noel. Of the three, I favour the one to Cadet Rousselle. For my part, you can keep the other two.

We didn’t bother with the brochure but we chanced on the Route near two of the city’s more preeminent buildings, the Hotel de Ville and the 15th century Tour d’Horloge. Of these two buildings, the colourful clock tower (Tour d’Horloge) is by far the more spectacular . The clock itself has two hands but in this case one is the solar hand which travels around the dial every 24 hours and tells the solar time while the other is about 3/4 hour behind the solar hand and identifies the phases of the moon. Don’t ask me how that works. I gave up on Physics very early in my school life.

Close to the Hotel de Ville and the Tour de L’Horloge are the two other Francois Brochet monuments which I mentioned previously – Restif de La Bretonne and Marie-Noel. I know very little about the Restif de la Bretonne (except that he was a novelist around the time of the French Revolution) or Marie-Noel (except what I read about her in Auxerre Cathedral later in the day – she was a famous poet who was born, lived and died in Auxerre and was made an Officer of the Legion of Honour by that leading-edge Brexit Campaigner, General de Gaulle).

After musing over the aforementioned monuments for a while (they are unlike anything I have seen before) we followed the Cadet Rousselle Route to the 13th century Cathedral Saint-Etienne d’Auxerre (that’s Saint Stephen to those whose first language is English). It’s recognised as a masterpiece of Gothic Art (which I don’t deny) but it is the 15th and 16th century stained glass windows which most impressed me.

From the Cathedral it is a short walk to another must see ecclesiastical building in Auxerre (the Abbey of Saint-Germain) but follow the Rue Cochois and then the Rue d’Lyonne on the way to Abbey and pass through the Place Saint-Nicolas which has to be one of the most picturesque squares in the city. It has some wonderful photo opportunities which lend themselves to the lids of chocolate boxes and biscuit tins.

We didn’t go inside the Abbey Saint-Germain. One of the more interesting aspects of the abbey is it’s crypt and we were too late for that. So, from the abbey we retraced our steps to a small restaurant-bar near the cathedral where we could sit outside and people watch at the same time as we ate. It was time to eat if we were going to get some wine tasting in and we had promised ourselves earlier in the day that, if nothing else, we would compare the Chablis and Chitry wines.

As for lunch, I wasn’t going to make the same mistake as in Bar sur Seine a couple of days ago. No more Tete de Veau for me… not for a while anyway. It would be something a tad more boring…but safe.

One place I regret not seeing during this visit to Auxerre is the Palais des Comtes and, in particular, a room known as Salle Eckmuhl. I make no apology for being a fan of Napoleonic history and in 1882, the last daughter of Napoleon’s “Iron Marshall” (Louis-Nicolas Davout) established a room of Davout memorabilia in Auxerre’s Palace des Comtes. Davout was born in Annoux, 30 miles south east of Auxerre and, like Napoleon, attended the military academy in Brienne Le Chateau (see the earlier blog during this Tour). The ‘museum’, for want of a better word, is still there and for my part, I’m sure I would find the place enthralling. Next time then.

We arrived in Nevers on a beautiful day and, from where we were parked on the banks of the fast flooding River Loire, the town looked very interesting with it’s magnificent cathedral (dedicated to the Saints Cyr and Julitte) and the nearby 15th century Ducal Palace clearly visible across the river. Sadly, that was about as good as it got.

Our short stay in Nevers and, in particular, my visit to the cathedral proved a real disappointment. Almost all of the inside of the cathedral was blocked off for renovation work with only the Choir, behind the altar, open to the public (although some stunning stained glass windows could still be seen).

The stately Ducal Palace, described as a “modern palace that has retained it’s historical character”, looks magnificent from the outside but the inside is as sterile a building as I have seen (outside of the Castle Svevo in Bari – see Tour 1).

If the above wasn’t bad enough, the Saint Pierre Church was closed and almost all the principal streets were being dug up while block pavements are replaced.

I finished the day by continuing eastwards to the Eglise St Etienne which is supposedly one of the best preserved Romanesque style churches in the Region. I wasn’t disappointed with the church itself but my interest in the town had waned and so I decided to call it a day and return to the Van. The weather had turned anyway.

It is said that you should never say never again but I will never return to Nevers again unless or until they once again hold Formula 1 Racing at the old Nevers Magny-Cours Racing Circuit. I think the last Grand Prix event held there was in 2008 with a Ferrari winning the event?

Sorry, Nevers. we’re off now to an old favourite of ours, Amboise.

