Our next long bus ride took us to the furthest extreme of the truncated Saone cruise, the town of Beaune. On the bus we crossed over into the Burgundy wine region, which is also famous for the beef stew and the escargots 'Bourguignon'.
The town of Beaune is most famous for its former hospital and old age home, the Hospices. Given that the hospital was established in 15th century, it is amazing to think that the last residents of the home only moved out in the 1970s when a new, modern hospital was built.
The most striking thing about the hospital is the beautiful patterned tiles on the roof facing the courtyard. The tiles shine in the rain (as we could see) and in bright sunshine as they are glazed and this type of patterning is traditional in the Burgundy region. In the case of the Hotel-Dieu, this pattern is only visible on the courtyard side of the buildings. The outside tiles are plain grey so the building would appear not to hold anything of value to someone wanting to pillage.
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| It's raining again, as you can see from the umbrellas |
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| The altarpiece from the chapel in the hospital was only opened to this side on special occasions. Normally it looked rather bland. |
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| This is part of one of the tapestries from inside |
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| This is how the beds were arranged in the Room of the Poor, where most of the patients lived. |
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| A depiction of one of the sisters using a bed warmer, a sled that held hot coals that was put under the sheets to warm them. |
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| The chapel altar, with a reproduction of the altarpiece we had seen earlier |
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| The garden outside the hospital building |
One of the very interesting parts of the Hospices was the apothecary. It was furnished as it would be in the 1800s and had a very impressive stock of all sorts of medicines and herbals, many of which are still used today. The apothecary was run by the nuns, who even did all of the work to prepare medications, but they were overseen by a doctor.
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| Some of the equipment used to prepare medications and remedies |
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| Only a small fraction of the carafes holding any number of medicinals |
After our visit to the Hospices, we had free time to wander through the outdoor and indoor parts of the market as it was market day. Once more, delectable produce, cheeses and charcuterie made our mouths water. We had also been given money to have lunch on our own (Tauck really didn't want anyone to go hungry, and I think it was also to make up for not being able to sail)
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| A cheese merchant |
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| Sausages of all types |
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| Inside, charcuterie including terrines and 'head cheese' |
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| Olives and olive based salads |
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| And a local favourite - nougat - in a multitude of different flavours |
We wandered a bit away from the town square and the market, and found a restaurant on another small square. It was just before noon when we arrived, and we thought it would be a good idea to grab a table for lunch while they were still available. And it was a good thing we did! No more than 15 minutes later, the restaurant was so full that they had to put out a sign that they were full up!
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| Me and my escargot, the way my Dad used to make them. |
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| Larry and his pot of beef stew with boiled potatoes |
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| A close-up |
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| Desserts - I had the red wine poached pear in the front (I had no idea Rice Krispie Squares were French!), and Larry had ice cream with berries and whipped cream |
So we hopped on the bus that was going back to Lyon and spent the afternoon digesting our lunch. We had a light dinner that night, but we had to have a little something for dessert, as the pastry chef had gone out of her way to produce the special Chocolate Extravaganza:
That was it for the day. We dropped into bed early, as we had yet another longish drive in the morning, this time to visit Chateau Cormatin.
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