FRANCE 2022 Trip report Day 3: Troyes old town, Basilica Saint-Urbain, Vauluisant Museum, Burgundy region drive, Painter Renoir village Essoyes

   

 DAY 3, SEPTEMBER 18, 2022

STAY

 Dijon 1 night, Apparthotel Hotel Montchapet Dijon Centre, [after wasting an hour at Le Thurot appart hotel where we had booked an apt but were given an ordinary room]

SIGHTS 

TROYES OLD TOWN, Vauluisant Museum, Basilique Saint-Urbain de Troyes

 Champagne/Burgundy region drive

charming village of Essoyes, in the Ource valley. with the family home and studio of the famous Impressionist painter Auguste Renoir.

CHECKED OUT, TAKING PICS AS WE LEFT

as the apt guys had been uncoperative and rude  re the code, we just wanted evidence we left the apt clean. 

We took out the trash and took pics of all areas as we left

just one bag with vessels, rice etc to carry down along with food for the day on the road

TROYES SIGHTSEEING

Troyes is considered Designer heaven... has factory outlets with 30-70%discounts. our rearch had flagged these as mut do streets for fahion buys.

Marques Avenue and Marques Avenue Maison in St Julien les Villas

Mc-Arthur Glen in Pont Sainte Marie

Marques City in Pont Sainte Marie

Village de Marques in Lavau

We did not factor in any window shopping in those famous streets with designer brands

The town has 9 old churches and several museums. You can get a pass to most of the museum for 6 euros it gets you into them all bar one. Entry was free for us because of Europe heritage days 

We walked to the parking, yes the extra bags were safe in the boot. We drove to the historic center and parked near the canal in a free spot.

We had pinned some sights on the offline map. We tried to see at least some of them..

 

The canal was lovely with a fountain and the most fun statues you can imagine... kids running to dive in etc.

Basilica Saint-Urbain is stunning, so are the old town half timbereed houses and the cobbled streets.
Bronze plaque arrows guided the old town walk. Saw Église Saint-Jean-au-Marché, Cat alley[street so narrow cats could just walk from the top of one jouse to the one across the street], Église Sainte-Madeleine, the oldest in the city, built in the 13th century.

Basilica Saint-Urbain

OLD TOWN 

HALF-TIMBERED HOUSES

Bronze plaque guiding old town walk

Église Saint-Jean-au-Marché

Cat alley... 

street so narrow cats could just walk from the top of one jouse to the one across the street

Cat planter

Église Sainte-Madeleine

the oldest in the city, is of Gothic architecture and was built in the 13th  century

the church was not open, we enjoyed the garden

old medieval well

Next was theVauluisant Museum

Vauluisant Museum

The Hotel de Vauluisant contains two departments of the museums of the city of Troyes – one for art and one for hosiery. we enjoyed both and the lovely 16th century building.

ART MUSEUM

At the start of the 16th century, Troyes was the cradle of an exceptional school of painting, sculpture and stained glass. Dozens of masterpieces are visible in many churches in Troyes and southern Champagne. The Museum of Troyan Art houses some remarkable examples, in particular sculptures, such as the Vierge de Villenauxe, the Christ de Pitié ; paintings, for example the Vierge au manteau rouge and stained glass, e.g. the panels of the Hôtel de l’Arquebuse, by the master Linard Gontier.

the compound of the lovely Renaissance building

HOSIERY MUSEUM

The Hosiery Museum opened in 1948. It traces the industrial and social history of textiles in the region. The collections include knitting machines dating from the wooden equipment of the eighteenth century to the advanced technology of recent years, including the machines of engineering companies based in Troyes. There are also many examples of conserved textile objects, photographs and films, and a reconstructed hosiery workshop.

The building

The building is from 16th century... lovely on its own

we walked through the old town on our way back to the car.

the basilica was open and we had a peek

 Regretfully, we did not have time to see the rest of the sights on the recommended walk

 DRIVE TO DIJON

We started our drive to Dijon, again through country roads.

Passed farms with happy cows, windmills swinging in the air with abandon and lush vineyards

Picturesque village Essoyes where Impressionist  Painter Renoir lived (1841-1919)

Following the Champagne Tourist Route, we reached the charming village of Essoyes, in the Ource valley. Does this name mean nothing to you? It is the place with the family home and studio of the famous painter Auguste Renoir.

we drove through the lovely bridge, 

Eglise Saint-Rémi - Essoyes

Memorial to martyr children

Church St Remi in the village

Reproductions of Renoir's most famous paintings, like The Bathers, Gabrielle and Jean, Dance in the Country and more, are displayed on the village façades, alongside houses adorned with flowers.

