Tag: Bourgogne-Franche-Comte

I’m thinking I should count the Jura Department amongst my favourite places in France. The scenery is stunning; the people are friendly and; the food and wine can be considered amongst the best we have tasted. What’s not to like about Jura?

And so to Poligny. It’s an old fortified town (not that there is much left of the ramparts) with approximately 4,000 inhabitants. With the help of the town’s authorities, the Tourist Information Office has established a walking tour (the Circuit Tour?) which is a marked trail that leads around some of the town’s historical sites (e.g. the Chateau de Poligny, Saint Hippolyte Church, the remains of the city’s fortifications, etc) and some of it’s gastronomic delights (e.g. the Maison du Comte Visitor Centre, Le Caveau des Jacobines, etc).

The tourist information office is in the town’s main square, the Place Des Deportes; where the Grande Rue , the Route de Geneve and Rue Travot all converge. It’s not a particularly large square but, with it’s lively restaurant-bars, boutique shops and farmer’s market on Mondays and Fridays, it lays claim to being the beating heart of the town. The square is conspicuous by a large fountain towards one end and a statue of the town’s most famous son, General Jean Pierre Travot, at the other end.

Born in Poligny in 1767, General Jean Pierre Travot was one of Napoleon Bonaparte’s more succesful generals so much so that his name is one of those inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe. He was also one of Napoleon’s more loyal officers and in return was made first a baron of the Empire (1814) and then a Peer of France (1815). After rallying to Napoleon’s cause during the 100 days, Travot was tried for treason and condemned to death. This was subsequently commuted to 20 years in prison but, unable to cope with the incarceration, he very quickly went mad and; despite getting a reprieve in 1819, he spent the remainder of his days in a lunatic asylum and died in 1836.

We didn’t get to see as much of the town as we would have liked during this our visit because, we were advised that first and foremost, the town is famous for it’s gastronomic expertise and; on this occasion at least we were there primarily to sample it’s wine and food. My particular interest was with the Arbois Jaune Wine, Poligny being just 9 kilometres from Arbois. Vanya’s interest was Comte cheese and, in this regard, Poligny considers itself the Comte cheese capital; a claim which can be justified as at least a third of the Region’s total production of Comte is aged in the town’s cellars.

It was early afternoon when we settled at the Au Platanes Restaurant on the Place Des Deportes for a light lunch and to plan what remained of our day. For my part, the restaurant proved an inspired choice because, joy of joys, the first item on their menu was ‘Croute au morelles et au Vin Jaune’; that’s (French) morel mushrooms (morchella elata/esculenta) cooked in a cream and yellow wine sauce. I’d not eaten them before; probably because they are highly sought after and yet cannot be farmed. They have a price tag second only to that of the black truffle but my goodness they taste good. They are delicately scented and the taste is enhanced when cooked in yellow wine. They were glorious. And for my main course? Well, this Region’s full name is Bourgogne-Franche-Comte; Burgundy is famous for it’s snails and so, I opted for a dozen of the ‘Escargots au beurre d’ail’. Delicious!

The Place Des Deportes is a great place to stop for lunch. We enjoyed some fabulous food and then sat for a while in the sunshine with a cup of coffee. That is one of the great joys of France; just sitting, well fed and comfortable in a prime spot just watching the world go by. Of course, it didn’t last long. We were sitting directly opposite the tourist information office and Vanya, who had eaten next to nothing (so impatient was she to taste more Comte) was off looking for guidance as to the best places for Comte.

We were too late for the tour at the Maison du Comte Visitor Centre (which also offers a cheese tasting session) but that wasn’t going to deter Vanya and; after a short while she exited the tourist information office with a grin like a Cheshire cat eating cheese – Comte cheese. They recommended the place next door, the Boutique Badoj Vins et Fromages, and in what seemed like no time, Vanya had returned with three of the largest slices of Comte I have ever seen. We have since devoured one of them and it really is the best cheese I have ever tasted. I’m no expert on cheese but it seems to me there’s a big difference between cheese freshly cut from the wheel and that which has been vacuum packed in plastic. I much prefer the younger cheese while Vanya favours the more mature, friable version.

