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Burgundy
Tourist offices and related websites
Yonne | Côte-d'Or | Nièvre | Saône-et-Loire
Best Known to the British, Burgundy is an operatic kingdom, mentioned in beer-swigging songs during amateur Gilbert & Sullivan productions. Most opera buffs however would be surprised to discover that during the 15th century Burgundy, or as the French call it, Bourgogne, ruled over a prodigious swathe of territory as far north of the Friesian Islands, on a latitude higher than Amsterdam.
Burgundy was actually a duchy, whose dukes had such exotic names as Philip the Good and Charles the Bold. Through a series of marriage alliances it acquired much of northern France and present day Holland and Belgium, moving its capital from Dijon to Brussels. Lorraine, however, remained a barrier to unification and in attempting to conqueror his neighbour, Charles proved too bold for his own good. He was killed at the siege of Nancy in 1477 and France profited from the ensuing confusion to seize the southern half of his duchy and end his dreams of empire.
The grandeur of old Burgundy survives in its huge churches: the medieval cathedral at Sens, the gothic extravagance at Auxerre and the Romanesque basilica of Vézelay. Dijon, restored to pride of place as its affluent first city, is famous as the mustard-producing capital of France, if not the entire world. The cuisine throughout Burgundy is truly wonderful, with such dishes that have spread far beyond its borders, such as poulet de Bresse and boeuf Bourguignon. It has more than thirty restaurants with Michelin stars, including four with three, the highest accolade. Be warned, however, their owners take at least a fortnight off during August and sometimes the entire month. Fortunately along the banks of the Seine, the Loire and the Rhône, and beside Burgundy’s maze of canals, are many more modest restaurants, incredible value for money, and equally up to the task.
The harmony between the local cuisine and its wine is the secret of Burgundian cooking, but the wine itself is simply superb. Chablis, Côte-de-Beaune, Nuit-St-Georges, Chassagne-Montrachet and Gevrey-Chambertin, all prestigious appellations, can turn an already delicious meal into one of absolute perfection.
Yonne
Midway between Paris and Dijon, the département of the Yonne, the gateway to Burgundy, is often overlooked and under-appreciated. Take, for example, its principal town, Auxerre, which has three magnificent churches, rising in quick succession above the river. Auxerre’s steep and narrow streets, packed with timber and stone houses from a bygone age, create a captivating atmosphere.
Vézelay, to the south, has but a solitary street with well preserved ramparts and battlements. It winds its way to the top of the hill, where stands perhaps France’s most prestigious Romanesque basilica. In the 12th century pilgrims gathered here before setting off on the long pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella in Spain.
Northeast of Auxerre, the Cistercian abbey of Pontigny, of unusual design and abnormally large, was a refuge for Thomas-a-Becket from the King of England between 1164 and 1166, from which, unwisely as it turned out, he decided to go back to Canterbury. Further east is the Renaissance château of Tanlay, completed by Mazarin’s finance minister Michel d’Hémery, which became the property of the Tanlay family at the end of the 17th century. See especially the wonderful gallery with Italianate frescoes on the second floor. Barely ten miles away lies another masterpiece with Italian origins, the château of Azal-le-Franc. It was built in the mid-sixteenth century by Italian architect Sebastiano Serli for the brother-in-law of Diane de Poitiers and is characterised by four wings that create an internal courtyard with perfect symmetry.
South of Vézelay, the Parc du Morvan is a haven for hikers, offering multiple trails through dark green forests with delightful lakeside views and lovely villages. Perhaps the best, Quarré-les-Tombs, gets its name from a ring of prehistoric burial stones that circle its church and are occupied, so the story goes, by the ghosts of fallen Gauls.
Côte-d'Or
The Côte-d'Or, which you might think to mean the Gold Coast, is not a real coast at all. A chain of hills called the Plateau de Langres runs from northeast to southwest above Dijon and continues southwest as the Côte-d'Or escarpment, and this is how the département gets its name. Here the côte is the vineyard-côte, lines of vines descending the slope or hillside to the edge of the Saône; and the ‘or’ is short for ‘orient’, or ‘east’.
Dijon, once the capital of an independent Burgundy that stretched across much of central France, has a fine Ducal Palace that now contains one of France’s finest art museums. Of the palace itself, visit in particular its 15th century kitchens with six fireplaces and an avant-garde medieval fumigation system. Three churches in close proximity underline the city’s wealth and power: the Gothic Cathedrale Saint-Bénigne, St-Jean, now a theatre, and the Romanesque Saint-Philibert. See also the half-timbered houses of the Rue Verrière and many magnificent mansions close to the Palais de Justice.
