We woke up early with only two things in mind for the day. Head over to the Valrhona Chocolate company, and then jump in François and do a marathon drive on the Autoroute to Sens.
Both missions were accomplished, when we went out for our walk to the chocolate company we were surprised to see two river cruise ships tied up to the docks right next to the campground. The fog was dense and you could barely see them but they loomed in the dark. We think all of the passengers had already taken off for their day trips as the crew of one of the ships were engaged in a vigorous snow ball fight on the top deck which is usually used for the passengers to enjoy the sun and the views.
The pedestrian bridge across the Rhone shrouded in fog.
We arrived at the factory and Ton did some sampling and shopping while I sampled and tried to figure out why our internet was out of order. Ton was much more successful than I was. After much sampling and comparison we departed Valrhona with a kilo of chocolate to take home to Oregon.
François sitting on the banks of the Rhone, trust me.
We quickly packed up and headed to the autoroute. At the entrance to the autoroute I was distracted going up to the gate where you get the ticket to enter. In France they have a Telepass station where you put a transponder in the car and do not need to stop at the toll gates. As I drove up to one of the two entrance gates I was not paying attention, so when I pulled up to the machine that usually dispenses the ticket you need, nothing happened, and then after a few seconds a recording began lecturing me in French about the fact that I had entered the telepass gate, after about 20 seconds of being scolded in French, and having a picture taken of our plate (there was a flash at the rear of François which I presume was a camera going off), the machine dispensed the ticket we needed, the barrier went up and we were on our way. I fear there may be a fine in our future.
Windshield shot of a castle off of the A6.
The rest of the day consisted of us navigating the 430 km’s on the autoroute, and paying a huge toll at the end. Before heading back to the aire in Gron which is our normal beginning and end of trip stop we also filled up a thirsty François to the tune of €120. The days when we see the least are often the most expensive.
We are finally having to focus more on direction than interesting places. We picked the destination of Tournon-sur-Rhone based on it being a good distance north towards Sens.
When we arrived in Tournon we were not initially impressed. It was a nice enough town with a nice view of the Rhone River. There were two river cruise boats docked near town. We learned that Tournon had a sister city on the other side of the river called Hermitage. They were connected by a nice wooden pedestrian bridge.
The wooden bridge across the Rhone between Tournon and Hermitage.
We found another aire for the night and headed into town. We did a pass thru Tournon and it was nice, and then headed over to Hermitage as Ton wanted to get some pictures of the Rhone and the river cruise boats. Once we reached Hermitage we saw they had a chocolate museum. The chocolate museum was really awesome. It is called Valrhona, and is attached to a factory by the same name. We decided not to take the tour, but just went thru the attached store. The store had all you could eat samples of all of their chocolates. Ron probably ate about 5€ worth of samples, and Ton about 4€ worth. The chocolate was excellent, and we were almost tempted to buy some but we were full from our free samples!
One of the river cruise ships pulling away from the dock in Hermitage.
On the way back we saw some vineyards on the Tournon side of the river that were really interesting looking. They were on this incredible slope of about 15 degrees with old stone walls between parcels. We decided to walk over to get a better view. They were even more impressive up close. It turns out that this is a Grand Cru ( the highest quality wine in France) for Syrah, and is considered the spiritual birth place for Syrah. So we are going to look for a bottle of the local stuff tomorrow to check it out.
The hills above Tournan which are supposed to be the spiritual home of the Syrah grape.
Today we enjoyed Brittany. We had to make a decision, who said there is no stress on these trips. We are really enjoying Brittany and the weather is great. But to really explore Brittany is going to take another 3 or 4 days, and we will still be 3 or 4 days from Spain. We are now on the 11th day of the trip, and we are no closer to Spain than when we arrived. France is addictive. So we had to decide whether we spend time here in Brittany, or head south towards Spain. After much talk and discussion we decided today was going to be the only day in Brittany and we were going to head to Spain.
The next trick was getting diesel. Suddenly our credit cards have stopped working at gas stations. We have had no problems with our cards until now. A quick call to one of our credit cards confirmed we were good, and they did not even see the attempt to charge that was rejected. After a couple of attempts today we found a fuel station that would take one of our cards, we were under a quarter tank so it was expensive to fill up.