Not long after we were esconced in a wine shop in Poligny tasting yellow wine. Well, I was. It’s a strong wine (see the Arbois blog) and it’s not to everyone’s taste – certainly not Vanya’s. This was in the ‘Fruitiere Vinicole d’Arbois’. There are 5 such shops (all part of a co-operative); two in Arbois, one in Arc et Senans, another in Saint Laurent en Grandvaux and the one in Poligny on Grande Rue known as the ‘Caveau des Jacobins’. What a great wine and have I mentioned in any of my blogs that it is even better when paired with Comte cheese? It’s a marriage made in heaven.

And now I have a confession to make. I’m not sure that the bottle in the above photo is the one I purchased in the Caveau des Jacobins. I opened a bottle of yellow wine later in the tour while in Austria (Yes, I’m playing catch up again with the blogs) and finished the whole bottle (it was so good). That may have been the bottle I bought in Poligny. No matter, we’ll simply have to return to buy some more and I’ll have to re-visit both shops in Arbois and Poligny. Hurrah!!

The weather forecasts were warning of approaching wet weather and it was almost time for us to move further south. There was enough time, however, for one more trip around Jura which would see us visit Baume les Messieurs (another ‘plus beau village de France’) and the small town of Poligny (the self proclaimed Comte Cheese Capital of Jura).

Our first stop of the day would be Baume les Messieurs, just 30 miles south of Dole, and the approach couldn’t have been easier. We were nearing the end of the holiday season and there was ample parking at the entrance to the village. Moreover, we’d arrived shortly after a coachload of tourists and all we had to do was follow the crocodile queue along the banks of the River Seille to the centre of Baume les Messieurs.

The village is picturesque and it’s setting, underneath a 200 metre high escarpment of limestone cliffs is absolutely gorgeous but having said that; there is little to Baume les Messieurs other than the former Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter (which was in the process of being renovated); a handful of expensive craft shops and; two cafe-bars which were mobbed by the coachload of tourists we had followed in. I’m sorry to say, pretty as the village is, we weren’t that enamoured with the place.

Mind you, instead of aimlessly wandering the village while waiting for a table to become available at one of the cafes, I could have made better use of our time by visiting the nearby Herisson Waterfalls and/or the Baume Caves. Like I said, the village is located in a splendid setting and the weather was wonderful throughout our short stay. Alternatively, we could have combined our visit to Baume les Messuriers with one to the nearby Chateau Chalon which we passed on the way in. More fool me.

Oh well. On to Poligny.

Located in Jura, one of Franche Comte’s most beautiful Departments and surrounded by vineyards, Arbois is a small town of about 3,500 people but, despite it’s limited size, it’s a jewel of a place, oozing charm and character.

It’s the self styled regional capital of Jura and I’ll not argue with that claim given that the vineyards around Arbois currently account for almost 70% of Jura’s wine production and the wines themselves were well renowned way back in the times of the Roman Empire. We had come to Arbois to taste some of these famous wines.

The town is distinguished by it’s many ochre-coloured, stone buildings which make for a warm, golden appearance. The centre is resplendent with cafes and restaurants (including a 2 star and a 1 star Michelin restaurant), numerous boutique shops (we saw no chain stores here), countless wine shops (most of them on the different approaches to the town’s main square) and, especially worth visiting, the Hirsinger Chocolate Factory which deserves a paragraph all of it’s own in this blog.

In 1900, after training as a chocolatier in Paris, Auguste Hirsinger founded his own chocolate factory in Arbois. This business was passed on, first to one of his sons and then; in turn, to one of his granchildren and; more recently, to one of Auguste’s great grandsons, Edouard Hirsinger. Edouard Hirsinger has taken the family business to unparalleled success with his unusual flavour combinations and; he is one of very few chocolatiers to have  been awarded the MOF (Meilleur Ouvrier de France) in recognition of his skills. However, it is the story of his grandfather, also called Edouard, which most impressed me. Grandfather Edouard Hirsinger took over the business from Auguste in 1929. In 1940, after France was knocked out of World War II and the Germans arrived in Arbois, he courageously closed the business down for 5 long years until the town was liberated by US soldiers. That takes passive resistance to a whole new level.

