14. Cote de Beaune - road and ancient hospital adventures

Beaune is the capital of the wine region known as the Cote de Beaune. It is famous for local wines produced from local grapes, with the wines  known by their town names (the terroir of the wine). We don't know much about the expert part of wine. However Lynn DID find an article on a cool bike route running through the vineyards in the Cote de Beaune, so today we set out to find it. (This is the same effort I made unsuccessfully yesterday; today we were successful!)

Aloxe-Corton chateau and winery

Our drive to Beaune from VLF has become almost automatic now. This time Lynn took some pretty pics of a local winery Domain, Aloxe-Corton, from the road. We have never been able to get a good pic of it from up close, so this seemed to work! Once in Beaune, we found a likely turn-off to find “La Voie des Vignes” (the bike trail through the vineyards). By hook and by crook we ferreted-out the beginning of the trail. After parking the car, I was off to explore La Voie des Vignes on my bike, while Lynn walked in to Centre Ville to visit the famous old hospital in Beaune. Here’s what she thought of her visit there:

Glazed tile roof-Courtyard

Gothic facade - Courtyard

LYNN: Today John and I went our separate ways…we drove together to Beaune and he took off on a bike adventure while I visited the l’Hotel Dieu or Hospices de Beaune. The courtyard is the most amazing part of the museum with beautiful glazed geometric tiled roof and Gothic architecture. It was founded in the 1400’s and until relatively recently still served the poor of Beaune with medical care. There are interesting recreations of the purposes it served and exhibits of instruments used and medicines of the times. The tour ended with a very famous group of paintings combined in a polyptych of the Last Judgement by Rogier van der Weyden. Then I conveniently received a message that John was needing me to meet him at his final destination to I could quit being a scholar without guilt LOL….

Pharmacy

Hospital beds

Begin the Vois des Vignes in Beaune

JOHN: The bike route through the vineyards started off very promising: filled with runners and cyclists, no cars on a narrow pavement right in the middle of the vineyards, with vines as far as the eye could see! People and cyclists are taller than the grapevines, so you could see anyone out there from far away. Lots of “Bonjours” were exchanged among riders and runners, the weather was perfect and the scenery was lush.Unhappily, a few cars horned their way in on the bike trail, squeezing us quite a bit on the incredibly narrow pavement.  I took some scenery pics, but as usual they fail to convey what the eye found so beautiful. I made it through several beautiful villages before the signs for the trail fizzled out…in typical French fashion (in my experience). So, I used my miserable sense of direction and my trusty pocket map to navigate to the next couple of villages, where I was able to find some more bike trail signs. Finally, a slow-leaking tire brought me down to pumping air every 10 minutes, as I was nearing the end of the trip. About that time, Lynn showed up with the car, as we’d arranged to meet in Santenay, a tiny village at the end of La Voie des Vignes…super timing! We loaded the bike, I changed clothes, then we started prowling towns for lunch opportunities. 

Panorama of the typical scenery in the vines

Beautiful fountain in Centre Ville, Meursault

Santenay was pretty well closed up on this Sunday afternoon, and the only places serving meals seemed too expensive and classy for me in my t-shirt and jeans. There was the lunchtime closing rule too! Remember, most places STOP serving food at 2:00 p.m., and don’t reopen until 7:30 p.m….we had to act fast! 

Santenay Centre Ville

Beautiful bridges into and out of Santenay!

Whimsical Australia display inside Restaurant Le Pelugney

Our next stop was a village I’d ridden through earlier, where I thought I’d seen a small cafe with cyclists eating outside. We never found THAT place, but in Puligny-Montrachet we found a beautiful tiny restaurant serving fine food in a very casual atmosphere. What a find! We ordered a tremendous meal and some local red wine, and had an amazing afternoon meal event. For instance, the choice of appetizers was fantastic: escargot and mushrooms in some kind of spicy wine sauce, or eggs poached in wine with vegetables…we tried one of each. This restaurant reminded us of what our host Gloria, in Amboise, told me about small-town dining in France: if you go to a place serving more than two or three main dishes, LEAVE, because the chef can’t possibly do a good job on a wide menu. Well, this place had two main dishes, no substitutions allowed, and all the food we ate was spectacular. If you are ever in the area, dine with our new friends  Beatrice and Jean-Louis Choquet Sabbe, at Restaurant Le Pelugney. Tres Bon, for sure! 

We forgot to take a photo of the restaurant we loved so much...so here is the card! 

We made it home and napped, read books, looked at photos, and generally goofed off the rest of the afternoon. What a way to vacation! 

Here are some more pics if you'd like to see them:

TRIP PHOTOS