Dijon – much more than mustard!

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We spent 2 nights in Dijon and found it very relaxing. It’s a lovely place and just the perfect amount of sights to see - not too little and not too overwhelming! Lysh was feeling a little fluey so it was a perfect time to just take it easy. There is an excellent self guided walk through the town which we did to take in all the important buildings and other sights including the Jardin Darcy, beautiful houses with colourful tiled rooves, Porte Guillaume (triumphal arch), and lovely squares, public buildings and churches. After the walk we headed to the Maille mustard shop where we tasted lots of flavours - from berry to chocolate! Would have loved to bring some home but too hard to carry  We also did a little shopping as Lysh managed to leave a couple of shirts in the wardrobe back in Lyon. I suppose being neat wasn’t a good idea after all!

We finally had some sunshine again during the days but it was FREEZING at night! After being out all day we weren’t really prepared and had to run back to our hotel from dinner with chattering teeth.

On our second day here we went out to a Chateaux in Marsannay (a little village outside of Dijon) and did a wine tasting by candlelight in the cellar of the Chateaux. It was only us and the guide which was lovely and the wines from Burgundy region are yummy! Lots of nice light reds. We learnt about the labelling which is done very differently here. The label generally includes the region the wine was produced, date (of course), classification (Vintage or table wine etc) and generally the location of the village the grapes were harvested from, whereas we are used to seeing the type of grape such as Pinot, Cabernet etc. Our guide thought it was funny that in Australia we ask for a Sauvignon Blanc, when Sauvignon is never red, so there is no reason to say blanc at the end of it, kinda like asking someone for an ATM machine.

It wasn’t in our initial plan to stay here as we were going to be with family in Montbard but we were glad for a few relaxing days in Dijon.

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Photos

Chateaux de Marsannay
Candle-lit wine tasting

Dijon
Can't remember what this was, could be the theatre, or some funky looking buildings, make up your own mind :)

Workers in Marsannay
Where's domo?