Burgundy: Exploring the Cultural Heritage of Dijon

We originally had plans for another day trip, but since Dijon's handful of museums are free, we stayed in town to explore. The tourist office has conveniently strung together all the highlights with Le Parcours de la Chouette (The Owl Trail) which they sell for 3.5 euros (app or book). We took the hardcopy conveniently furnished by our apartment host and went to town. We were very glad we did. Dijon has cultural heritage!

Our apartment was close to the modern station where trains, buses, and trams all meet, and Darcy Gardens.






The cultural highlights of Dijon are the Ducal Tombs (late 1400's), now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, and the Well of Moses (early 1400's) at the site of the former Carthusian monastery of Champmol. These monumental polychrome sculptures are the work of the Dutch sculptor Clus Sluter and those who followed in his tradition.

First the Ducal tombs of Philip the Bold, his son John the Fearless and John's wife Margaret.






The Mourners in niches around the tombs


The more-than-amazing monumental statues of the Well of Moses have stood outside for over 700 years - roofed for the last 400. In addition to Moses, the other prophets are Daniel, David, Isaiah, Jerimiah, and Zechariah. Wow!

Prophets David (center), Jerimiah (right) and Moses (left).

<>Prophets Isaiah (left) and Moses (r).


Prophets Zechariah (center) and Jeremiah (left


Some highlights from the "Owl Trail" walking tour. First, Porte Guillaume.


The Telephones * Postes * Telegraphes Building.


the Central Market Hall.


Sempervirens (Evergreen), 2013 by Gloria Friedman.


The Bareuzai wine tradition.


Sun-Ling rubs The Owl for Good Luck


Some highlights from the Beaux-Arts Musuem with 50 rooms in chronoogical order = nice.
















Musée Archeologique. First a Nativity Scene from the Realism School.;-)

Burgundy: Exploring the Vineyards of the Côte d’Or (Golden Slope)

We continue our way south to Dijon, whose name is synonymous to mustard. Today, all the mustard seeds come from Canada. The margins on mustard must not be high enough. The area is all about wine, Burgundy. There are a lot of vineyards. We walked from Aloxe-Corton to Pernand-Vergelesses to Savigny-lès-Beaune to Pommard ending in Beaune, about 12 miles. The villages pale in comparison to Alsace, though things may yet change - whole chateaux are being outfitted for wine.  We were surprised to see how many grapes are still on the vines. In the afternoon, there was actually maintenance work going on in the vineyards.

Our walk in the Côte d’Or (Golden Slope) vineyards was long and hot, but featured several awesome viewpoints, the first between Aloxe-Corton and Pernand-Vergelesses.






The second was above the village of Pernand-Vergelesses. Rick Steves calls it the best viewpoint in Burgundy. Could be.




Walking from Pernand-Vergelesses to Savigny-lès-Beaune was pretty awesome as well.








On the way from Savigny-lès-Beaune to Pommard there were some nice views and we got to watch small tractors in operation in hte vineyards.




These guys had a machine that would pull old vines out of the ground with one mechanical arm, then drill a neat hole in the ground with another arm at the spot of the old vine (more or less). The helper would untangle vines from the arms and plunge a stake into the new hole as a marker. From the photo and the two 15-second videos you get the basic idea.






Pommard had a chateau (below) that was turning into a high-class vine operation.


Beaune (below) was uneventful and the bus back to Dijon left on time.

Walking the Alsace Wine Route

In keeping with our usual "walking" approach to wine regions, we took the bus to Kaysersberg (great view from the fortress), then walked to Riquewihr (towers and walls), Hunawihr (0 tourists), and Ribeauvillé (Grand Rue), and finally busing back to Colmar. I rather liked all the villages: picturesque, colorful, and prosperous looking. There were many visitors for good reasons. John thinks there were too many tourists.

On our second attempt, we rode the bus to picturesque Kaysersberg. After eating our lunch above the Kaysersberg Castle, we walked - very scenic!- through the vineyards to Riquewihr.












The view from the castle was amazing.




The walk to Riquewihr.












Riquewihr had city walls and gates, wine tasting, and cute half-timbered houses.










The walk through the vineyards to Hunawihr and Ribeauvillé.


Hunawihr.






Ribeauvillé with a fortress on the hill.


Along the Grand Rue of Ribeauville.








We are rewarded with a rainbow after enduring a shower at the bus stop.