Burgundy (Cluny, Brancion, Beaune, Chateauneuf-en-Auxois, Semur-en-Auxois, & Flavigny-sur-Ozerain).

---

Day 25 (Monday, September 21, 2009)

I woke up this morning feeling much better than I had the day prior. After waking up, Mike informed me with a smile that I should take a look outside. As requested, I looked out the window and noticed that we had blue skies with very few clouds and a clear view of the mountains; as nice as that was, it sure would have been a lot nicer to have seen the sun the two days prior. It would have been the perfect day to take those gondola rides up into the mountains due to the lack of cloud cover. However, as irritated as I was, I knew that if it had actually been sunny the day before, I would have been really upset, as I wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of it since I was so sick. So, in all reality, it was good that the weather was uncooperative during my sick day.

From Chamonix, we began a several hour drive northwest towards Burgundy. We were going to be spending the night in Beaune, but before reaching the city, we had a few stops along the way.

The first of those stops was in the small town of Cluny, which is famous for the ruins that remain from its once glorious Benedictine Abbey. The abbey was built between 1088 and 1130, and when finished, was 555 feet long and covered a massive 25 acres. Until the construction began on St. Peter’s in the Vatican, the abbey was the largest church in all of Christendom. The peak use of the abbey occurred during the 12th century, but continued to remain in use until the late 18th century. Unfortunately, during 1790, revolutionaries destroyed almost the entire complex, leaving only bits and pieces, which are now barely discernible as houses have been built up and around the ruins.

We didn’t have a map of the city, so after parking our car, we had a difficult time understanding exactly where it was we were supposed to go in order to see the abbey. What made matters even more confusing was that we saw a large building with what appeared to be cloisters inside; at first, we thought this was part of the former abbey, but we later learned that the cloisters we saw had been built much later (18th century) than the originals had. We eventually came to the area where we finally saw a few partial ruins from the abbey. Considering how difficult it was to visually imagine the former abbey due to the sheer lack of ruins, I’m not sure that I would recommend a visit here, although the small town was pleasant enough to wander through. If you are pressed for time, there are other far better sights to be seen within Burgundy.

From Cluny, we drove to the tiny village of Brancion. Upon our arrival, we were slightly confused as our navigation system indicated that we still had a few kilometers to go, but the sign on the road in front of us said Brancion. So, Mike pulled the car over to the side of the road while I explored what had to have been the tiniest village yet that I had seen in France. The guidebook referenced the town as having a castle, but there was definitely no castle in sight. I found this quite strange, but figured that that must have been the reason why our navigation system had stated that we had not yet arrived; I assumed that the castle was located just outside of town. Aside from the missing castle however, the little village was cute and quiet, and took me no more than ten minutes to wander through.

When I went back to the car, we continued on, until we reached our final destination of Martailly-lès-Brancion, where we saw the partially ruined castle looming above us. Apparently, there are two towns that go by the name of Brancion, although the one with the castle is generally known as Martailly-lès-Brancion; that cleared up the confusion! We decided not to tour the interior of the castle and instead wandered through the streets of the town. We also stopped to enjoy a 15th century market hall, which was in remarkable condition, considering it was used up until 1900. The town also has a 12th century church, but unfortunately, we somehow missed seeing that.

From Martailly-lès-Brancion, we drove to Beaune, our chosen destination for the next two nights. This small but very pleasant town is centered around the production of Côte d’Or wines. Aside from the wine industry, Beaune is also well-known for its medieval sight of Hotel Dieu.

Before heading out and checking out the sights of Beaune, we first checked into Hotel La Villa Fleurie. The hotel was located just outside the center of town in a charming old historic home and was decorated in a very traditional but comfortable way. We dropped off our things, and then walked into town, which took only ten minutes.

As we walked through Beaune, I was surprised to see that it was a slightly larger city than I had anticipated it would be, with plenty of restaurant options and dozens of different wine shops and tasting rooms.

Since we didn't have many daylight hours remaining, we made a beeline to Hôtel-Dieu. This site was once home to a medieval charity hospital, having been built under the direction of the Chancellor of Burgundy, who wanted to build something for his people. The hospital opened its doors in 1451, and surprisingly enough, some of the rooms within the building housed patients up until 1949.

Aside from its former use as a hosptial, Hôtel-Dieu is also famous for its colorful and elaborately decorated roof and gables, which are displayed within the Courtyard of Honor. The colorful glazed tiles covering the roof top have become so synonymous with Burgundy that their style is now known as Burgundian throughout France. The tiles are very sturdy and can last up to 300 years. The ones that are currently on the building were added back in 1902, so they still have about another 200 years before they will need to be replaced. Unfortunately, since our visit occurred during the very late afternoon, the sun was shining in the opposite direction of the tiled roof, so I wasn't able to get very good shots of the famous roof.

From the courtyard, we headed into the chapel (main hall). This massive room as basically used as a hospice since most of the people who arrived rarely left alive. The entire length of both sides of the room was lined with beds covered in a bright red fabric. It was quite sad to think of how many thousands of people had died within the room, especially knowing how little privacy they had during their final days.

