More from Burgundy

 Sunday morning is market day in Chablis, which has the largest weekly market in this part of Burgundy, so we drove there our first morning in Tanlay. We picked up some more goat cheese, vegetables, butter and milk products from a couple of farms, and a pintade fermiere (farm-raised guinea hen). Then we headed back to our gite for lunch, where we had, among other things, an omlette made with eggs we had been given by Ghislaine the day before, which came from chickens raised by her father. All washed down with some white Rully.

    This was the first mild, sunny day in quite awhile, and definitely the warmest day of our trip. That afternoon Ann visited the chateau in Tanlay while I took a walk in and around the village and along the canal. I tried to find some cats to photograph, but the ones I saw were all lying around far back in their courtyard to escape the heat and strangers.

    In the evening we sat out on the patio, and it was so mild we had dinner outside for the first time on our trip. The days are getting longer; the photo below was taken at around 8 p.m., and it didn't get dark until after 9:00.

   The next morning we drove to Noyers-sur-Serein, another of the Plus Beaux Villages of France. We had first visited the town over 15 years ago with our niece and her husband when we spent a week in the area. Noyers has a beautiful medieval center with lots of half timbered buildings, and a great location on the Serein River.

     That afternoon, our French friend Ghislaine arrived at our gite with her grandson Enzo and Guy, an old friend whom they were staying with in nearby Epineuil. Guy drove us into Epineuil and we visited a few winemakers he knew. Besides Chablis wines, we tasted Bourgogne Epineuil reds and roses. Guy then drove us into the hillside vineyards in his town, Ann, Ghislaine and I took a walk through the vineyards surrounding Guy's house, and we all then spent the evening having aperitifs and dinner with Guy and his wife, Jacqueline.

Epineuil and Tonnerre

Epineuil vineyards