Leaving our campground we saw a nice windmill near the road so we swung in.While we were there the French Army decided to stage a paradrop for us, Ron was thrilled. These guys landed right next to Mont St. Michel.
Having made the decision, Brittany is making it hard to leave. We started the day at St. Malo which is a port town. St. Malo was pretty much leveled during WWII as the German garrison would not surrender. After a substantial siege the Allies finally took it. So except for the city walls the city has pretty much been rebuilt since WWII. But they did a great job of rebuilding the old city within the walls of the fort.
Part of the fort at St. Malo.
We spent most of our time in St. Malo walking the battlements of the fort. St. Malo was a fortified port for 500 years. Some of the forts were built by the man who is considered by many to be the greatest fort builder in the western world, Vauban. They are indeed impressive, and were even able to pretty much withstand 20th century weapons during WWII. In addition the natural setting on the Bay of St. Malo is really beautiful. We really enjoyed St. Malo.
One of the forts designed by Vaubin. The bird in the foreground seemed very happy to have his photo taken.
Brittany was originally settled by Celts, and St. Malo has a strong connection to Wales. Ron believes his family name is originally Breton so it is a special place for him. They are famous for a cake called Kouign Amann. That is a good Celtic word and we could not master how to pronounce it, but it tasted good. It tasted a little like an apple fritter.
We had the smallest Kouign Amann. A prize for anyone who can pronounce this.
Our last stop for the day was Dinan which unlike St. Malo was bypassed during WWII and has a lot of its original buildings. It is also a fortified town, but here we focused on the town and enjoyed walking down the narrow streets within the fort and enjoying the timbered buildings.
There are two iconic images of France for tourism. One is the Eiffel Tower and the other is Mont. St. Michel. Since we were close by and it is off season we decided to head there and cross it off the bucket list.
Before we left the campground in Bayeux Ron had a touching conversation with an English lady. She came up to Ron and said that she recognized him from yesterday at the American Cemetery. She told him how moved she was by the sites there and the sacrifice of the young men who came to another continent to help. I told her that they were honored to do it, and explained to her that the families had the choice of burying them here or having the body transported home for burial. She teared up and said that she was honored that so many chose to be buried here. I am bad with tears and did not know what to say, but thanked her for her kind thoughts.
The Garmin had been choosing pretty easy routes on nice wide roads, but decided to test us today by sending us off on small D Roads for the first 30 km, including one that turned out to be closed for construction. After some wandering around on back roads we came out to a pretty major road and the next thing we knew we were on a nice freeway for the last 60km.
Our first view of Mont St. Michel.
Mont St. Michel is a spectacular site and that is why it is an icon. We had a pretty good walk to the free shuttle to the island. The bus was packed, and the initial impression was of a big crowded tourist site, but it won us over. The site on the outcropping surrounded by mud flats is right out of any movie. The abby is both beautiful and a marvel of construction. Expecting something sterile and packaged we came away impressed.
A shot across the Knights Hall which was the dinner place for the Knights.On the way back we had a nice snack of mussels with some Normandy Cider. We guessed that it was about a Kilo of mussels. The coffee style cups are for the cider.
We wanted to cap the night off with some pictures of the Mont at night. We walked down to the river to the bridge as we thought it would be a nice shot. Tonight is warm and there is not a breath of wind, and we are basically in a big swamp so the mosquitos were swarming. We fought them for about 30 minutes waiting for the lights to come on, but the mosquitos won and we headed back to François for the night with no pictures.
Not the shot with the Mont lit up like we wanted, but the mosquitos drove us home.
The day started out with a visit to the cheese shop under the supervision of Patrick the campsite owner. He also had a French couple in tow who turned out to be from the Yonne department of Burgundy which is our honorary French home, as that is where François the RV is based. We ended up with about 1/3 of a kilo each of three Cantal cheeses, one is called Cantal, one was called Salers, and the last was a blue cheese from the area which one food critic labeled the best he had ever tasted. The Saler cheese is a variant of Cantal that is only produced in two months when a certain flower is in bloom in the region, as the flowers mixed with the grass makes the cows milk that much better, you have got to love the French! We will give you a report later if the flowers make a big difference.
Patrick leading us down the road to the cheese store.
