Day 11 - Beaujolais, Hooray!
The Southern part of the Burgundy region is the region where Beaujolais comes from. There is a town, Fleurie, which is reported to have the best Beaujolais wines. I love Beaujolais, so of we went. Actually, we were headed to Macon which is north of Fleurie, and is the Southern end of the Burgundy wine route. Anyways…
We frapped la rue and came to a cool town called Vienne that had Roman ruins and an intact Roman theatre, but it was closed Mondays of course. We had a walk aroud then went driving for awhile until we found another Chateau that was in the guide book. We got there and went inside, but alas, it also was closed… Merdre.
We had some breaky in Vienne a la quiche, so we continued on our way to the wine route. It was past lunch and we were around Beaujeu or some town? And I spotted a narrow road (they're all narrow) that had a sign that said "Parc". We turned into there and there was a soccer field and some other buildings. The place was deserted, so we layed out our beachmats and had some lunch, and I had a halfhearted attempt at a nap. It was nice and peaceful off the main road.
We arrived in Macon, our general goal, and it was getting a little late and we wanted to get off the road earlier today. We tried several B&Bs until we finally found one that wasn't full ("Complet"). A cute goat farm where they made National Concours Silver medal winning goat cheese. The room was deluxe with a stellar view and equally hospitable hostess Jacqueline. She was a busy farm wife, and was helping with the milking when we arrived.
We grabbed the keys for the room and promptly headed into town for dinner. Guess what, noone is open for dinner until after 7:00, and it was only 5:30 or so. So headed back to our room for a shower, and a glass of wine before dinner. We were really only a few minutes out of town, so it was no big chore.
Later we headed back and found a great restaurant in the middle of town that had classic Borgogne (Burgundy) cuisine. This place had a sign beside the door that said (in French of course), that we were to ring the bell and would then be seated (the door was locked). So we rang, then shortly a young woman opened the door and showed us to the terrace, which was an inner courtyard/garden area within the city block. It was really quite charming. We stuck with our standard methods when sampling regional cuisine, order anything under specialite de maison and hope for the best. Neither of us knew what we had ordered exactly, but when it came, it was great! From apertif to dessert it was a first class gourmet Borgonaise meal.
But it was 9:30 or so now, so we went back to our chambre d'hotes (B&B) and closed the gates behind us so the goats wouldn't get out. The beautiful masonry of the all-stone contrcuted buildings I am continually awestruck by. I just love it, and have plans for some stonework replacing the ugly cinder blocks of our "grotto" area behind the house. To each his own I suppose.
We frapped la rue and came to a cool town called Vienne that had Roman ruins and an intact Roman theatre, but it was closed Mondays of course. We had a walk aroud then went driving for awhile until we found another Chateau that was in the guide book. We got there and went inside, but alas, it also was closed… Merdre.
We had some breaky in Vienne a la quiche, so we continued on our way to the wine route. It was past lunch and we were around Beaujeu or some town? And I spotted a narrow road (they're all narrow) that had a sign that said "Parc". We turned into there and there was a soccer field and some other buildings. The place was deserted, so we layed out our beachmats and had some lunch, and I had a halfhearted attempt at a nap. It was nice and peaceful off the main road.
We arrived in Macon, our general goal, and it was getting a little late and we wanted to get off the road earlier today. We tried several B&Bs until we finally found one that wasn't full ("Complet"). A cute goat farm where they made National Concours Silver medal winning goat cheese. The room was deluxe with a stellar view and equally hospitable hostess Jacqueline. She was a busy farm wife, and was helping with the milking when we arrived.
We grabbed the keys for the room and promptly headed into town for dinner. Guess what, noone is open for dinner until after 7:00, and it was only 5:30 or so. So headed back to our room for a shower, and a glass of wine before dinner. We were really only a few minutes out of town, so it was no big chore.
Later we headed back and found a great restaurant in the middle of town that had classic Borgogne (Burgundy) cuisine. This place had a sign beside the door that said (in French of course), that we were to ring the bell and would then be seated (the door was locked). So we rang, then shortly a young woman opened the door and showed us to the terrace, which was an inner courtyard/garden area within the city block. It was really quite charming. We stuck with our standard methods when sampling regional cuisine, order anything under specialite de maison and hope for the best. Neither of us knew what we had ordered exactly, but when it came, it was great! From apertif to dessert it was a first class gourmet Borgonaise meal.
But it was 9:30 or so now, so we went back to our chambre d'hotes (B&B) and closed the gates behind us so the goats wouldn't get out. The beautiful masonry of the all-stone contrcuted buildings I am continually awestruck by. I just love it, and have plans for some stonework replacing the ugly cinder blocks of our "grotto" area behind the house. To each his own I suppose.
posted by Paul at 1:47 PM
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