Burgundy

Thurs 8 May	Hotel Viura	6.5 hrs Moraira - Rioja
Fri 9 May	Gaynor & Vic	6.25 hrs Rioja - La Coquille
Sat 10 May	Gaynor & Vic
Sun 11 May	Gaynor & Vic	Oradour
Mon 12 May	Ch Sainte Sabine	5 hrs Gaynor to Beaune
Tues 13 May	Ch Sainte Sabine	Ch Fontenay
Wed 14 May	Arc de Monells	7 hrs Beaune to Monells .
Thurs 15 May	Home	6 hrs Monells to Moraira

We had a week away From May 8, 2025 in France. We drove up via Rioja where we stayed in the Hotel Viura, An ultra modern hotel when it was built about 20 years ago. We had stayed here once before. Inside it was like a warehouse but very nicely done and outside it looks like cubes that are slightly off the horizontal. After arrival we had a very pleasant walk in the campo and then around the village. This was followed by a free drink of wine out in the garden; the barman being somewhat less than perfect. We enjoyed our meal in the restaurant though and all in all it was a good overnight stay

The following day we did another 6 to 7 hour stint to arrive chez Vic and Gaynor at 4 pm. This was the first time for many years that we had visited them outside July and August and we had brought our sweaters with us. They had yet to take off the winter cladding of their conservatory. Lots of good chat and then the next day we did some shopping with Gaynor. David and I had a short walk round the village as Gaynor suffering from her bad back and Vic was also recovering from a pulled tendon which made his life difficult as it involves so much physical work in maintaining the wood supply for their cottage and in maintaining the lake.

On the Sunday we set off with Gaynor to visit Oradour,, This village, near Limoges, had suffered the most awful massacre by the German SS in June 1944. It had been attacked by units of the waffan SS and over 600 villagers had been slaughtered; the men shot and the women and children imprisoned in the church which had then been set on fire. The site had been declared a national monument by de Gaulle in 1947 and a museum had been built there many many years later around 2000. So we walked round the museum which Chris found difficult despite her audio guide, as this was virtually useless. Then we walked around the remains of the village which had been set a light by the Germans after the slaughter.

We thought we might get a bite of lunch in the nearby new town of Oradour, but there was hardly a soul to be seen and there were no businesses open. So we made our way back to Vic & Gaynor's house and had a cup of tea and a slice of her lovely fruit cake. There after another great dinner that lasted almost until midnight, we took our leave the next morning before 10 to make our way to Burgundy.

It was about a 5 to 6 hour journey to reach Château Sainte Sabine, part of the Relais and Chateau group. It was a lovely building and after settling in we went for a walk round its grounds and through the village. Soon after seven we went down for a drink and found that the director, who we named Herbert, was in a frenzy obviously rushed off his feet and letting it be known to the customers that this was the case. Anyway we both had a cocktail and some very nice nibbles and went into the restaurant about 7.45 having booked a table for 7.30. However, we were stopped en route and asked to go back to the saloon as they were too busy in the restaurant. Not surprisingly David was not happy with this and eventually another waiter told us that we could in fact go down to the restaurant where Herbert greeted us as though nothing had happened and that there was no problem: not for him maybe! It transpired that there was a table for one amongst the four or five tables occupied and David suspected that this was a Michelin inspector, and maybe also the head chef’s night off and this explained Herbert's behaviour?

Anyway we enjoyed the food but it was very spread out and Chris was too tired for the last couple of courses to really enjoy it. The food was very good but not quite of a Michelin star standard which the restaurant held.

A lovely breakfast the next morning with a most pleasant French lady in charge of the buffet. Then we set out for the hours drive to. Fontenay, A world heritage mediaeval Abbey: it was indeed impressive.

After this we made our way to Semur-en-Auxois, a heritage site, with its narrow streets.

The church has a stained glass window depicting American doughboys with bayonets at the ready, and the American Red Cross tending to the wounded. Crossed American and French flags are in the top window. Badges in the upper windows list the battles of the Regiment. the 310th Infantry Regiment of the 78th Infantry Division was stationed in Semur en Axis during the war.

Then on to Epoisses, A village where a famous cheese was made. Époisses is a pungent soft-paste cow's-milk cheese. Smear-ripened, "washed rind" (washed in brine and Marc de Bourgogne, the local pomace brandy), it is circular at around either 10 cm or 18 cm in diameter, with a distinctive soft red-orange colour. It is made either from raw or pasteurised milk, and is sold in a circular wooden box. The rind is edible

At the start of the sixteenth century, the village was home to a community of Cistercians at Cîteaux Abbey that, according to oral legend, began production of the cheese. Two hundred years later, when the community left, local farmers inherited the recipe, which developed over the next century. Napoleon was particularly fond of the cheese. Production began to decline after the First World War, virtually ceasing by the 1950s. In 1956 a small farming couple, Robert and Simone Berthaut, decided to re-launch the production of Époisses by mobilizing the traditional skills of those who still knew how to make the cheese. Berthaut Époisses increasingly gained favour among its devotees and became a spectacular success. The business is now carried on by their son, Jean Berthaut. Fromagerie Berthaut is currently responsible for the manufacture of all fermier Époisses, although several artisanal fromageries now also manufacture Époisses.

We parked and walked for some while we could not find any shop selling cheese. We got back in the car and found a sign to the Berthaut fromagerie: this was well out of the village but did have a sign on its gate saying there was a shop in the centre of the village. Driving back the other way we saw a small sign to the Berthaut cheese shop and parked and went in there. The shelves holding their display of cheeses were slightly taped off, but David could still reach them so he picked one up and got shouted at in no uncertain terms by the lady behind the counter, who by this time had stopped serving the other customer. David immediately left the shop and I was left to try to explain that we did not think we deserved the reception we had received. Later, on TripAdvisor, we found that many people had complained about the shop assistant for precisely the same reason - her very unfriendly attitude.

We then made our way to Meursault where we hoped to have a wine tasting. But here again we had no success, the girl there saying that they only did wine tasting with a tour and the last tour of the day had started two minutes earlier. So we had to admit defeat, even though their web site said that wine tasting could be had at any time.

We then went on to Aloxe Corton where we went into the eponymous Château and David bought three bottles of wine. All in all a frustrating latter part of the day.

Returning to the hotel we had a little to eat out in the sunshine and then went back to the room for a coffee. Then a walk and a delightful cocktail overlooking the lake served by the ever present Herbert, with delightful warm evening sunshine on our backs. Then back to the room for more to eat.

After another delicious enjoyable breakfast we set off on the long haul to our next stop which was about a seven hour drive which was quite monotonous being mainly on motorways. We had a little trouble finding the hotel in Montells but were enchanted with the Arcs de Montells. It was not the same hotel as we had stayed at many years ago when flying to Malta but one that had been created by its present owners in 1997, our room was an original 1400 cave room, very spacious and with a beautiful stone wall. It gave out onto the garden where there was a swimming pool where Chris was able to have a pleasant swim at 5 pm. We enjoyed a glass of wine from a bottle purchased from the owners out in the sunshine and then went to dinner at 8 pm. The restaurant had been split off from the hotel four years previously, but this was not obvious at all and we were able to charge up a very pleasant meal to our room and we would not have known that it was a separate enterprise but for David having had a long chat with the owner. We shared a Burrata and then I had octopus and David had some sushi followed by a local specialty for dessert - not one of the world's great desserts, but you never know till you try it!

A pleasant breakfast the next morning and then a discovery walk through this magnificent mediaeval village where all was curved arches and covered ways. Then the long dragged back to Moraira that this was actually just under six hours so not too bad.

2025 Burgundy