After two days of cold and damp weather we decided to head south in search of sun and heat. We had originally picked out a target of a town that was about 130km as the crow flies. But when Ron punched it into the GPS, the route said it was over 400km’s. Ron cursed and figured he had punched in the coordinates wrong. But after some further study of the map it turned out that this was really a case of the proverbial you can’t get there from here.
This cow is a Cantal which is a breed unique to the area around Salers.Ton likes Cows and this calf is the cutest she has ever seen, it almost looks like a sheep.
After some further study of maps, Ton proposed the town of Albi as a destination. It was south, the roads looked reasonable, and best of all it was the hometown of Toulose-Lautrec which is both of our favorite French Artist.
The bridge in the foreground was built around 1300 and is still used for traffic today.
The plan for the night was to stay in the Aire in Albi. The GPS led us close to the medieval old town down increasingly narrow roads, and only about 500 yards from the final destination we came to an arch that the road was going under, but the road under the arch was filled with construction equipment. After some studying of the map, and a little maneuvering in tight quarters we headed to our alternative route to the aire. About half way there we fell in behind a Dutch RV that appeared to be going to the same place. Again within about 500 meters of the aire we ran into some more construction and the Dutch pulled over and parked. Ron parked up behind them and knowing that almost all Dutch speak English he walked up and asked them about the aire. It turns out that the road to the aire is under construction and while you can barely make it there, it was full anyway. The husband said that they were thinking about parking for the night at a site we had passed on the way in, but the wife switched from English to Dutch and told him no way they were parking there. I don’t speak a word of Dutch but I didn’t need too to understand that conversation.
Ton and I decided to just leave François where he was and head into Albi to have a look around. Albi turned out to be a real Gem. This is why you do these trips without agendas, to find places like this. Our first stop was the Toulose-Lautrec museum. The museum has an incredible collection of his art, because apparently the Louvre turned down the collection when his parents offered it to them. The museum is housed in the Palais de la Berbie which is the old palace of the archbishop of Albi. The building is as impressive as the art collection.
An example of the art in the Toulose-Lautrec museum.The exterior of the Toulose-Lautrec museum which is in the old palace of the archbishop.
Next door is the Cathedral of Albi, which is the largest brick church in the world. We went into the Cathedral and it was as impressive as the outside. We got a break as one half which usually costs 5 euro to get in was open in preparation for a concert so we got a free look at it.
We are parked in an aire next to a hotel in Fitou France. Do not try to find it on a map unless you have a very detailed map of France, it is somewhere near Narbonne.
After a slow start to the day, we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and had a nice conversation with our German neighbors, who were a little confused at first when we did not respond to their initial conversation starters in French. After they sorted out we were not French they effortlessly switched to English. We had a nice time talking to them and getting to meet their dog. They are German versions of snowbirds, spending about 6 months a year in Spain and Portugal.
We decided to head into the town of Rose to have the meal we missed yesterday. We had a fantastic 4 course lunch for €13.50. This was a huge meal including a glass of Sangria for an aperitif, a bowl of mussels for an appetizer, paella for her main dish, and a creme brulee for desert. She had a choice of wine or water and chose wine. Ron had Sangria, calamari for his appetizer, a dish similar to paella but with noodles instead of Rice, and flan, because he was driving he had water. We were wowed with the quantity and quality of the food, and enjoyed people watching while we ate.
The town of Rose, on the Costa Brava, the Costa Brava may require a longer visit in the future.
One correction, all of the fields we were identifying as mustard are actually canola fields, or as they call them here Rapeseed. The yellow fields are still really beautiful.
The plan for today was to visit Roussillon which is another one of the most beautiful villages in France, but we also had to find a place to dump our tanks, add water, and we needed to get some propane. Depending on when we had accomplished all of those things we would decide on the next step for the day.
We were up bright and early, so we headed over to Roussillon and were amongst the first arrivals of the day. Rousillon is famous in France for it’s red earth. It is another pretty village and very upscale, in fact Bradjelina (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie) had their French house here. It was once again nice and worth a visit, but frankly the most interesting thing was watching a truck driver maneuver a large delivery truck down a street with literally inches to spare on each side while shop keepers were pulling in awnings, and moving flower pots out of the way. French truck drivers really earn their living here on these narrow streets and roads.
