Yesterday we took the train from Paris to Dijon, got settled in our apartment, then did some casual exploring around town. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant/pizza joint. Great pizza! We sat outside on a patio. It was nice. Today we’re taking a day trip to nearby Beaune.
Beaune
Dijon isn’t what you’d call a big city, but compared to Beaune, it is. Size-wise, Beaune isn’t much more than a little village. But even though it’s small, Burgundians recognize Beaune as being wine headquarters for all of Burgundy.
Beaune, (pronounced “bone”), is just a 20-minute train ride from Dijon. We walked from our apartment to the Dijon train station, purchased tickets, and hopped on the train. The next thing we knew we were in Beaune.
We arrived at the tiny, one-room train station, located at the edge of town. After getting off the train, we checked our map to get our bearings, then started walking toward the center of town. Beaune dates back to the days when people built walls around their towns to keep bad guys out. Much of the old wall around Beaune is still intact.
Hospices de Beaune
We didn’t have a firm plan of what we wanted to do in Beaune other than to see the town itself. We thought we’d try to visit the famous “Hospices de Beaune,” maybe do some wine tasting, and have some lunch. The Hospices de Beaune, (the second “s” is silent), is a well-known tourist attraction. You may have seen a picture of its famous tiled roof in a travel magazine or on a calendar. We decided to make it our first stop.
The Duke of Burgundy established the Hospices de Beaune as a hospital for the poor way back in 1443. In the 15th century, Burgundy was a good place NOT to be. There had been war after war, battle after battle, then pillaging of the losers. When soldiers didn’t have a battle to go to, they’d band together and do some pillaging of their own.
The Duke established the Hospices to take care of sick people who didn’t have any money. It operated solely on donations for hundreds of years. The Hospices is still operational, but now it’s housed in a modern building. The original building is a museum that we’re going to visit.
Hospices de Beaune Wine Auction
Over the years, Burgundians have donated vineyards to the Hospices. Now they operate a substantial wine business to make themselves partially self-sustained. To sell their wine, they hold a wine auction once a year. It’s one of the biggest wine-related events in the world. Christie’s often runs the auction.
At the auction, buyers purchase wine by the barrel. They’re purchasing “wine” not long after the grapes have been harvested. It’s essentially grape juice at that point. You make your bid and buy your barrel. (Well, not you or I — only rich folks play in this game). Then the Hospices store the barrel for you. When the wine is ready for bottling, the Hospices will bottle it. Then they’ll store it in bottles until it’s deemed ready to drink. The Hospices take care of everything. Supposedly there’s a huge labyrinth of caves underneath Beaune where all that wine is resting.
Just for fun, I looked up the price for a typical bottle of wine that originally came from the Hospices. I found some around ten years old for $60 – $80 per bottle, which isn’t cheap, but it’s not as much as I had expected. But I also saw one bottle from 1961 that was selling for $2,995. (It was a big bottle though).
Walking from the train station, we found Hospices de Beaune without much trouble. Once you get close enough, it’s hard to miss, thanks to the Hospices’ multicolored tiled roof. It’s really spectacular. We grabbed a pamphlet and took ourselves on our own guided tour.
When the Hospices started, sisters from the convent next door ran the place. Perhaps thanks to the sisters, everything appeared to be quite orderly. Patients stayed in enclosures lining each side of the main hall. I’d imagine these must have been pretty decent accommodations in the 15th century.
Medieval medical instruments were laid out on a tray beside one of the beds. They looked medieval to me, anyway. “Doctors” must have used these instruments on patients here back in the day. They wouldn’t have gotten the chance to use any of ‘em on me, that’s for sure. Yikes!
After seeing the main hall, we entered a large kitchen area. Very interesting. Not long after seeing the kitchen, we left the Hospices and re-entered the 20th century. After our visit to the Hospices, we wandered around Beaune for a little while, then found the local tourist office.
As a side note, we found out that three famous French brothers were from the little town of Beaune. They were the Chevrolet brothers. (I guess you won’t need any pronunciation assistance with that French name, eh?). Yep – they were into cars and racing. One of the brothers, Gaston, won the Indianapolis 500 in 1920, and together they started the Chevrolet Motor Car Company.
Kind of interesting. But let’s get back to Beaune. Hey – Is anyone getting hungry??
To be continued…
For corresponding travel-related information about Beaune, go here.
