Bourgogne: Day 2

Hotel-Dieu or Hospices de Beaune

After the Hundred Years' War, the town of Beaune suffered from poverty and famine. So the Duke of Burgundy founded a hospice for the poor in 1443 and endowed the hospice with saltworks and its own vineyards for its annual income. Today, the hospice owns 151 acres of vineyards, some of the finest in the region.

The Great Hall of the Poor. Both sides of this room are lined with beds and there is a chapel at the end of the hall so that the sick patients could attend church services from their bed.


Court of Honour. The roofs of the Hotel Dieu are covered with glazed multicolored tiles, typical of the Burgundy region. The well, in the back corner of the courtyard, provided water for the entire hospital. You can see the Bouzaise River flowing beneath.

Better view of the colorful, geometrical glazed roofs.

Marche aux Vins

There is a wine market across the street from the hospices, which allows you to tour their cellars and taste 15 different wines (3 white, 12 red) for only 10 euro.

Barrels lining the cellars of the wine market. I'm holding the souvenir tastevin in my left hand, and the list of wines in my right.

Autun

After the wine tasting, we drove to the town of Autun. The town was founded in the late 1st century B.C. and was originally called Augustodunum, the town of Augustus. There are still many Roman remains all around the city. As we drove around town, we saw signs for the Tour de France, since the Tour will be passing through Autun this summer.

Temple of Janus, right outside the town of Autun. Built by the Romans.

The Roman theatre, built in the 1st century A.D. It could sit 20,000 people.

Another view of the theatre.

Porte d'Arroux. Once part of the Roman wall built around Autun.