No considerable time spent in France would be complete without a visit to a
vineyard or at least something to do with wine! As you travel the country, you
see the caves advertised almost everywhere. Many offer free tastings and/or
tours. As we are amateur wine connoisseurs… we felt it almost mandatory to spend
a day in one of the great wine regions of France.  We choose Burgundy.

We decided the last stop of our summer holiday would be in the town of Beaune –
the heart of the Burgundy wine growing region. It’s been exceptionally hot here
– the news is calling it a “European heat wave” and staying cool has been quite
a challenge. (Especially sleeping in the tent!) And indeed, it is this warm
weather that is causing all the wine makers to say that this will be the best
vintage in centuries. However, deep down in the cellars under the town’s
buildings hundreds of thousands of previous years bottles are staying cool and
waiting to be consumed! We know, as we were able to see many of them first hand!

The Marche aux Vins has a great tour where you can taste almost 20 local wines
in a self guided tour though their cellars. During the tasting, you are given
information about the wine industry in the region as well as some of the most
important wineries and vintages. We’ve loved our visits to Napa and Sonoma in
the past, but this experience was completely different. It felt somehow more
authentic – less like the dressed up, over marketed Disney-version of
wine-tasting.

While we were in Beaune, we also had the opportunity to visit a medieval
hospital/poor house that has been perfectly preserved. It was stunning.
Completely hidden from the road, the hospital has a beautiful internal courtyard
with a snake-like tile roof. The stained glass and paintings were special. I
wish that we could take all the medieval things we’ve seen in Europe and create
one complete authentic town where the look and feel is as it was during that
period of time.