I was writing in general terms about the town itself. Arbois was fortified during the 12th and 13th centuries but little remains of it’s medieval walls except for some of the towers (the most impressive of which is the Gloriette Tower) and the 12th century Chateau Pecauld (now a wine museum).

To my mind, the three most interesting features of Arbois are it’s church (L’Eglise Saint-Just), it’s main square (La Place de la Liberte) and it’s river (the Cuisance) and I’ll write a little about each of those but there is so much more. Some would argue that Louis Pasteur’s house (La Maison Pasteur) warrants inclusion in the top three and, yes, La Maison Pasteur in Arbois (now a museum dedicated to his life) is a site worth visiting (if only to see the reconstruction of his home laboratory) but, the house where Pasteur was born in in Dole and lived the early years of his life was also converted into a museum (see my blog on Dole). So, been there, done that, got the t-shirt and I’m not going to include Pasteur’s house in my top three here.

The most imposing building in Arbois is, without any doubt, the 17th century L’eglise Saint-Just which was listed as a historic monument in 1913. It’s remarkable 60 metre bell tower dominates the town. During summer months it’s possible to ascend the tower’s 209 steps for panoramic views over the town and surrounding vineyards but, visiting too late in the year, I missed out on that. No matter, Saint-Just’s interior with it’s three naves separated by a mix of square and round pillars; no less than 11 chapels and; an exquisitely carved pulpit makes it about as fine a church as anyone could want. It’s so full of character. I’ll let some of my photos do the talking…

The most charming part of the town is the lively Place de la Liberté (Liberty Square) where all of the town’s principal streets converge. It is stunning. A ‘Fountain of Lions’ built by the architect Lapret in 1806 sits in the centre of the square which is framed by elegant arcaded yellow brick buildings (most with coloured shutters) and almost completely covered by fluttering flower shaped decorations – bunting? What a place to be on market days!

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The River Cuisance meanders through Arbois and makes for some very interesting features (one of which is the narrow Pont des Capucins) but it is a few kilometres outside of the town where the river is at it’s most impressive. There’s a magical little waterfall where water cascades down over tufa terraces into a series of shallow pools which are ideal for cooling down in on a hot day. This is the Cascade des Tufs. There’s a fine 17.5 kilometre circular walk from Arbois which leads through the beautiful Planches Pres d’Arbois Valley to this waterfall but most people prefer the easier and considerably shorter 1 kilometre walk from a free car park in the village of Planches Pres d’Arbois (Coordinates 46°52’35.0″N 5°48’24.7″E). The choice is yours.

So, back to Arbois and a little about the local wines. That was, after all, the main reason for our visiting Arbois. Vanya had previously tasted Cremant de Jura but not been very impressed. Me, I’m not a great Cremant drinker but I was keen to try the famous Yellow Wine of Jura for the first time. We started in the Cave Jerome Arnoux, sampling at least 8 local wines and we were delighted with the outcome.

Vanya now maintains that Cremant de Jura can hold it’s own against any of the other 6 French Cremants. The problem has been that Jura has never properly recovered from the phylloxera outbreak which devastated the French wine industry at the end of the 19th century. Yes, the area is once again firing on all cylinders and back to producing great wines but it remains the smallest of France’s major wine producing regions and relatively few of the better wines seem to be finding their way to the UK or even on to the shelves of the larger supermarkets in France. Vanya tasted some very good Cremant after arriving in Jura and she’s taking some back home. For my part, I am hooked on Jura’s yellow wine. I bought a couple of bottles of Arbois Vin Jaune 2016 to take home but one of those is already finished.

What surprises me, given that the wineries in Jura are relatively small compared to those in other wine growing regions in France, is the great diversity of wines being produced in and around Arbois. I have been advised the terroir is best suited to the production of red wines but there seems to be no shortage of dry white wines, roses, vin jaune, vin de paille (a sweet wine typical of Jura) and, of course, the aforementioned Cremant.