After touring the chapel, we continued our visit of the building, including several smaller wards, a kitchen, and even a pharmacy.

From Hôtel-Dieu, we headed back to the hotel for a bit to relax as we were both very tired.

When we were finally ready to leave to find a place for dinner, we decided to drive back into the city as neither one of us felt like walking for ten minutes. As previously mentioned, there were a ton of restaurants to choose from, although we were hesitant to pick a random one without having a recommendation. As a result, we once again consulted Rick Steves guidebook and chose a place called Brasserie le Carnot due to its decently-priced menu options and the fact that it had boeuf bourguignon on the menu.

For those unfamiliar with French cooking, the Burgundy region of France is known for hearty dishes, many of which are cooked with red wine. Two of these famous such dishes are boeuf bourguignon (beef simmered for hours in red wine with onions and mushrooms) and coq au vin (rooster stewed in red wine with vegetables). Those two dishes also happen to be two of my most favorite things to eat in the world, so I was quite excited to actually try the authentic stuff in Burgundy.

Unfortunately, my excitement quickly waned when my plate of food arrived. The boeuf bourguignon tasted only sub par; the potatoes were't even fully cooked and the sauce was weak and without much depth of flavor, which is usually one of the biggest components to the dish. Even more strange, in addition to the obvious beef sitting on the plate, there were also several chunks of chicken. We both found this very confusing as I had ordered beef, not chicken. Mike had ordered a plate of spagahetti Bolognese which was good, but nothing extraordinary, Overall, the dining experience was quite disappointing. I hoped that evening that we would be able to find better boeuf bourguignon or coq au vin to eat the following day.

Day 26 (Tuesday, September 22, 2009)

Today we had quite a busy day planned in Burgundy. After leaving the hotel, our first stop was the tiny town of Aloxe-Corton, where we had hoped to complete some wine tasting at two different wine cellars. Although it was only 10:30 in the morning when we arrived, we had a difficult time finding a place to park within the small village as there were already lots of cars filling the streets.

The first cellar we visited was called Chateau Corton-Andre. After walking into the building, we didn’t see any workers, but quickly noticed that a sign was up indicating they were guiding a tour and would return shortly. After waiting for about five minutes, a young woman appeared and asked in French how we could be helped. After apologizing in French and explaining that I didn’t speak French very well, I then asked if we could complete a tasting. For some strange reason, she appeared to be slightly irritated with this request, but still went ahead and lead us back to the dark cellar.

There were a total of four wines to try; two whites and two reds. Since I am not a fan of reds, I refrained from the tasting. Between each of the pours, there was a very strange feeling of uncomfortable air that circulated through the room; after she poured each of the wines and gave us the name and year of production, she was utterly silent and stared at the both of us. Needless to say, Mike finished the samples rather quickly, and we ended up purchasing one of the reds as a gift for a friend back home. As soon as the young lady was out of range of earshot, we both commented on how very strange the situation felt and how unfriendly she was. Later, I wondered if her unfriendly nature was really just her feeling as though she couldn’t keep up conversation with us due to her lack of English skills. Whatever it was, I’ll never know for sure; all I know is that that was the most uncomfortable wine tasting experience we had ever been a part of.

Immediately afterward, we had planned on partaking in wine tasting at another place located just down the street called Domaines d’Aloxe Corton; unfortunately, as we walked up to the entrance door, we noticed that they were closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so we turned right back around and headed to the car.

Next, we drove to another small town called Pernand Vergelesses. We drove straight through the town and up to the panorama viewpoint, where we were provided with beautiful views of the town and the neighboring vineyards. Unfortunately, the combination of haze in the sky and the sun shining against my lens as I attempted to photograph the view of the town below did not make for the most appealing pictures.

Afterward, we continued our drive to the town of Savigny-les-Beaune. There was nothing major to note of in this town, the only exception being Le Chateau de Savigny. We decided not to tour the chateau as we had seen enough of the most famous ones several weeks prior in the Loire Valley

After wandering the town, we got back in the car and drove to a small village called Pommard, where we planned to do more wine tasting at a place called Le Cave de Pommard. Unfortunately, this cellar was also closed, although it indicated on their door that they were open every day from 10:00-19:00. Since it was nearly 12:00, we thought that maybe they were closed for lunch, so we too decided to find a bite to eat.

After conferring with our guidebook, we read that the Hotel du Pont served delicious but reasonably priced lunch menus, so we decided to eat there. We figured it would be a good place when we viewed their small menu; the lunch came with an appetizer (either pate or hard-boiled eggs over a medley of vegetables), entrée (boef bourgninon or a faux fillet) and dessert (cheese or dessert du jour) for 13 Euros (although the faux fillet had a supplemental charge of 1.90). We both ordered the egg plate for an appetizer, I again ordered the boeuf bourguignon (hoping it would taste much better than the night prior), Mike requested the faux fillet, and we both had the dessert du jour (mille-feuille).

