Our goal for the day was to make it to Beaune. We did. It was late, and the route we took was surprisingly devoid of Chambre d' Hotes, so we went into a hotel. It was promising, being a conversion from a chateau into a hotel over a hundred years ago. We were very disapointed.
Today, we woke to more rain, but bravely went into Beaune and walked for a few hours. This is the center of the Burgundy (Burgogne) region, historic seat of the Dukes of Burgundy. It is, as a result the center of the Burgundy wine trade. The city is of course, beautiful, and very, very rich. Historically, it is the part of France that was most resistant to being part of the kindom, and the Dukes exerted power that rivalled the King's, till they agreed to be part of greater France, and derived special benefit from that.
Once we had seen the city, and resisited the urge to taste wine for breakfast, we went on the hunt to get a more reasonably priced and better appointed place to stay, still in wine country. That is how we ended up in La Rochepot.
Once we secured lodgings with a lady we took a quick liking to, we walked the village. As in every case, it is easy to cover all the tiny streets and lanes. We had to be careful not to be run over by the tractors bringing grapes in from the vinyards to the barns for processing. As we walked we peeked into the barns to see them handling the harvest. Inside the centuries old stone buildings grapes were being dumped into the stainless hoppers and the crush had begun! Production of the red gold must be maximized!
On such a walk, in a village like this, you always end up at the church, market, or castle. In this town it is the castle. Built by the Chevalier Reigner Pot who was the best knight of the Duke of Burgundy, in the 15th century, it is just outside of Beaune.
When we walked up to it, I thought it must be a building made by some nobleman who was rich and wanted to have a chateau that looked like a real castle. Wrong! It was built to look like a real castle because it was. In fact, it was so well built that it resisited sieges during the Hundred Years War. We ponied up the 7.50 per person, for a tour, and were glad we did.
The castle was maintained for hundreds of years, subject to renovations and updates in that time, until the revolution, when it was mostly deconstructed by the nobles-hating-masses. So many places were destroyed at this time. You really can see why when you consider the power and money these immense buildings represented to the people who were struggling to eat. But anyway...the castle was rebuilt in the 18th century, just after the Revolution, and enjoyed a good history of stewardship until now.
The result is that it is well documented, and rebuilt with historical accuracy. The current owners have installed some really great furnishings, a collection worthy of a museum, and some recreations of relevant pieces of art that came from this castle or the area and are now in museums. For example, the tomb of the original castle owner is so artfully carved that it is now in the Louvre in Paris, so there is a painting of it, made at the time the tomb was carved, on display here. Another neat thing we have never seen is a safe built into the thick stone walls, made of metal with several locks and a bell that rings when it is opened. Cool stuff.
This castle, overlooking vinyards is well worth a detour to see, as is the town if you are "doing wine country" here.
So tonight, after much soggy walking, we spent a few hours meeting and talking with our hostess and her family, who farm grapes here. We did this in the "salle de jour" (big farm style dining room), where she had a fire going all day. Her kitten enjoyed being out of the wet as much as we did. She was kind enough to leave us a bottle of the wine they grow and produce, and give us access to her kitchen so we can cook and properly enjoy our dinner.
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