I have often been asked, “What are some good areas outside of Paris to visit?” There are many, many possibilities such as Giverny; Epernay and the Champagne region; Chartres; a trip to Normandy is even possible. If the person asking has more than one day available I often recommend making a trip to Dijon and some of the other villages and cities nearby. I made my first trip to Dijon by train from Gare de Lyon and arrived there in a little over an hour. The old city is a short walk from the train station and the tourist information building is passed on the way — so a map can be picked up. Walk through a nice pedestrian area, with a stop at a Maille shop if you want some mustard from the area and a cute little mustard jar to put it in. Cassis, a sweet liquor, is also made in the area and is seen in many of the shops along the way.
One of the distinctive things about architecture in Burgundy, the section of France in which Dijon is located, is the wonderful rooftops decorated in colorful argyle-like designs. There is also a wonderful delicate outline around many doorways shaped in a gothic design — seen in many castles and buildings throughout the region. The cathedral is an interesting one to wander through and the outside is loaded with statutes on the roof. I loved the museum, Musée des Beaux-Arts, a one time palace, full of great artwork and the very dramatic elevated tombs of Dukes of Burgundy: Philip the Bold and John the Fearless surrounded by hovering angels. Burgundy, or Bourgogne, was once a separate country from France and the dukes were the royalty there. They were often in disputes with France and even sided with England at times.
If you are lucky enough to have a car there is a wonderful town nearby to see called Chateauneuf. My husband and I had passed this village many times on the way to southern France and had wanted to visit it. It sits on the top of a high hill topped with a castle. Finally, we made plans to stop over night. It is a charming village where fewer than 100 inhabitants live and it is small enough to see in an hour. We walked around looking at old buildings with ancient carvings above the doors, some with those gothic outlines. There is a huge round tower not far from the center of the village and a rather magical walk through a forest leads to an old chapel and a moss covered wall with a bench in front made of huge slabs of rock. There are several view points of the valley below which are breathtaking with rectangular fields spread out below gentle hills and vineyards in their soldierly rows. We walked through the castle free of charge seeing 3 or 4 different centuries of work. I liked the chapel in the castle the best with a replica of the tomb of Philippe Pot, one of the rulers there. It is unusual in that eight black robed monk statues stand around it. The real tomb is in the Louvre and the monks there support the tomb with the "body" of Philippe on their shoulders. We learned some curious local history. The last remaining member of the original family was put to death when she poisoned a husband she had been forced to wed. The title was then passed to Philippe Pot.
In the village, there is also a sixteenth century church with a carved wooden pulpit, some remains of a cross and ramparts, where there are stunning views of the Burgundy Canal and countryside. We stayed in a nice hotel right next to the castle, the Hostellerie du Chateau, run by a young couple. It was very clean and there is a nice restaurant for evening dining. A great lunch was available right across the way at the Grill of the Castle. We just had steak and frites — but they were great, followed by an ice cream sundae chosen from a huge selection of flavors.
The next day we drove on a small road that followed the Burgundy Canal for a while and we decided we wanted to do a barge trip someday. We passed freshly tilled fields waiting for the spring crops to be planted and some growing what looked like green grass to me. Even in the winter it was a beautiful area with gently rolling hills to drive through as we made our way to the little city of Beaune. This is yet another interesting place to walk through. It has its own little Arc de Triomphe and many parts of an old city wall remain. And, of course, the argyle tiled roofs can be seen in many places. It's a great city to walk around with pedestrian areas and lots of great shopping.
And I didn't mean to forget to mention the wine — those wonderful Burgundy wines. This is the area to stop and try some really great vintages. There is a hall in Beaune called the Marché aux Vins where close to 40 wines can be tasted and bought. And, they ship overseas, if you are lucky enough to live in a State allows it. We did all of these stops in two days with one overnight stay in Chateauneuf and were back in Paris in time for dinner. It's just one more wonderful area to see close to Paris.
Hostellerie du Chateau
Chateauneuf, Bourgogne, France
Telephone: 03 80 49 22 00
Marché aux Vins
Rue Nicolas-Rolin
Beaune
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