Tributary of the Seine, Ource cuts the town in two. 

we parked and strolled around a bit , 

There is a Du Côté des Renoir   the walking tour, just following the red signs around the village, .   we just enjoyed the beauty of the landscape with its clear and transparent river and its wash-houses.

We walked around the river and soaked in the beauty. Surprisingly, even the low waters due to the earlier drought did not kill the beauty.

pretty cow, calf statue in the middle of the river...

the restaurant was buzzing with tourists

the reflections were enchanting

This is the Espace des Renoir, based in the former stables of Hériot Castle, it has a permanent exhibition about the famous painter's life and family. His sons' creations are also in the spotlight, with a short film about actor Pierre Renoir, film-maker Jean and ceramist Claude.

champagne bottles trying to entice visitors...the restaurant was buzzing with tourists.

we drove on.,,,nice roundabout with easel

Église de l'Assomption de Belan-sur-Ource/Church of the Assumption of Belan-sur-Ource [16th century]

Stopped at this pretty church. The interior was amazing as well.

we reached our destination Dijon and drove to our hotel.

BAIT & SWITCH ISSUE AT HOTEL LE THUROT, DIJON

In Dijon, it was a bait and switch. The Le Thurot hotel guy gave us a room instead of the apt we had booked. The toilet was blocked too. We rang up Booking.com through the hotel wifi.  and resolved it. Here are the details.

we reached our APPARThotel Le Thurot in Dijon. Parked the car in their compound and checked in. paid 7 euros extra for the parking from the cc. Went up to the room. There was no sign of a kitchenette.

I don't know why, but I went down to the reception with my son. I probably knew trouble was brewing.

The guy said 'you had booked a double bed room. For 62 euros you don't get a studio; that's 82 euros'

Son showed him the print out from our booking.com reservation, 'see here it clearly says stove top, fridge. We looked at the specs on the site and we have this receipt showing what we booked.'

Guy said 'booking.com have made a mistake. I didn't list it like this. They've pulled up our available rooms and listed it wrong.'

Son said 'they are a big corporate and we are frequent and valued customers. We would talk to them now to sort this out.'

.Guy said 'Clearly there's a mistake. Normally i'll upgrade you but we have only 2 apartments and both are occupied. Between the 3 of us, some one has to pay for this. Let's work it out.'

I asked 'do you have a stove top at your restaurant. I just need it for 10 min, I have my own utensils.'

He said 'our restaurant has only a microwave, no bowls . I can let you put your foodstuff in my personal fridge.'

We said 'this won't work for us, we are talking to booking.com'.

We got up and went to our room. We used SKYPE on the hotel's wifi to call booking.com'. They assured us our booking was legit and they'll talk to the hotel.

In 5 min they called us and said the hotel guy said he had offered us the common kitchen and fridge for our use as per booking terms.

Son said 'we are tired of his lies. He told us there is no kitchen to use. Please book us another apt nearby in lieu of this and inform him. The toilet here is blocked as well'

they agreed.

After some 10 min they emailed saying he was not answering their calls. They gave us a link for an apparthotel 200 m away for 92 euros. They'll book us there if we can convince this hotel to give us a free cancelation.

'How are you going to do this?' I asked son.

He said... 'by our rules. Be smiley, polite, and concise, not obsequious'.

The guy had been roaming near our window , watching us.

Son went down and told him with a smile 'we are leaving. Booking com have given us another apt. they want you to give us free cancelation. They say you are not answering their calls'

the guy called up some one and had a LOOONG talk on the phone in French.

Then he said 'as a goodwill gesture we are giving you free cancelation'

son asked please return the parking fee.

Guy returned 7 e in cash... in small change!!

son came up, booked the apt from the link and told booking com to kindly pay the extra 30 e, also compensate us for this inconvenience and waste of 2 hours of our vacation' [ they obliged by transferring 54 usd to our cc, covering the 30 e extra and a small extra.]

Le Thurot room

we drove to  Montchapet hotel and checked in.

Apparthotel Hotel Montchapet Dijon Centre, 

Lovely spacious room with a well equipped kitchenette. When I cooked Son played around with the color wheel above the bedsted, changing the color of the lights.

we felt great after our meal.

Parking was free till 8 am.We are always early starters, so that shoiuld not be an issue.

and thankfully, the apartments for the rest of the trip were clean sailing... well the last day posed some shock but again booking.com took our side.

 

 Report continues here

https://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2022/12/france-2022-trip-report-day-4-dijon.html