The buildings in Rousillon all have this red tint to them from the surrounding earth.
We have been trying to visit an olive oil factory for about a week and thought we had found one on the way out of Rousillon. After Ron and the GPS had several arguments about the best way we finally arrived at an olive oil factory quite near to where we spent the night. It was one of our disappointments of the trip. The staff was not very helpful, and the promised tour did not exist, so after a short walk thru we were out to François and deciding on our next step.
During the drive we passed thru a nice canyon between Gordes and Orange.
Ron found a winery in the Chateauneuf du Pape area that was a French Passion site, and we decided to see if we could stay there. French Passion sites are provided with our rental, and are wineries and farms throughout France that let you stay on their property for “free” if you are a member. The catch is that you are highly encouraged to sample their product. In the case of our stay tonight for roughly the cost of a normal campground we purchased two very nice bottles of wine, and got to enjoy a beautiful warm evening on a very peaceful winery in Provence. It is worth every penny.
Some of the vineyard at Chateau Cabrieres. If you look carefully you will see the incredible amount of stones in the vineyards. This apparently is what makes Chateauneuf du Pape wines famous.
Today we headed towards another one of the most beautiful villages in France. Gordes is considered a must see stop in Provence by most of the travel writers.
After an uneventful drive including a stop at a grocery store to replenish some critical items, and wine. We headed up to Gordes. As advertised it is quite striking, but has definitely been discovered by the rich and famous. A lot of the old farm houses have undergone renovation to make them appropriately comfortable for the well off. Ron was looking at a listing of homes for sale, and they were running 1.2 to 2.5 million Euro. As we walked into town we passed a beautiful 5 star hotel that we later checked and found out rooms could be had for around $500 per night.
The view of Gordes as you approach on the main road. The white umbrellas are the $500 per night hotel
Having said that I can see why people are willing to spend that kind of money for Gordes. It really is striking and the town has an old world feel that is pretty magical. We arrived just as the weekly market was packing up for the day. We really enjoyed poking around town, and the views were worth the walk. At the end we ducked into a coffee shop for a beer and a coffee and sat on a balcony about 100 feet above a gorge. We were really enjoying it until a couple of groups sat down next to us and about 5 people simultaneously lit up cigarettes. There is a lot I like about the culture here and one of them is the abundance of outside dining, unfortunately smoking is still allowed in the outside dining, so Ton and I normally find ourselves inside to avoid the smoke.
A sample of the “roads” in Gordes.
We walked back to François for the night and enjoyed our free aire. Tonight our neighbors are mostly British, and we had a nice conversation with a couple from Birmingham.
Ton really liked these stone fences with the tops of stones set on end. This one was near our aire for the night.
Last night we were discussing what to do today, and as we often do when planning things we consulted the weather channel app. It told us today was the last sunny day we should expect on this trip. So we had to make a decision, we are positioned equidistant between Nice and Cannes so we had to decide which town would we spend our last sunny and relatively warm day on. As with all of these type of decisions I left it up to Ton and went to sleep. When I woke up in the morning she said Nice, and gave me an agenda.
We started off with our mile walk to the train station thru the massive condo’s. This morning we discussed again the architectural merits of the buildings, and we both admitted that the buildings had grown on us. Ton said she looked at her pictures last night and began to see some of the subtleties of the buildings that are hidden by their sheer size. While we will not be purchasing a condo there anytime soon we can see ourselves living there if the opportunity arose.
The condos that have grown on both of us as we spend more time around them.
When we arrived at the train station we found a representative of SNCF (the French National Train Company) posting a notice on the still broken ticket machine. He said that the construction near the station had cut the power to the machine, and to his office so he could not issue tickets. We asked him what we should do, and he said just get on the train and if the conductor comes by tell him you got on here and they will sell you a ticket on the train. I said what if we do not see a conductor, he said the ride is on us! On the platform I told Ton that we should take a picture of the notice on the ticket machine just to be safe, a lady on the platform overheard us and asked in accented English what was going on. We told her and she said she would go with Ton to take a picture also. When she returned I noticed she had a Johns Hopkins University sweater and it turns out she works in their Washington DC office and was also a visitor to France for a couple of weeks. She was taking advantage of the good weather to head to Monaco for the day.