In case you haven’t already picked up on it, my favourite is the yellow wine but I appreciate it is not to everyone’s taste. It is made from the Savagnin grape variety (which come in small green or yellow grape clusters) and has a very recognizable aroma. It’s taste is not unlike a dry sherry but it is not a fortified wine. It is matured in a barrel under a film of yeast known as voile and it stands for 6 years. It goes exceptionally well with Comte cheese and is used in many recipes. During our stay in Jura, I ate a Morel Soup which contained a fair wack of yellow wine and it was gorgeous. I understand too that a very popular dish in Jura is trout in yellow wine.

Another famous wine from this area (although I have yet to try it) is vin de paille. It is what is known as a straw wine and is very sweet. It seems that vin de paille is made from grapes which have been dried off the vine to concentrate their juice. After a careful hand harvest, selected bunches of grapes are then laid out on mats (they used to be straw mats) in full sun. I’ll be trying that wine next year when we return to France.

Oh yes! Vanya and I both love Jura and we’ll definitely be back next year – not that we’ve yet finished with the place this year. Tomorrow we’ll be visiting two more places in Jura being Baume Les Messieurs (a plus beau village de France) and Poligny (the self styled capital of Comte cheese).

We were on a day trip from Dole to Arbois when we decided to pause in the tiny village of La Ferte to check out the local cheese. We have long been fans of Comte Cheese and while travelling the D469 to Arbois through La Ferte we noticed La Fromagerie de la Ferte which specialises in the production of Comte to AOC standards. We decided to take a look…

… and what a find! This cheese factory, unlike others we have seen, operates a ‘Cheese Bar’. It’s brand new, light and airy, with plenty of seating inside and outside and there’s sooo much cheese to see and eat.

The staff proved attentive and well informed regarding the cheese and the menu offered plenty of choice. In addition to a selection of Comte cheese of varying ages) there was Morbier, Bleu de Gex, Raclette, Tomme and others. To accompany the cheese there was also a range of cold meats from Jura (dry cured ham, sausages and terrines) and a selection of locally produced craft beers. Oh and, of course, yellow wine. Yellow wine and Comte is a marriage made in heaven.

We settled down for a small feast with me opting for a mixed cheese and ham charcuterie washed down with one of the artisanal beers (the cheeses included Old Comte AOP, Fruity Comte AOP and Morbier) and Vanya going for a Comte Fondue which she made herself following instructions from one of the staff.

It was pure luck that took us to the Fromagerie de la Ferte but we’ll be back.

A little bit about the production of Comte Cheese in the event you’re interested…

(a) Comte is an unpasteurised cheese and part of the Gruyere family of cheeses. It is favoured by a great many of our top chefs.

(b) The milk used to make the cheese comes from Montbeliarde cows which eat only grass and hay and are recognizable by their dark red and white coats. They are milked twice a day at regular times to avoid stressing the animals.

(c) AOC recognition requires that Comte cheese be made with milk that is not transported more than 25 kilometres from where the cow was milked and within 24 hours of milking.

(d) The cow’s milk, with a fat content of not less than 45%, is transported to large copper vats. A few centilitres of natural rennet (obtained from the dried intestine of a calf) is added to help clot the milk and the resulting curd is then stirred and heated to 54 degrees centigrade for 1 hour. The curd is then drawn off and pressed into cheese wheel moulds before being stored in the fromagerie’s cellars to mature.

(e) The cheese must remain in the cellars for at least 4 months before it can be called Comte. Of course most of it will be matured for much longer. The average is 18 months but it is not unknown for Comte to be left for 36 months which makes for a considerably stronger tasting and more friable cheese.

(f) So many factors affect the taste of the cheese (e.g. the microclimate of the area the cheese is produced in, the time of the year the milk is collected, the time allowed for maturing etc) and every cheese wheel differs in terms of smell and taste – Just look at the aroma wheel below. Generally however, a young Comte will have a milkier taste and aromas, while more mature cheeses can have fruitier (citrus and hazlnut) and smoky flavours.

And on to Arbois….

