Beaune, Tournus and countryside

This morning, we left early for our visit to Beaune and its famous hospices.

Beaune is the wine capital of Burgundy and one of the key wine centers in France. Indeed the annual wine auction of the Hospices de Beaune is the primary wine auction in France. Beaune is surrounded by some of the world's most famous wine villages…Puligny Montrachet, Volnay, Pommard, Chassagne Montrachet, Meursault, for example. It is situated on the route des Grands Crus tourist route among the vineyards. The road runs north from Beaune to Gevrey Chambertin and Nuits-Saint-Georges and south to Nolay, Saisy and Autun.

Beaune is an ancient and historic town on the plain, by the hills of the Côte d'Or. There are features from pre-Roman and Roman times, from the Antiquity, medieval, renaissance and modern times. It is a walled city; about half of the 15th century battlements, ramparts, and the moat, remain in good condition. The central "old town" is extensive. Historically Beaune was the seat of the powerful Dukes of Burgundy until the 16th century when it became part of France.

The most famous landmark in Beaune is the Hospices de Beaune or the Hôtel Dieu. Founded in 1442 by Nicolas Rolin, chancellor of the Duke of Burgundy, and his wife, Guigogne, the Hospices are a medieval jewel. The superb geometric multi-colored tiled roofs are extraordinary. The buildings are arranged around a central courtyard, flanked by a wooden gallery, above which rise high dormer windows topped by weather vanes. The courtyard well is Gothic ironwork.

Rolin had made a small fortune….er, well, by cooking the books most likely. He needed to find a way to ensure his place in heaven after so much sinning!!!! After the Hundred Years’ War, many of Beaune’s inhabitants suffered the effects of poverty and famine. So he and his wife founded the hospice in 1443. The architecture was inspired by Northern French hospitals. The Rolins provided an annual grant, and vines and salt works for income. The hospice was not a hospital for the sick; it was a refuge for the poor. It remained one until 1959! Now the entire building is a museum, but there is still an old-age home on the premises.

The ground floor houses the Great Hall of the Poor (Pôvres in medieval French). It is stunning: 28 four-poster beds, 14 down each side, under a painted, carved roof. Often, each double bed was used by two or more people at a time. Each bed has red curtains and a red blanket, so you can imagine the effect! The linens are both generous and substantial. A corridor running behind each row of beds contains chests, one per bed, against the outer wall, for belongings. Each bed has a small table and chair. Meals were served by the nuns from central tables. The nuns' dormitories were on the upper floor; small windows in the corners of the great hall allowed the nuns to check on the inhabitants, mainly to ensure no mixing of the sexes!!! The rooms are replete with medieval paintings and hangings and a recurring theme in tiles and tapestries of the entwined letters N and G and the world “Seulle” (referring to Rolins’s wife as his “one and only”). There is a priceless polyptych of the Last Judgment by Rogier van der Weyden from the 15th century. Traditionally, as with the van Eyck altarpiece in Ghent, the polptych was opened and closed so that both sides could be seen. In the 19th century, this one was cut in half so that the inner and outer panels could be seen at the same time.

The kitchens are beautifully preserved with a dual-hearth Gothic fireplace and a 17th century mechanical spit, turned by a wooden “robot”. We also visited the Pharmacy, lined with wooden shelves displaying beautiful porcelain pots containing all sorts of unusual potions such as woodlouse powder, shrimps’ eyes and vomit nut powder. The best one of all was Theriaca, which cured all ills – opium!!!!!

The entire hospice is filled with beautiful stained glass windows, statues, tapestries, wooden chests, candelabras – a medieval feast for the eyes.

Beaune is renowned for its annual charity auction in November – Les Trois Glorieuses – three days during which there is the banquet of the Chevaliers du Tastevin at the Clos Vougeot and an auction of wine from vineyards owned by nearby hospitals
After our visit, we stopped at a cave and had a glass of Puligny Montrachet and sat outside staring longingly at the pâtisserie opposite……and NOT going in!

After lunch on the ship, I set off on an optional excursion (Connie was still not quite herself) to Tournus where we visited the church of St Philibert (early 11th century), once belonging to the Benedictine abbey of Tournus, suppressed in 1785. The architecture is in Burgundian Romanesque style which was influenced by Lombardian stonecutters. The façade lacks one of the two flanking towers originally designed for it. The nave is roofed with barrel vaulting, supported on tall cylindrical columns. The style is simple – the pillars are rough cut and the capitals off center. I love the early Medieval architecture and it is all the more fascinating as I get deeper into “The Pillars of the Earth”.

The drive through the Burgundian hills was breathtaking: more Charolais with newborns; horses and tiny colts; forests, meadows, castles, manoirs. In the tiny hamlet of Chapaize we visited the 11th Romanesque church built in the Lombard style. The church is surrounded by stone-built houses with the typical covered galleries of this region and a 16th century watch tower. We passed through Cluny, whose Benedictine abbey had once been the most prestigious monastery in Europe. Only a small part remains since the abbey was sacked during the French Revolution. We passed through Taizé, an evangelical center and Milly-Lamartine, the birthplace of the great romantic poet and député, Alphonse de Lamatine.

Our final destination was the Château de Pierreclos deep in Chardonnay country. A wonderful 11th castle surrounded by horse chestnuts and a magnificent view of the countryside. We visited the kitchens and bakery and then descended deep into the very cool “cave” and sat on stools amid the barrels. We tasted the following wines and liqueurs:

Macon 2009
Saint-Véran 2008
Pouilly-Fuissé 2009
Pinot Noir 2009
Crème de Pêche de Vigne and Crème de Cassis.

The tasting was excellent and very informative. My favorite was, of course, the Pouilly-Fuissé!

Then it was back to Macon where the boat was waiting for us. We had just enough time to change for the Captain’s reception and gala dinner. These gala dinners consist of the following: an amuse-bouche, a starter, a soup, a fish course, a main dish, a trou normand, cheeses and dessert. Formal service! Our new captain is only 28!!! Emmanuelle calls him “the baby”. Everyone is just as nice as on the Baroness.

I have neglected to mention all the famous people born in all the places we visited: Balzac, Maupassant, Greuze...there are just too many, naturellement!