Beaune

Had a great night's sleep in our trailer tent. Very comfortable bed.

Relaxed start to the day and then a short walk into the town to explore.

Streets full of old buildings and medieval street patterns everywhere.

We visited the most amazing place in the town.

Founded in 1443 by Nicolas Rolin for the poor of Beaune, the Hospices de Beaune is one of the best preserved buildings from the 15th century. In 1443 the Hundreds Year Old War was just ending and most of the population was in dire needs after war and plague. So the hospital was built and its first patient was taken in 1452 and patients were still being cared for in the 1970's when the new hospital for the town was built.

The Hospices de Beaune consists of a pair of two-storied buildings arranged around a stone courtyard. The building wings are well-preserved today; they contain half-timber galleries and ornate rooftops with dormer windows. The hospital is arranged so that the wings served the office, kitchen and apothecary functions. The nuns and patients were housed nearer the chapel, towards the center of the Upper floor.

Polyptych

After seeing This wonder we visited the patisserie to select our lunch and found somewhere in the shade to have lunch. The temperature today is over 30 and it is unpleasantly hot in the sun.

The altarpiece was commissioned in 1443 for the Hospices de Beaune by Nicolas Rolin, Chancellor of the Duchy of Burgundy, and his wife Guigone de Salins, who is buried in front of the altarpiece's original location in the hospice.

We were hungry by this stage and again visited a bakery to get some lunch. It took a while however to find somewhere to get out of the fierce sun to eat it. Finally we found a seat within the ramparts of the city.

Then it was onto Notre Dame. This church represents a beautiful example of Burgundian Romanesque architecture, which, in the course of the centuries, saw the addition of gothic elements and a 16th century bell-tower and chapel.

We wandered around and saw the side chapels. In one of them you could still see the paint which gave you some idea of how colourful the church's would have been.

Behind the alter there was a room with magnificent 15th century tapestries illustrating the life of Mary. The colours were still beautiful. The way that these events were portrayed through medieval eyes was very interesting.

By late afternoon it was just too hot to keep walking so we limped back to the camping ground and had a lie down! Must be getting old.