Semur-en-Auxois

     On Thursday morning we returned to Ancy-le-Franc, which has its weekly market just outside the gates of the chateau. Although we were nearing the end of our trip, we still needed some provisions for meals over the next 2 days, and also bought several goat cheeses, some to eat here and some to bring home.

    After lunch at our gite we drove about an hour to Semur-en-Auxois, a town we had visited with our niece and her husband 17 years ago. The town has a medieval center high above the Armancon River, a church first built in the 13^th century and restored in the 19^th century, a 15^th century gate at the entrance to the town, and several towers that are the remains of a 13^th century fortified castle. Semur was as magnificent as we remembered, with amazing views of the old ramparts from just outside the town. We took a walk along the river, and then up into the center of town. Semur-en-Auxois is not one of France's Plus Beaux Villages, but that may be only because it is just a little too large, with a population of around 4,000, to receive that designation.

    On Friday, our last full day in Burgundy, we spent the morning at Domaine Alain Geoffroy, a Chablis producer in the town of Beine, just outside the town of Chablis.  Not only is Geoffroy a top Chablis producer (the gite owner had pronounced him the best producer in the appellation), but there is also a fascinating museum at the domaine -- Le Musee de la Vigne et du Tire-Buchon (vineyard and corkscrew museum).  We first visited the museum, which features a collection of several hundred corkscrews, both ancient and modern, of all shapes and sizes.  We then tasted the Premier Cru and Grand Cru Chablis of the domaine, and bought a bottle of their 2010 Beauroy Premier Cru, which we drank at lunch at the gite.