Vezelay

Sunday 24^th April

This morning we hitched another very quick trip to the airport via taxi.  These taxi drivers really know how to scare the shite out of you.  This driver was far more considerate than the one who brought us into Paris.  This driver only scared ½ a shite out of us not the whole shite.

I am very tempted when we return to Paree to ask the driver to take us through the tunnel that was Lady Di demise, but we could end up in a similar fate. 

We collected our hire car without any hiccoughs from CDG airport, but the left hand drive takes a little to get accustomed to, both for driver and passenger.  We turn Sheila on and hope and pray that she is on her game today.  We have made a decision to try and get away from the motorways and take the lesser routes, both for views and for ease.  Even so I have a vice like grip on the arm rest on the door.   We are somewhat relieved to have collected the car on a Sunday morning when the traffic is less.  After ½ hour Spock begins to weave his way in and out of the traffic like an expert, however, my foot remained  firmly on the brake !

When I look at Sheila’s screen it looks like intestines, there are so many convoluted roads twisting and turning everywhere. It is a hazy day about 18 degrees, not the clear sky that we have become accustomed to in Paris.  Himself has a bit of difficulty judging the distance between the toll booth and the car, so each time I have to make a dash out to get the tickets.   The tolls are quiet expensive about 0.10 Euro per kilometre. 

The further south we head the more beautiful the countryside, it is full of bright yellow cannola and wheat plantations, they indeed make a spectacular sight.  We finally arrive at our destination for the day Vezelay.  Vezelay has been recommended to us by a few intrepid travellers as a worthy place to visit and it did not disappoint.  Vezelay is situated in the Burgundy region of France and has a lovely sense of simplicity and peaceful tranquillity. Vezelay is best known for the Basillica of St Mary Magdelene  and is one of Europe's largest and best-preserved Romanesque churches.

Basillica of St Mary Magdelene

Its architecture is rich with fascinating sculptures of saints, sinners and biblical figures. In the middle ages, Vezelays basilica was a major pilgrimage destination due to its claimed relics of Mary Magdalene and its position along the route Santiago de Compostela.

Alter in Basillica of St Mary Magdelene

Being Easter Sunday there were a few tourists when we arrived and finding a park was a bit problematic.  However, once a park was found we decided to have a walk around before finding our pre booked accommodation.  We slowly made our way up to Basilica of St Mary Madeleine which is situated on top of the hill, looking in all the wonderful shops as we went.    This is a wonderful Abbey with quiet a turbulent history as they all seem to have.  It claims to have the body of Mary Magdalene preserved at the Abbey.  In the 13^th century the authenticity of the relics it possessed was questioned.  We mused about the authenticity of many of the relics of the cathedrals that we have seen over the past month, if one is to take at face value all of the relic’s one could imagine that some saints would have perhaps three jaws and numerous more digits than ten.  We had a lovely walk around the gardens  and sat down and admired the fabulous views.

Lee at the back of the Basillica of St Mary Magdelene - the view is spectacular

Spock with his friends Peter and Paul

Vezelay is a lovely little village with some great little shops, we picked up a bottle of wine when walking back form the Abbey and sat out in the B&B’s garden to drink it.  Spock was thinking of his tummy and wasn’t interested in the 1800 mass, however, most of the eateries appeared to be closing for the day or perhaps for the mass.  The B&B is a lovely little place that has a lovely garden with birds chirping everywhere.  A thunderstorm was brewing and it was very enjoyable when the rain actually descended upon us, we had a cracker of a storm which was just lovely.

Dinner this evening was an authentic French affair.  It was rather up market, possibly a little too much so for us we humble Taswegians, but beggars can’t be choosers and we were peckish.  We were offered an English menu and that’s where the English stopped.  No one else spoke a word of English and we are not fluent in the French.  When the first course arrived, it was no more than the size of a 20cent piece and we thought ‘ok’.    For those of you who know himself, you can imagine what the look on his face said.  It was tasty, but bite size.  The next course arrived and it was like a scoop of mouse in a glass with a few lettuce leaves.  We thought that this was our main!   Himself was in a panic by this stage as he had ordered fish, and he was wanting the whole fish not just a scoop of it.    He had to check so told the waiter that  he had ordered the fish , and found out that this was the appetiser.  Somewhat embarrassed but a lot relieved he sat down and finished his appetiser.  It was a very French fancy meal and we thoroughly enjoyed it, once we knew there was going to be a bit more to it.  When the cheese trolley came around this lovely wee lass told us all about the cheeses, we couldn’t understand a word of it.  But we choose two cheeses each that looked appealing and were pleased with our choices.  A lovely evening of fine French cuisine.