Auxerre

Auxerre is pronounced with an “s” sound rather than an x, as opposed to Auxois which is pronounced with the x sound. Not sure why. We are very close to Chablis and other wine producers such as some who produce Crémant de Bourgogne, a lovely bubbly white wine.

Our ride from Tonnerre to here was a bit longer, a bit cooler and extremely buggy. All of these bugs, especially aphids must have hatched recently. We saw a few people riding on the canal with face masks and George finally had to do the same after eating too many and having to try to keep his mouth closed while cycling. I am luckily in his draft and don’t have as much trouble. They land on my arms and legs but not in my face and mouth.

We came to the end of the Canal de Bourgogne and turned south to join up with the Canal du Nivernais. We are now riding beside the Yonne river, no longer a canal, with many more boats and tourists and even bigger locks. We haven’t seen vineyards yet but we will soon as we ride south. We rode through predominantly grain farming regions for the last few days so a much different feel here. I thought it seemed more economically depressed with less activity in general in the farm areas whereas Auxerre seems bustling with activity, economy and tourists on bikes and boats, or both.

We found our new apartment quite easily just up from the river. It is hidden behind an ordinary looking blue door after which you enter a traboule (pathway through buildings) which leads to several apartments. We found our apartment which is lovely with a nice terrace. It amazes me what you find behind the doors here.

We spent the first day here on a walking tour. It is a very interesting looking city as many of the buildings in the old city are the half timbered style, including our apartment. It is full of narrow windy streets and there are also two large churches and another abbey creating a breathtaking view. Our second day was spent riding around the surrounding area to a few small towns close to Auxerre. We are back in the wine growing areas, however tasting excursions don’t work well with riding a bike, so we focus on the scenery and history. We were able to visit an interesting archaeological site from the Roman times that has uncovered evidence of grape cultivating as well as a villa with baths and in-floor heating!

Tags: cycling, france, travel