Eleven completed tours and not once have we visited the Franche-Comte part of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comte Region. That had to change and so we came to Jura. Jura, together with French departments of Doubs, Haute-Saone and Belfort forms Franche-Comte; a beautiful land of mountains, lakes and rivers, picturesque villages and towns, small vineyards and a huge forest (the Foret de Chaux – the second largest forest in France). We started in Dole, a small attractive town on the banks of the River Doubs which is dominated by the impressive Collegiale Notre Dame de Dole on Place Nationale.

At least part of this imposing church can be seen from just about any point in the town but it is the view from the Avenue de Lair, on the south side of the river, which most appeals. Inside it is stunning. It houses several small chapels, the Sainte Chapelle du Miracle de Faverney being the one which attracts most attention. This renaissance style chapel serves to house a relic that was miraculously saved from a fire at Faverney Abbey. However, to my mind, two other chapels are worthy of special mention – one dedicated to France’s fallen in WWI and another to recognise the surprisingly large number of church officials in Jura who were guillotined during the French Revolution.  

Dole was once the capital of the Jura although this honour now belongs to Besancon. It’s a small attractive riverside town of less than 25,000 people. The old town, which was built around l’Eglise Notre Dame de Dole, is not very large but neither is it lacking in character. Connected by a jumble of stairways, narrow winding streets and passageways, most of the town’s older buildings are made of pale pink or white stone and date from the 17th century or even later. The most impressive of these is the Hotel de Dieu, the main part of which was completed in 1636. It served as a hospital for the poor until 1992 when it was transformed into a mediatheque (a multimedia library and storage centre for the municipal archives).

To ensure I didn’t miss out on any of the town’s more interesting features (not that my debacle at Les Riceys is still fresh in my mind) I visited the Dole Tourist Office on Place Grevy and obtained a map of what is known as the Circuit du Chat Perche (which broadly translates as the perched cat trail). It’s a 4 kilometre circuit connecting the town’s principal features and the map provides a brief description of each.

I’ll let the photos do the talking…

… although the area behind Rue Louis Pasteur does perhaps warrant special mention.

Louis Pasteur was born in Dole in 1822 and the house he was born in is now a small museum dedicated to his memory while the street he lived in (at least until he was 5 and the family moved to nearby Arbois) is now named after him. Louis was raised in the poorer quarter of Dole (his father, Jean-Joseph Pasteur, was a tanner there) and yet he grew up to become a biologist, a chemist and the father of microbiology. Most famous for developing the treatment of beer, wine and, later, milk to prevent bacterial contamination (i.e. the process now known as ‘pasteurisation’), he also discovered both the rabies and anthrax vaccines.

The south side of Rue Louis Pasteur, running alongside the Canal du Rhone au Rhin(e), was filled with tanneries; so much so it is named the Canal des Tanneurs. Properties in this part of Dole are now amongst the most sought after and the area has become known as the ‘Little Venice of the Jura’. Again, it is not a large part of the town but it is one of the prettiest…

And the final word of this blog entry must go to food. After all, this is France and the French like to talk about food as much as we British like to talk about the weather.

At the last count, there were three Michelin Restaurants in Dole but we didn’t check even one of them out. That’s not to say however that we were not well fed during our stay in the area. No, our concern while in Jura was not so much with visiting the local restaurants (although we did our bit in that regard, as can be seen from the photos below) but; with sampling Comte Cheese (and we would be heading for La Ferte for that) and; Cremant de Jura (we’d be going to Arbois for that) and Yellow Wine (perhaps to Poligny).

Oh… and the local markets. Opposite the Collegiale Church on Place Nationale is the Marche des Halles. There’s a farmers market held in this covered glass and steel market hall every tuesday, thursday and saturday morning and, during the summer months, there’s an evening market on Fridays.

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 and is known in the area as the ‘Little Venice of the Charolais’. It is nowhere near the sea but sits at the confluence of the Aronce and Semence Rivers and is almost entirely surrounded by water. So all you need do is 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, most important, the village elders must be concerned to maintain the place’s 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 to the iconic white Charolais Cow which supposedly produces the best tasting beef in the world and 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.