Ton’s itinerary for the day consisted of visiting the Central Market, an ice cream shop, and another walk on the Promenade Anglais. The first stop was the central market where we poked thru the vegetable stalls and souvenir stands. Our only purchase was a couple of nice local themed shopping bags. We were drawn to a stall selling a dish called Socca which looked a lot like a dish we had eaten in Lucca that we really enjoyed and never learned the name of.
Flowers for sale in the Market in Nice.
We were tempted but we had ice cream to eat so we set off to the ice cream shop. We saw one branch of the shop and it was closed, but I told Ton not to worry as this was not the main one, and the main one would surely be open. When we arrived there were several workers working cleaning the chairs and tables but they were not open. I asked one of the workers when they were opening and he cheerfully replied “next year”! It turns out they were cleaning up before their winter break. So Ton’s luck with restaurants continues.
The special bicycle used to deliver Socca to the market. The cover goes over the pan of Socca as it is driven from the restaurant to the market.
We were unfazed because this put Socca back on the table. We found the restaurant that produces the Socca for the market on a back ally in the old town. Inside there were three generations of the family working. The father was ferrying giant platters of Socca on a specially made bicycle to the market, the son was doing the cooking and serving in the restaurant, and the grandson (who Ton spent the meal wondering why he was not in school) served the customers outside. Socca is a simple dish made of chickpea flour, water and olive oil poured onto a large shallow pan and cooked in a wood fired oven. Like the dish we had in Lucca earlier (called Cecina in Tuscany) it was absolutely delicious and cheap.
A pan of Socca going into the oven.
We spent the rest fo the day wandering the old town and along the Promenaid Anglais. Ton really loved the Promenade and kept saying lets go just a bit further and we will stop. At one point I sat in a chair and she went down on the beach and spent half an hour happily taking pictures in all directions.
The beach and Promenade Anglais in Nice.
After we had walked about 10 miles we decided to head back to François and take it easy for the rest of the day. It was a simple day but the kind of day that makes great memories.
An interesting statue in front of one of the grand hotels along the Promenade Anglais.
Today we planned to spend at the Louvre. Of all of the places in Paris Ron wanted to spend some extra time there as he had never been.
It is an overwhelming place in many ways. The building is huge, but the vast majority of people are there to see the two or three must see things, the Mona Lisa, David, and the Italian art. Those things are clustered in one area of the museum, and that area is packed. We did see all of those things, but the crowds were a little too much for Ron. The other wings of the building are nearly empty and there is a lot of good art.
This is not the crowded part of the Louvre.
After about 4 hours we had enough and decided to get some lunch. Ton was interested in getting some Moroccan food, and we found a good restaurant. We had our most expensive meal in France, and the meal was good. After lunch we decided to head back to Montmartre, and grab a couple of last minute things we wanted to take back to Oregon with us.
I think we enjoyed walking around Montmartre nearly as much as we did the Louvre for the day. We made a couple of trips to grocery stores in the area, as well as taking one last stroll (Ton would say climb) to the cathedral. We had our final dinner at an African restaurant across from the hotel that Ton had her eye since we checked in The meal was excellent and the spices were really interesting. Ton’s fish was delicious.
Colmar is by far the largest city we have stayed in so far on this trip while it is only 65,000 people most of the places we have been staying have populations less than 2,000 so it felt quite big. The camp site we are staying at is about 2km’s from the center of the city so we even wimped out and bought day bus passes. It turned out to be a good idea as by the end of the day we had walked 10 miles despite taking the bus into town.
We really enjoyed Colmar as it had a lot to see and do in a pretty compact area. We started at the tourist office and picked up a map for the walking tour of the town. Colmar is the home town of Frederic Bartholdi who is the artist who sculpted the Statue of Liberty.
The metal pointers used to guide you as you follow the walking tour of Colmar.
Colmar also had a great selection of half timbered buildings but on a little grander scale than the smaller villages we have been visiting. After a week of touring towns and villages of these half timbered towns we are still enjoying them.
Some more of the beautiful architecture of Alsace. They do a nice job of decorating them also.
Colmar also has a section called little Venice with some small canals with homes built on the canals. It is a pleasant area that they maximize the tourist value of the canals.
Some photos of the little Venice area of Colmar.
