Showing posts with label Paray-le-Monial. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paray-le-Monial. Show all posts

Saturday, 26 November 2016

05 : Day Trips

Whilst there is more than enough to do in the immediate surroundings, there are a number of places that are worth taking a day trip for.

Romanesque frescoes - Berzé-la-Ville
The Mâconnais is well worth visiting for its Romanesque architecture, the many exquisite châteaux and the beautiful landscape.

A walk up the Roche de Solutré, a rock formation not far from Mâcon, is well worth it for the spectacular views over the surrounding vineyards. There is a museum at the bottom of the rock that is dedicated to the prehistory of the area.

For Romanesque art, there are some very special frescos round here though, the best can be found in the Chapelle des Moines in the village of Berzé-la-Ville, just down the road from Berzé-le-Châtel with its impressively complete mediaeval castle linked to Cluny by tunnels and with stunning views in all directions.
On the subject of castles, Pierreclos has a lovely château with wine tasting in the cellars after the tour.

Pierreclos
Moving into the Brionnais you will find Paray-le-Monial, a place of pilgrimage, where you can see the Romanesque basilica, a "miniature" version of the Cluny abbey church which is still standing and is well worth a visit. Just round the corner from the basilica is the impressive Renaissance Hôtel de Ville. In other places in the Brionnais there are also excellent examples of Romanesque churches to be seen, for example in Semur-en-Brionnais and Anzy-le-Duc.

La Boulaye
In the Morvan there is the first Tibetan Buddhist monastery built in Europe, the Temple of the Thousand Buddhas, Paldenshangpa (Kagyu Ling) at La Boulaye. Paldenshangpa is in harmony with, but strangely in contrast to, the green rolling hills of the Burgundy landscape. Hundreds of Buddhists come to La Boulaye every year to take part in the many ceremonies and many other people come just to experience and take part in a Buddhist service. There is also a Serbian-orthodox monastery in Uchon in the Morvan. The monks make religious icons for sale and at certain times of the day you can visit the beautifully painted refectory and other parts of the monastery.

The Last Judgement - Beaune
When mentioning the Côte d’Or most people think only of its outstanding wines (like Nuits-Saint-Georges) or they think of Dijon, but Beaune is also very well worth a visit. Give yourself the time to wander around the streets of Beaune and visit the stunning Hôtel-Dieu (which was a working hospital until 1971), with its spectacular roofs of coloured tiles which are only visible when you get into the internal courtyard. Also within the hospital complex is the famous altar piece "The last judgement" by the Flemish artist Rogier van der Weyden, that attracts tourists from around the world. In Beaune there are a number of small museums that are worth a look, most notably the wine museum telling you all about wine from grafting on to the vine to producing the finished article.

Wine Tasting - Beaune
Don’t forget to visit one of the wine cellars (caves) in the town centre, most notably the Marché aux Vins , in the former church of the Cordeliers close to the Hôtel-Dieu, where for a few Euros you can not only visit the cave but you can also taste some of the most expensive wines in Burgundy if not in the world.

Thursday, 27 October 2016

23 : A day out in the Brionnais

Brionnais

The Brionnais is an area in the southwestern corner of Burgundy, more or less enclosed by Charolles and Digoin in the north and Chauffailles and Iguerande in the south. It is an area with rolling hills, forests and meadows with only on the western side the flat plane of the river Loire. We visit the Brionnais regularly, for various reasons.

Saint-Christophe-en-Brionnais - Market
One of our main reasons to organise a day out to the Brionnais is the weekly cattle market (Wednesday all day) in Saint-Christophe-en-Brionnais. Although the old fashioned market, where the farmers trade with each other on a one to one basis, is getting smaller each time we get there, it is still a very lively, very busy market. The amount of cattle that is traded under canopies diminishes in favour of selling in the auction ring, where the cows are entered, their weight and particulars are displayed on a big screen, and where the farmers can bid electronically.

Saint-Christophe-en-Brionnais - Auction
The whole auction strongly resembles a Dutch vegetable or flower auction. On market day all restaurants in the village offer a menu du marché, which consists of a main dish, a cheese platter and a desert at a very reasonable price (approx. € 15 pp). One of the charms is also that one usually is seated at the same table as the farmers, whom for obvious reasons get priority over tourists when food is to be ordered. Even though by now we know the market inside out, we still happily visit the Brionnais on a Wednesday, if only to enjoy a first class steak frites in Saint-Christophe.

Saint-Christophe-en-Brionnais - Lunch
However, it seems a bit daft to travel roughly an hour just for a good lunch. The Brionnais boasts a big number of towns and villages with very interesting Romanesque (=Norman) churches; some have a crypt, others have beautifully carved capitals, and a number of them are decorated with stunning tympanums above the entrance doors.

Anzy-le-Duc - Capital
It is virtually impossible to mention all churches that are worth a visit; below are some highlights.
Those are, amongst others: Paray-le-Monial, Anzy-le-Duc, Semur-en-Brionnais, Montceau-l'Etoile, Varenne-l'Arconce, Saint-Germain-en-Brionnais, Bois-Sainte-Marie, Saint-Laurent-en-Brionnais, Châteauneuf, Iguerande, Charlieu (42) and Neuilly-en-Donjon (03). Those who would like to make a trip past the Romanesque churches can follow the signs "Circuit des églises romanes du Brionnais", a trip which is extensively described on the site "Le site sur l'Art Roman en Bourgogne".

Neuilly-en-Donjon (03) - Tympanum

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