Neither Troyes nor Beaune were on our radar as places to visit until I started researching a different route down through France to Spain via Champagne. So glad we did and; nice as Troyes was, we enjoyed Beaune even more. It’s great when things just keep getting better.

Upon arrival at Beaune we reverted to our usual approach whereby I set off on an explore (leaving Vanya to chill) and then, later in the day, we go into town together and I show Vanya around. It works for us because I get to see things Vanya has absolutely no interest in and, in any event, Vanya would never walk as far as I tend to.

I entered Beaune via the Porte Saint-Nicholas and making towards the larger church spires soon found myself near the town centre at the Basilica Notre Dame. These old cathedral spires are very effective way-finders.

Beaune is a pretty town and most if not all of the principal tourist sites are located within the footprint of the old town walls, which makes finding them relatively easy. A great deal of the old town walls have been removed over time and there are none in the immediate vicinity of the Porte Saint-Nicholas but it is possible to walk those parts that are still standing.

Beaune is the capital of the Burgundy wine region and there are plenty of wine merchants operating in the town centre (although you will have to travel a few kilometres to see any vineyards). Many of the wine merchants offer wine tastings but they charge and the charge appears to be much higher than in other French towns. Although it does seem as if almost everything in France is more expensive these days. Clearly France is suffering as much as the UK in these difficult economic times.

We didn’t bother with a formal wine tour but that is not to say we didn’t sample quite a few of the local wines during our visit – Vanya focusing on the white wines and me on the red wines.

Beaune’s reliance on wine is obvious throughout the town. There are numerous winehouses operating in the centre. The pretty turreted building in the photo above was once home to a rich wine merchant and the statue of wine bottles in the town’s main square says it all.

On a more general note, the most interesting building in the town centre is the Hospices de Beaune (often referred to as the Hotel-Dieu). It dates back to 1443 and was built as an almshouse and hospice for the poor not long after the town lost 75% of it’s population to plague. It remained a hospital up until 1971 when it was turned into a museum although every November a wine auction is held in the building with much of the proceeds going to local charities. You have to go inside the building and through to the main courtyard to appreciate the beauty of this erstwhile hospital -a half timbered first floor gallery runs around the courtyard and this is topped by the most beautiful glazed tile roof. It is striking.

The Hospices de Beaune with it’s beautiful gallery and glazed tile roof.

The second most impressive building in Beaune has to be the 12th century Basilique de Notre Dame. It is a pretty enough building built in the Romanesque style but it is the inside of the church that is most interesting. There is a lovely 13th century cloister area, colourful stained glass windows (of the Troyes School, naturally), an impressive organ, 15th century wall paintings, and a range of tapestries depicting the Virgin Mary’s life.

The front entrance, inside and rear of the Basilique de Notre Dame.

Beaune is one of those towns that is a joy to walk. I liked walking the town’s quiet back streets almost as much as I enjoyed the town centre. I stumbled on one area with a fine mural reflecting the town’s association with cinema. It goes beyond just providing beautiful settings for films. The inventor of moving pictures, Etienne-Jules Marey, was born in Beaune and the inventor of photography, Nicephore Niepce, and the inventor of the zoom, Roger Cuvilliers were also from Burgundy.

There are plenty of places to sit and chill over a glass of wine or a beer but we really were lucky when we stumbled on a great little restaurant for our evening meal – La Petite Taverne.

I tried the artisan beer during my ‘explore’. The wines followed when Vanya and I went into town together

La Petite Taverne is a bijoux little restaurant of just 12 covers. It offered a great welcome and good food. We settled on a popular local dish, Fondue Vigneronne, washed down with local Beaune red (Vanya settling for a local Chardonnay). We had an enjoyable and fairly long evening in this small friendly restaurant and were delighted when the management presented us with complementary shots of Framboise Sauvage, a raspberry liqueur which Vanya described as savage. No argument there; I politely declined a second.

In La Petite Taverne

Footnote: Vanya considered one of the white wines she tried in Beaune, a Cremant de Bourgogne, so good that we had to track it down. She discovered that it could be bought at the Cave de Bussey in a small hamlet just outside of Beaune called Bissey Sous Cruchaud. Unfortunately, the Sat-Nav (which has long had a mind of it’s own) chose to play up as we travelled to the Cave and; it sent us on a 90 kilometre detour up a motorway. We made it (back) to the Cave just as it was closing but Vanya prevailed upon the owner to let her try a few of his wines and came away with half a dozen bottles. Happy Vanya.

On to Le Puy en Velay.