Up to now on the trip we had not eaten out except for our Chinese the first night. There were two Alsace dishes we wanted to try. The first was Bretzel, which is a pretzel with toppings. For our mid-morning snack we had Bretzel with Munster Cheese which is a local cheese. It was very reasonable at €1.50 and made for a nice snack.
Many variations of Bretzels on display. We recommend the Munster.
The other dish is called Tarte-Flambeê in French or Flammakueche in Alsatian, we decided to go with the French as we could pronounce it. It is flat bread covered with cream, onions, and other toppings. It is very similar to pizza but quite a bit lighter. We decided to split one for lunch and choose a simple one of cream, onions, cheese, and ham. We were both very happy with our Tarte-Flambeê. Ton says Trader Joes has frozen ones at home so we will be looking for them in the future.
Our Tarte-Flambeê/Flammakueche lunch.
After covering our 10 miles we decided to head back to François for a little break. Ron took a little nap, and Ton made a nice dinner of sausages potatoes, and Choucroute which is Alsatian sauerkraut. Something we will be looking to stock up on before we leave France as it is quite good and now a super food that helps our digestion.
After dinner we went for a little walk and watched some canoes in the river next to our campsite. It was a nice way to wrap up a good day here.
Last night we decided to head south for the trip. It took us up to now to finalize our plans, though we are going to make daily plans so how far we move each day is up to debate. The problem is we keep finding things to do so we are not covering much distance. In fact after 6 days we are sill in Burgundy and are only 175 miles from our starting point.
Today we had two stops in mind, a cheese factory outside Dijon and the Cluny Abbey. The first stop was a factory that specializes in soft cheese manufacture. We did the self guided tour. This involved peering thru windows at workers who tried to look unimpressed and watching videos of the process. It was interesting if a little impersonal. The fun began at the end where we were given five cheeses to taste and of course some bread and wine to go with them. Ton really liked the cheeses as she likes softer cheeses. Ron is a cheddar fan which makes him pretty much a charlatan, at least in Burgundy.
Some of the workers in the plant performing one of the three cleanings each cheese gets.
Our long drive of about 60 miles began after that. On the way to Cluny we came to the town of Cormatin it was pretty well developed and we where trying to figure out why, when we saw an interesting Chateau on the river. We were already by it when we decided to go back and check it out. The signs said open, but the door to the ticket office was locked and the tourist office was also closed for lunch. So we had to settle for some photos over the fence before moving on to Cluny.
Looks like it would have been an interesting walk but we could not find anyone to take our 6 euros.
Our destination for today was the Abby of Cluny. At one time the largest building in Christendom before the building of St. Peters in Rome. On arrival in town we were looking for the town aire. After much circling around including one trip into the heart of the town down narrow one way streets we found a parking lot kind of in the right part of town. It had four or five RV’s parked up so we decided why not join them.
The original church went from the point of this photo to the spire below. That spire is one of the three that were in place in the church.
We headed into town to take the Abby tour. The Abby is now mostly in ruins with only 10% of the original buildings still standing. What is there is really impressive and it does not take much imagination to see the beauty of the remainder. The rest was lost because the order that originally built it ran out of money to maintain it and they ended up selling it to the town. The town then dismantled the church and sold the stone locally and in Paris. If it was standing today in it’s finished state it would surely be one of the biggest attractions in Burgundy if not France.
A view of the town of Cluny from the tower of Fromagges next to the Abby.
When we returned to our parking lot there were only two other RV’s left so Ron came to the conclusion that this was not the aire. After some googling he got a map to the aire. When we arrived it was clearly an aire. The problem was that instead of being free as advertised it cost 10euro, and you had to call the town police to pay up, and failure to call in a timely manner increased the cost to 22euro. Eventually we found a nice lady who made the call for us. So tonight we are watching a parade of horses go by to the local stables in the town Hippodrome next door.
Today we planned on spending the day exploring Dijon. The jet lag is finally wearing off and we woke up at a pretty normal time after sleeping thru the night.
Yesterday we had purchased a walking guide of Dijon from the Tourist Office. It is called The Owls Trail. On the main church in Dijon sometime in the 16th century someone (no one is sure who) added an owl on one of the side walls. The legend is that if you touch it with your left hand (the one closest to your heart) and make a wish it will come true.
