For the first time in 4.5 weeks, I did not leave the campsite before 8am! It wasn't because I slept in, unfortunately, but because the place I was intending on visiting first thing this morning didn't open until 9:15am, and it wasn't that far away. So I had myself a decent breakfast, even made a cup of tea, before leaving at the "late" time of 8:30.
My first stop for the day was Chateau de Bussy-Rabutin, which I knew about only because I had consulted a map of the area and decided it looked interesting. I'd like to say that it only took the 12 minutes that Google Maps says it should take, but I got a little bit lost in the little back roads that the GPS sent me on. I finally made it, early, but not too early, and was the first car in the carpark.
I walked around to the entry and bought a ticket to the chateau. I knew nothing at all about it, so it was quite a nice surprise to learn its story, which was actually really interesting. It was built in the 14th century, but its most famous owner was also its namesake, Roger de Rabutin, Count of Bussy. I'll tell you more about him because his story informs a lot of the decoration of the chateau. He was born in 1618, and lived as a military man until being made colonel of Louis XIV's army in 1653. He spent a lot of time at court, and subsequently knew a lot about the goings-on at French court. He wrote all this down in a humorous book, in which he sarcastically commented on the romantic adventures of the court, and the king. Only his closest friends were allowed to read it, but it fell into the hands of a Marquise who had it published and it ended up being handed out around court. De Rabutin was imprisoned in 1665, and then exiled to his chateau in 1666.
Roger de Rabutin spent his time in exile by renovating his chateau. He started collecting portraits from French history, ordering copies to be painted of paintings that he couldn't buy and amassing a really large collection. His many lady friends also sent him portraits, which he hung in one particular room.
While I was looking around, a man who worked at the chateau, came in and basically gave me a guided tour. I was still the only tourist there, so it was really good to have my own personal guide! He explained to me the writing underneath a lot of the paintings: it was like a burn book! There were caustic, funny comments underneath each of the paintings in the cabinet of the gilded tower (where the portraits of his lady friends were hung) as well as some interspersed beneath portraits of French nobility! There were also paintings of Versailles and 17 other buildings (some of which no longer exist), as the count was exiled and therefore unable to go visit them himself. It was all quite remarkable, but I'll let you see for yourself...
After thoroughly enjoying my walk around the inside of the chateau, I went to look at the gardens. As I left, there were a group of tourists going inside the chateau so I definitely got my timing right!
The gardens were really lovely, and the chateau itself was so pretty. I'd have liked to live there...
I'd seen everything at the Chateau de Bussy-Rabutin so it was time to head on. The next stop was also informed by my map of places of interest in the area. It was an old abbey, Fontenay Abbey, which is the oldest Cistercian abbey in the world and a World Heritage site. The history of the abbey goes back 900 years, as the collection of buildings was started in the 12th century. It is in a very well-preserved state for how old it is!
I got there a little before 11am, and the carpark was already quite full. I bought my ticket and went inside, and thankfully the compound of buildings was big enough that everyone was spread out!
The abbey, as well as being so old, has an interesting history that explains why it is so well preserved. In 1789 when the French Revolution started, the churches of France were all declared the property of France and sold at public auction. Fontenay Abbey was no different, and the monks left the abbey to escape persecution. The abbey was then sold off in 1791 to a paper manufacturer, who turned some of the old buildings into a paper mill. It was run as a paper mill until 1906, when it was sold again, with the new buyer deciding to remove all the industrial equipment and restore it back to its medieval roots.
It was past lunchtime when I left the abbey, and as there was very little around, I decided to drive to my last stop for the day, a village called Semur-en-Auxois. I'd been told about this village the day before while I was in Flavigny, but I'd also added it to my map because I'd seen it on a Tube advertisement for travel insurance!! Yep, while I was standing on the Tube in London, there was a picture of a lovely-looking medieval French village that I'd never heard of, so committed the name to memory and added it to my map!
It was about a half an hour drive to Semur, and on the way there I passed several fields of sunflowers. There was a stopping area near one of them so I stopped and went to say hello. They are such lovely flowers and it always makes me happy to see fields of them!
I jumped back in the camper and kept on to Semur. As I neared the town, I found a park on the side of the road. It was a bit of a walk to the village itself, but I didn't think there would be much parking nearby which turned out to be true! I walked in, had a quick look around before deciding that lunch was the first port of call. I sat down to a plat du jour at a local restaurant, which included an entree and main, and ordered a glass of wine.
Once I was fed, I was much more inclined to do a proper look around. The town was divided into an upper town, where all the medieval buildings are, including the fortifications, and a lower town that was situated around the river at the bottom. I didn't know this at the time, but thankfully worked it out later. The upper town was beautiful, with lots of old stone houses and cobbled streets to wander.
I'd covered off all of the upper town and went back to the main road to go back to the camper. I was sure I hadn't seen the view from the picture on the Tube, so when I spotted another smaller road going off to the left of the main road, I took it. It went down to the river below, and the lower town. I also recognised the view!
It turned out that because I'd walked down to the lower town, I was almost at my camper by the time I'd huffed and puffed my way up the steep hill to the main road! So the parking location wasn't bad at all! I jumped back in the camper, studied the map and worked out that the next destination was Vezelay, which I wanted to visit early in the morning before too many people. So I looked in my camping books for a campsite nearby and plugged that into the GPS. It turned out to be a nice site, and I lucked out with a lovely German neighbour who invited me over to her area for a cider, a chat and to rest my feet in a cold bucket of water, as it was a HOT night.
Campsite: Camping et Auberge de Jeunesse
Rating: 7/10. Good camping close to Vezelay (it was within walking distance). Facilities were fine, not great but also not bad, but the sites could have had more privacy.