After a nice breakfast, we got ready for our morning tour. It was to the town of Beaune where there is a museum in the ancient Hotel-Dieu or hospital. It was constructed in the 15th Century as a hospice for the poor sick and homeless, a very early example of Christian charity. The hospice owns a number of vineyards in the area and wine produced in the vineyards supports the hospice. The architecture was amazing. This is an example of a wife spending money to insure her husband makes it to heaven! The building had finishes more lavish than those owned by many nobles at the time. Apparently even though the nurses wore habits like nuns, they were trained lay people.
Inside courtyard of the Hotel-Dieu, note the design of the roof tiles.
Interior of the ward with reconstructed beds, note the privacy the bed’s design afforded the patients
Hotel-Dieu kitchen
Original altarpiece from the Hotel-Dieu
After we toured the Hospice, we has some free time and looked around the town center and also bought some local mustard and honey at the market, we do travel on our stomachs.
Center of Beaune and the local market
Took our tour bus back to Chalon. The large houses in Chalon along the Saone were quite amazing.
Large houses in Chalon next to the AMACello dock
Decided to stay onboard and skip the afternoon tour to a winery, I know it is hard to imagine that, but we wanted to see the scenery along the Saone as we sailed north to our last stop at Saint-Jean-de-Losne where we will leave our home for the past week. We did have a very nice final night dinner with friends we met on the cruise at the Chef’s Table Restaurant.