The lucky owl on the side of the Church of Notre Dame. Notice how worn it is from all of the people looking for good luck.
They have embedded little owl plaques in the sidewalks thru out downtown and all you have to do is follow them in a loop to see most of the main sites in town. It really is a nice system and a fun way to make your way around town.
A sample of the cute owl embedded in the sidewalk.
Because today was market day we decided to start our Owls Tour at the market. The market building is a cast iron building built in 1875. The market was primarily meat and cheese, with the cheese places having the longest lines of locals. We did not end up buying anything but enjoyed window shopping.
Chickens prepared for cooking.
Following the owl around town we were overwhelmed with churches, old mansions, old shops, and palaces. To see so much first rate medieval and renaissance architecture in such a small area was impressive to Ron as it is his first visit to continental Europe.
Ron liked this building a lot.
Having spent a couple of hours wandering around Dijon we decided it was time for a break and some lunch. We went to a restaurant the winery had recommended yesterday and each had the Plat du Jour. The main course was a stuffed chicken with sauce and noodles. The desert was small plates including a pudding, a creme brulee, and an espresso. It was a good deal at 14 euro’s.
We did some window shopping in some of the modern stores, and a department store before deciding to head back to François (Ton decided that the RV was too classy for a name like Frenchy). Ron missed the turn heading out of town despite having done the exact same roundtrip yesterday, and led Ton on a 1/2 hour wander thru Dijon before finally getting back on track.
At the end of the day including Ron’s wandering around lost we posted over 10 miles on the Fitbit. Not bad for a couple of old people.
Luxembourg City is a beautiful city, but for now it is also a giant construction project. At nearly every point we turned there is a building going up, or a road being widened or paved. We even ran into a small side loader when climbing a trail from the lower city to the upper city. On top of the construction they were setting up for the national day celebration so where construction was not going on there were crowd control fences and stages being built for the party. While we do not think this is normal, it was probably the hardest city to walk in we have seen in Europe.
Some of the old fortifications and bridges above the Aizette River.
Most of the city is on the bluffs of the Aizette River. The river passes thru the city in a gorge a couple of hundred feet below the city. There is a section of the city at the bottom of the bluff called Grun. We spent most of the day down there wandering around the old streets and messing around in the ramparts of the old fort. We could see it is a beautiful city when it is not being dug up in mass.
The Grun district in the valley below the city center. Ton had to work hard to get a picture with only one construction crane in it.
We had lunch in a restaurant in the Grun where we tried the national dish of Luxembourg called Judd Mat Gaardebounen when it arrived at the table it came in a cauldron. It is pork neck soaked in brine with white beans, definitely peasant food. It was filling. Having eaten peasant food for our main course we decided to go to the official patisserie of the Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg for desert. We had a nice cheese cake, and chocolate nougat for desert. So we had a peasant dinner and an aristocratic desert.
Ham and beans our traditional Luxembourg peasant lunch.Our desert fit for a Duke.
When we returned for the night there was an outdoor concert taking place. So we wandered over with some of our Duchesse de Bourgogne beer and listened to the Moselle Valley Brass Band until it was time to turn in for the night.
Bruges is one of the most visited cities in Europe and a world heritage site. It is one of the cities that is being loved to death and is looking at how to reduce tourism without killing it. So we are here with all of the tourists trying to enjoy the city.
The market square in Bruges with some of the crowd.
When you get here you see why it is popular. It has most of its older buildings intact and is a great size to walk around and take in the sites. On top of that it has an extensive canal system that makes it feel even more fun and interesting. The entire town is a UNESCO site and for good reasons.
But views like this are the reason so many people want to see Bruge. It is a stunning place.
Having said all of that we we are here in shoulder season and it was packed. It is not a place to visit if you do not like crowds. We usually avoid crowds but braved them today and are glad we did as the city is really worth it. There is not one thing that is truly outstanding, but what you have is all of the pieces of a European City, palace, cathedral, market square, old houses and businesses and they are all well preserved and presented. In this case the sum of the parts is greater than the individual parts.
The combination of the house and the footbridge, these small charms are scattered through out the city.
The aire in Bruges is next to a giant bus lot for all of the tour busses who come to the city each day. The aire is expensive but the location is good as it is a quick 10 minute walk to the center.
A green canal near between the aire and city center.
