Semur-en-Auxois

Semur-en-Auxois is a village of about 4000-4500 in the region of Burgundy, about 3 hours drive from Paris. There is a legend that Hercules built Semur on his way back to Spain, its a really beautiful village full of turrets, cobbled lanes and medieval gates from the 13th century onwards. There is an archway leading to the oldest part of the village that was inscribed in 1552 with what translates as "The people of Semur take great pleasure in meeting strangers", pretty cool. Timothee (AFS 2009-2010) lives here when he isn't at class on weekdays.

Semur-en-Auxois

I met Timothee, who was just returning from Paris, and our chauffeur Francis, at Montbard, another village in the area and Francis, who is Timothee's neighbour drove us home. We spent the afternoon walking around Semur, it is such a beautiful place, I felt like I had stepped back into the middle ages. Just how I had imagined the more rural parts of France actually. The river encircling the church and centre has worn the land down a lot, and the place is quite hilly, I always love to be in hilly places as after so many years of living in Wellington.

Semur-en-Auxois

It looks almost like a smaller and more rustic version of Luxembourg. A lot of the older buildings and towers are falling apart now, its quite sad as the council doesn't have enough money to keep fixing them, so at the moment many are propped up with scaffolding and have nets drapped over them, and might have to come down. Timothee made a funny tour-guide, saying things like "see that old building with the brown roof over there?" (the whole village is old buildings with brown rooves) and "see that thing over by the three" (while pointing at a tree-covered hill). We then watched The Godfather and ate pasta before the rest of his family arrived home from Paris. His mother went on AFS to Kenya and has the awesomest accent when she speaks english, and his younger siblings Balthazar and Mirabelle speak good english too.



Fontenay Abbey - dormitory


We slept pretty late and lazed around until after lunch, when we visited the nearby Fontenay Abbey. It was founded in 1118 and used to be very prosperous from the 12th to 15th centuries. More recently it was used as a paper mill, but is now a UNESCO heritage site, as its one of the most oldest and most complete of its type of abbey. The cistercians based their monastries around poverty and solitude, and you can see that in the buildings, it is all very simple but I think this makes it all the more beautiful. The buildings are made from stone, some with curved wooden rooves like a huge upside-down boat, tucked away under some hills in the countryside. Besides the church, cloister and dormitory they have an old forge with a huge water-wheel.



Mirabelle, Timothee and me outside the abbey

 We went to the supermarket on the way home, where I found more Speculoos! I really can't get enough of the stuff, I don't know how I will survive without it back in NZ. Timothee and Mirabelle made pizza for dinner, and I opened a bottle of NZ chardonny that really didn't impress anybody! We also had a steinlager that I'd brought from Paris for Timothee, and all of the talk about NZ food and drink prompted us to crack out the vegemite and some marmite that Timothee had. I have to say that marmite on french bread and with french cheese is a win, and I'm impressed with Timothee's ability to eat marmite! We watched The Queen before bed, I've always wanted to see that movie but it wasn't really what I expected, but then I guess I was too young when Diana died to have grasped what was going on.


Castle near Semur-en-Auxois

 Sunday we woke up pretty late again, and after Mirabelle's awesome chicken curry for lunch headed out to see another village. We detoured past one a privately-owned castle that is just chilling in the middle of the paddocks here, coming from castle-free NZ I am always amazed by their abundance here, they just seem like a normal part of the landscape! I was also very happy to find an answer to a question I've been asking since I got here, as I've always wondered what the weird ball things are in the trees. Finally Timothee knew, its mistletoe! Very cool, although it destroys the trees.


Flavigny-sur-Ozerain

 We went to Flavigny-sur-Ozerain, a tiny village of about 500 people founded in around the early 700s, and used for filming the movie Chocolat. Like Semur-en-Auxois, this village is just incredible, the houses are all so beautiful, and they are set on top of a hill with a good view of the surrounding countryside so we walked around a lot just enjoying the sights. The old chocolate shop from the movie is still there, and people have written many comments professing their love for Johnny Depp in the dust on the window panes! They have a couple of abbeys there also, one which is really traditionalist and extreme and very closed to the public. At the old Flavigny Abbey they make Anise of Flavigny, a famous candy with an anise seed covered in flavoured sugary stuff, apparently its so world-wide that they sell it in stores in NZ (Simply Paris at least), but to Timothees amazement I can't remember ever seeing it. Tastes really good though!

Timothee and I then headed out for a beer in the last little bit of sun, sitting outside on a cobbled lane, before a final dinner and then an early night so that we could get up really early to catch our trains the next morning.

Photos of Semur on facebook are here.