The narrow strip of land stretching south from Dijon to Beaune has been dubbed the Champs-Elysées of Burgundy. These elysian fields of vineyards produce some of the finest wines of the world, including Nuit-St-Georges and Pommard, real places that have given their names to endless vintages; and the tiny village of Vosne Romanée, home to one of the most famous wines in France: La Romanée Conti. From nearby, too, come the grands crus, Grands-Echezeaux and Richebourg. The château du Close-de-Vougeot, just south of Dijon, has a medieval wine-making barn with huge grape presses.
In Beaune, more than one million bottles of wine age in underground caves, hewn out of the town’s fifteenth-century fortifications. Many are owned by the Hospice de Beaune whose Hotel-Dieu, a medieval hospital, is roofed with almost unique varnished tiles. Its founder, Nicolas Rolin, thought such grandiose charity a route to heaven previously barred to him on account of his spectacular adultery: he had fathered almost thirty children out of wedlock. His third wife, Guigone de Salins, was less convinced he was a reformed character, even by the tapestry he made for her with the endlessly repetitive motif that she was his ‘only star’.
Nièvre
The département of the Nièvre takes its name from another river, which comes together with the Allier and the Loire at Nevers. This walled city with narrow, winding streets and the imposing Porte-du-Croux, a gateway tower that alone has survived from the medieval fortifications, offers a splendid walk along the ramparts. Its exceptional cathedral of Saint-Cyr-Sainte-Julitte is probably unique in possessing a second choir with a crypt, the remnant of a Romanesque church built on the same site. The Ducal Palace nearby is a lasting monument to François I de Clèves, a great prince of the 16th century. The palace is considered by many architectural historians to be the first genuine château of the Loire, and its Renaissance façade, framed by polygonal turrets, is a masterpiece.
François was a handsome fellow, judging by his portrait in enamel, one of many made by Nevers’s skilled craftsmen. Nevers had the first pottery in what is now France, set up by Italian workers brought by the entrepreneurial Duke of Gonzaga from Florence and Milan. Allowed to give full rein to their creative talents, they created an evocative deep blue – “Nevers blue” – and combined it dramatically with greens and yellows. This artistic earthenware was in huge demand by the French nobility but much of it was destroyed during the Revolution. Some of the best surviving examples can be seen in the municipal museum at Nevers.
The region has many charming villages, including Moux-en-Morvan and Ouroux-en-Morvan in the Morvan National Park, and Moulins-Engilbert, with its lovely church and ruined château. Autun, just east of the Nièvre, is a centre of Romanesque art much sought after by bargain hunters. Most picturesque of all must be Clamecy, whose streets have scarcely changed since its heyday as a medieval city. Its principal claim to fame was as the log-floating centre for the whole of France. Trees cut down in the Morvan were trimmed and lashed together to form huge rafts which the men of Clamecy, with a dexterity that would have put a Canadian logger to shame, floated along the Yonne and the Seine all the way to the centre of Paris.
Saône-et-Loire
Mâcon, capital of the département of the Saône-et-Loire, dates back to the second century BC when, as Matisco, it was a busy crossroads for traders from Rome. For more than five hundred years, from 843 to 1600, it marked the frontier between France and the Holy Roman Empire and prospered by the collection of customs dues. For the best view across the Saône river valley, climb the surviving southern tower of the ruined sixth century cathedral. Many impressive half-timbered houses, built by wealthy merchants, survive in Mâcon’s old paved streets. The city’s most famous inhabitant, writer and politician Alphonse de Lamartine, was born in Mâcon in 1790 and eventually retired there. The hotel Senecé, a fine 18th century mansion, has a collection of interesting items recalling his life and work.
Mâcon is surrounded by 5,000 hectares of vineyards producing almost 50 million bottles of vins mâconnais, among the most popular French wines. They have quality as well as quantity: such famous crus as Saint-Véran and Pouilly Fuissé. Each May, wine lovers come to Mâcon for the Concours des Grands Vins, the oldest recorded wine contest in France.
Autun, to the northwest, was once Augustodonum, the city of Augustus. Two of its Roman archways and part of its Roman walls remain, together with a Gallo-Roman theatre on the outskirts. At Chalon-sur-Saône, a popular shopping centre to the east, its medieval quarter close to the river has been painstakingly reconstructed, but very little of it is real.
Just north of Mâcon, stands the ruined abbey of Cluny, described by the Pope in the eleventh century as “the light of the world”. For five hundred years it was the largest church in Europe, eclipsed only by St Peters in Rome. After the French Revolution it was acquired by the state and used as a stone quarry, which is why, sadly, so little of it is left standing.
Tourist offices and related websites
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Semur-en-Auxois
Tulip field
Beaune Market
Vineyards
Plateau de fromages
Dijon
Vineyards in the autumn
Autun Cathedral
Mont Beuvray, Parc du Morvan
Dijon cloister
Historic Hospital
Canal at Buffon
Garden Castle
Hospice de Beaune
Near Meursault
Waterway
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