We had a list of things we wanted to see and do. One of the highlights was a visit to a chocolate shop that is known for outstanding hot chocolate. This was absolutely the best hot chocolate we have ever had. When our order arrived we thought they had made a mistake because we received two very large cups of hot milk, and a tray with two heaping servings of chocolate. The girl explained that we put the chocolate into the milk and mix it ourselves to taste. It was unbelievably delicious. In addition to the chocolate we split a Belgian Waffle with chocolate, whipped cream and ice cream. It was decadent, the best desert we have had on this trip.
Our decadent Belgian Waffle.We came across this view wandering down a back alley. Bruges seems to have a beautiful surprise around every corner.
After that we spent the day enjoying ourselves wandering around town. Ton ran the battery down on her camera taking photos. Bruges is one of the best cities we have visited to just wander aimlessly as there is a new view, or statue, or people doing interesting things all around. We accomplished all of our list but the canal boat ride as the lines were crazy and the boats were gunnel to gunnel going down the canal.
We missed the canal tour because of the crowds.The Belgian version of the Budweiser Clydesdales.
We ended the day with a stop at at the Half Moon Brewery which has been around for six generations now. We enjoyed two of their signature beers. Even though it was our last planned stop we still took over an hour to get back to François as new sights beckoned us to turn aside all the way back.
Came across this view as we walked back to François.Another view on our way back to François.
Bruges deserved a second day so after spending some time talking to our Dutch and English neighbors we headed into town to take a look at some other sites for the day. We were hoping it would be a little less crowded than on Friday but if anything it was busier.
Market Square in Bruges with the crowds.
Our first stop was the oldest bar in Bruges dating back to the 1560’s. One of the stories is that the famous Flemish painter Paul Reubens ran up a bar tab in the 1600’s that he did not have the cash to pay off, so he paid the bill with a painting. Hopefully they kept the painting long enough as it would have paid off whatever tab he ran up plus a million Euro or so today.
The door to the oldest bar in Bruges that one time owned an original Reubens.
Something interesting happened as we walked to the bar. It is not in the tourist core of Bruges, and after we got a few blocks past the square we were suddenly alone. We were following a beautiful canal with really interesting buildings all around us, but hardly any tourists, just locals. We really enjoyed this stretch of the city.
Another beautiful area in Bruges away from the tourist crush.
On Friday we passed on a canal boat tour because of the crowds, but today despite the crowds being worst we felt obliged to do it. There were 40 seats on the boat and they were all filled. Our boat driver was multi-lingual so he did the tour in 4 languages, English, Dutch, French, and Spanish so we had to pay attention for when our explanation was coming. By this time we had walked all of the canals we went down a couple of times so we were familiar with the sites and the short explanation did not add much to our experience.
The crowded canals of Bruges.
Ton treated me to a fathers day meal of Flemish Mussels which are a delicacy around here. After we started eating we realized that Delirium Brewery from Brussels had recently bought this place which was listed as one of the best restaurants and beer halls in town.
Enjoying my Belgian Mussels with a Delirium Beer.
At the end of the day we returned to Half Maan Brewery for a tour. It is clear that lawyers are not the powerful force in Belgium that they are in the US. Our tour had us climbing up and down ladders and very small stairs thru working industrial space. At one point the tour guide let an 11 year old boy climb into a 500 liter beer tank, that would result in a fine from the safety inspector in the US. The brewery has a 2 mile pipeline for beer from the brewery to their bottling plant in the industrial outskirts of Bruges which is the longest beer pipeline in the world. The highlight was when we popped out on the roof of the brewery for a great view of the top of Bruges. The tour ended with a nice glass of Belgian Blonde Ale, and some soccer discussion about the US women and Timbers with another couple from Portland who were also on the tour.
Ton really liked the logo of the Half Maan Brewery.The view of Bruges from the roof of Half Maan.The storage tanks they let the boy climb into.
As we headed back we heard voices near François and it turns out our English and Dutch neighbors had also just returned and were exchanging stories of their day. We joined in and an impromptu party broke out where some French wine, and Irish, and German beer was consumed. That is why this is being published a day late.
As we were leaving the city we came on this sculpture of the flying horse Pegasus pulling a carriage. We are not sure what the significance is of the naked women on the back.
