Au revoir, Burgundy

Having enjoyed ourselves so much in Burgundy it was very sad to realise our final day was upon us. There was so much more we wanted to do, and we chose to visit Semur-en-Auxois and Fontenay Abbey.

The old medieval town of Semur is perched on a hill, which drops steeply away to a river. It's now also surrounded by a more modern precinct, but that's not noticeable from the old part. Having absorbed European fairy tales/fables and modern fantasy works, it was enchanting to step through the stone arch of the old town wall to enter thin, winding, cobbled streets lined with half-timbered houses and the grander stone dwellings of the better-off. The old town is very much alive: part the school playground is in the courtyard of the old keep and has a stone wall overlooking the river. Handily the town wasn't overrun with tourists (an advantage of visiting in May rather than in the summer). Down by the river was particularly pleasant, presumably much more so than in the town's heyday when it was the domain of tanners, smiths and other industry. The cathedral, while not quite in the same league as Notre Dame or Reims, featured in the old Pilgrims' Way of St Jacques. That trail is an ongoing feature for us (Vezelay is also a part), and we have plans to walk some of it once we reach the southwest. Not this day, however! We snagged a seat outside a local cafe, had a light three-course lunch, and soaked up a very pleasant 25-odd degrees. A day when it was a pleasure to put down the roof of our convertible to cruise the beautiful Burgundy countryside (we've named the car "Pierre" Peugeot, so if you read any reference to Pierre you now know to whom/what we refer).

Fontenay Abbey is said to have the finest cloisters in all of France, and it's difficult to dispute. The stone is pale and clean, and sunlight leaked its way through their corridors in a very soothing way. We've figured out that if you can visit somewhere around 1.45pm then go for it: most of the world will still be lunching, and you can enjoy sites in peace. It was particularly appropriate for the abbey, the buildings and ground of which aren't fussy and incline to the contemplative more than many places.

What would a day's outing be without a visit to one of Tracey's Pretties (chateaux)? We stopped by Chateau du Bussy-Rabutin to stroll through the gardens (where they have the easiest "maze" ever seen - it only has one path). We've concluded that, for us, most of the wow factor for castles and chateaux is from the outside so tend to skip the indoors (much of which is usually in a much later style than the exterior). Bussy-Rabutin is supposed to feature impressive paintings - but we'll need to see those next time around. And there will most definitely be a next time, because Burgundy charmed and impressed us and will draw us back in years to come.