Truth be told, when we ordered the egg appetizer, all we understood from the waitress and the menu was oeuf mayonnaise avec legumes (eggs and mayonnaise with vegetables) so we weren’t quite sure what we were getting ourselves into. When the food arrived, we each had one hard boiled egg cut in half, and topped with some mayonnaise, which was placed atop of a bed of vegetables that was mixed in some sort of mayonnaise sauce (peas, green beans, red peppers, and some other unidentifiable ones). The eggs tasted very similiar to deviled eggs, and the mix of vegetables, although different than anything we had ever eaten before, wasn’t actually too bad; in fact, it was rather good.

As for the main dish, my boef bourgingon proved to be a wise decision as it was about 100 times better than the one I had consumed the night before. The thick sauce was extremely flavorful and almost purple in color due to the large amount of red wine that had been used during cooking, and the beef was fork tender; exactly as it should be. Mike’s faux fillet (steak) was average, but the crunchy fries were quite tasty. We ended up nibbling off each other’s plates throughout the meal as I enjoyed his fries while he ate most of my green beans. In addition to the beef and side of green beans, my plate also came with a side of potatoes that tasted as though they had been cooked in cream and with a bit of cheese; rich and yummy goodness. For dessert, we both had the mille-feuille, which is made with several layers of puff pastry that are alternated between layers of sweet cream pastry and topped with fondant with white and brown (chocolate) strips. This pastry, while very difficult to cut with a fork due to its layer of hard fondant, was also very tasty. All in all, we spent exactly the same amount of money we had the night before on dinner, but instead of just one plate, we both had a three course meal and had eaten food that was utterly delicious instead of just sub-par.

After finishing lunch, we continued our drive, stopping briefly in the town of St. Romain at Tonnellerie Francois Freres, a wine barrel fabrication company. As soon as we stepped outside of our car, we could hear the hammer noise banging away. At this facility, visitors are able to walk up next to the shop and observe the action of the workers making the wine barrels, which involves several steps including placing small fires within each of the barrels (to make them flexible) and pounding iron rings around the barrels. Although we couldn’t see too far into the workshop, it was absolutely fascinating to be able to watch the barrel-making process up close. I would definitely recommend a visit to this place to anyone who happens to find themselves in this area.

Next, we drove to La Rochepot and its gorgeous chateau, which picturesquely rose tall above the village. We didn’t stop in however, as the chateau is closed on both Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Instead, we enjoyed views of the chateau from a distance.

Afterward, we drove to the village of Chateauneuf-en-Auxois, which is listed as the most beautiful villages of France. As with so many of the other tiny villages in France, we wandered around the town for awhile, taking lots of photographs and enjoying the quiet ambiance. I found this village in particular to be extremely photogenic; I realized after our short visit that I had taken over 100 photos in less than 20 minutes!

From Chateauneuf-en-Auxois, we headed over to Semur-en-Auxois. Just before we arrived in the main part of town, we had a great view of the entire city from across the River Armançon in front of the Citroen dealership; if you happen to approach Semur-en-Auxois from this direction, make sure to stop and take some photographs. Apparently, the city looks even more beautiful at night at much of it is illuminated by lights.

Once in town, we parked the car, and then walked a short distance to the tourist office, where we began a walking tour described in Rick Steves France book. The town was quite pleasant to stroll through, especially because we appeared to be the only tourists. There really aren’t necessarily any “must-see” sights in this town, but I must admit that that is entirely the whole point of visiting. The last part of the walking tour was the best, however, when we walked along the River Armançon. During this last portion of the walk, we were rewarded with the most amazing and beautiful riverside-reflections of the medieval bridge and buildings looming above the town, which created a truly picture perfect postcard scene.

After enjoying Semur- en-Auxois, we headed to our final destination which was yet another village, this one called Flavigny-sur-Ozerain. Like Chateauneuf-en-Auxois, Flavigny-sur-Ozerain is also listed as one of the most beautiful villages of France; however, its bigger claim to fame is the fact that parts of the 2000 movie Chocolat were filmed in the village. Probably much to the sad disappointment of fans of the film, there is absolutely no mention (i.e. souvenirs, posters, etc) of the movie within the village itself. In fact, had I not read about the movie being filmed here, I would have had absolutely no idea that part of Chocolat had been filmed in the village, especially since I’ve seen much more beautiful villages elsewhere in France.

After strolling through Flavigny-sur-Ozerain for a bit, we began the hour-long drive back to Beaune, where we settled on a dinner of sandwiches, cheese, and wine from a grocery store. It had been a very long and busy day, but I was quite happy with the amount of things we had been able to see and accomplish. In hindsight, another full day in the region would have been quite helpful, especially for seeing sights further east that we did not have enough time to visit, isuch as the Abbey of Fontenay, Vezelay and the Basilica of Saint Madeleine, and Chateau de Guedelon.

---

Photos

Tonnellerie Francois Freres
Wine barrel fabrication company in St. Romain