We have been having a wonderful time over the last couple of days here in the Burgundy region (Boourgogne) in France in absolute awe of the beauty of the vineyards and the surroundings we are in.
The weather has been perfect and as such, this whole ‘wine trail’ region is full of cyclists following their trails, a few tourists self-driving themselves like us and the occasional minibus of tourists stopping within the middle of the roads basically, to hear what their tour guide has to say.
The driving in this region is can I say ‘fun’??? The villages are all very similar, stone walls and very narrow streets, almost giving the impression of no-one around at all. But unlike in Australia and New Zealand where we have shopping centres, roads full of big cars and hustle and bustle, it all seems so ‘surreal’ here. AS I even type this, I can see out into the vineyards and the workers in amongst the vines doing what only they know best, cyclists touring the vineyards riding by, the small tractors whizzing up and down the roads as they head from one vineyard to another to do their spraying etc. Seems that spraying is the go at the moment, lots of vineyard work going on …
We are in the middle of a region called Cassagne-Montrachet, either side of which are Santenay and Poligny-Montrachet – all very exclusive wine regions and if the attention the vines are getting and the level at which they are well manicured and looked after is anything to go by, then yes I believe it. The vineyards are all surrounded by the small stone villages, or more likely the other way around, but whatever, the area is just gorgeous.
We are staying here for 3 night in what might look like a cottage from the outside but is a very flash inside with anything we need here almost. Seems a bit like us in Maroochydore where we spend a bit of time there ourselves so there’s heaps of extra linen, cleaning materials, a sunroom, a bit of foodstuff etc. It’s a 3 bedroom house so Pat, Marg and Rod – here’s our next holiday!
Checked out a restaurant close by last night and had my first snails – half a dozen done in a garlic and parsley butter sauce – not too bad, so much so that I could probably have eaten a dozen rather than just the half dozen I did have. Followed up with a Beef Bourgignone and red wine of course!
We’ve definitely sampled a few wines in our time here, even the ‘house’ wines are rather nice! Most of what we have done has been for lunch though – we tend to do our exploring in the mornings, have a late lunch then head home for late afternoon with dinner in. Not much TV watching whilst we are here though – heaps of channels but all in French!
So that’s the Burgundy region (seems strange even saying that though as it’s all ‘Bourgogne’ here). Tomorrow we head off to the Champagne region and stay in Reims. Doing a tour on Saturday around the region so time now to settle into some Champagne drinking!!
3) France Set 3
Photos at:
1) Battlefield Tour: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152176378869862.1073741844.6…
and
2) France – Set 1: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152167852954862.1073741843.6…
and
3) France Set 3: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152209999759862.1073741845.6…
