Bread, cheese and wine – Beaune, France – Part 2

This continues my families adventures in France. If you’ve not done so already, read Part 1.

The river in Beaune

Vin, pain et fromage

Lovely fromage

I have to agree with the French in their outlook on food and wine and Beaune did not disappoint us on this front. For a start Beaune is the centre of some of the best wine in France and there are numerous Caves around town very willing to prove it. There were some superb boulengeries and we ate (a lot) of very fine bread indeed. We also paid a visit to the Saturday morning market and got ourselves some splendid cheeses, the highlight of which may have been a fine, gooey Epoisse. Oh my we ate and drank well.

Lunch

On Sunday our hosts took us to a very lovely restaurant called Auberge des Vignes. We ate our splendid meal on the terrace looking out on a vineyard and with the gently rolling hills as a backdrop. The wine flowed, the food (including some snails) were great and we left with that nice glowing feeling. Pretty reasonable too I may add.

Our lunch venue - Auberge des Vignes

The Home of Photography

The house where the first ever photograph was taken

The man credited with taking the first permanent photographic image (previous ones faded after a few hours) is Joseph Nicéphore Niépce who lived in Chalon-sur-Saône not too far from where we were staying. As we were so close it would have been rude not to have gone to the home of photography. By chance there was a small museum attached to the house where Niepce took the first photo, so we took the tour.

On the one hand it was amazing to stand in the very room where the first ever picture was taken. On the other hand I couldn’t beleive that a photography museum wouldn’t let me take a picture myself. All I wanted was to take a picture out of the same window as an homage. Sadly not said the otherwise very nice guide. An interesting trip for photography buffs. I was fairly chuffed myself.

Wine tasting

A trip to Beaune of course would not have been complete without a visit to a cave for a spot of wine tasting.

Our hosts took us along to Bouchard Aine & Fils, a very distinguished looking place. We took the tour of the cave or cellar, which looked suitably dark and barrelly. Moving from cellar to cellar we were given increasingly nicer wines to taste, the last being particularly lovely. One nice feature was a room with lots of jars containing different flavours – oranges, cinnamon, chocolate etc. – to give an idea of smells to look out for. Possibly a gimmick, but I quite liked it and my one year old was highly intrigued.

Vineyards near Beaune

What a lovely place

I can report that Beaune is a lovely part of the world and somewhere I’d be keen to spend more time in. A wonderful trip.