Eurovision Song Contest New Style

14 July is France’s National day, and in Cormatin there are always two events which form an inextricable part of this day: the Brocante de Qualité and the Défilé, i.e. the wreath laying at the War Monument.

Brocante de Qualité - Cormatin

About the Brocante I can be very brief. I am no fan of flea markets, and the fact that this Brocante is run by professional Brocanteurs does not turn a flea market into an art auction. But there are people who see this differently, and whatever one thinks about the amount and the quality of the rubble that is for sale the atmosphere at these events is always amiable and pleasant.

The sound installation (RIP?)

The Défilé is also the same each year; the only difference each year is the amount of participants and the location where the vin d’amitié is taken. However, this year was different from other years. Monsieur P., the driving force behind the musical setting of the event with the help of a rickety cassette deck and an if possible even ricketier cassette, announced that there was no canned music this year, and that the participants had to sing the Marseillaise for a change. People did not remember the lyrics? No problem, they had Monsieur P.’s consent to hum along.

Marchons, Marchons!

And that is how it came about that a loose collection of French, a Dutchman and an English woman disembarked on singing the Marseillaise. The Foreign Legion did not get much further than a few lines at the beginning (“Allons enfants de la Patrie, lejour de gloire est arrivé!”) and at the end (“Aux armes Citoyens,…, Marchons, Marchons”) but I have to admit that it actually sounded better than the canned version. To the defence of the foreigners present I have to add that there were also several French people who had to hum along.
Maybe this is an idea for a Eurovision Song Contest New Style: forget about all those individual entries. Just let all participants sing e.g. the “Ode an die Freude”, and give the trophy to the one who knows most of the words!

The wreath laying

Also people who do not know the Dutch National Anthem or “God save the Queen” by heart, are more than welcome at La Tuilerie de Chazelle.
And this is what it sounded like until quite recently...

Donkeys work

When I saw the shop in Taizé for the very first time, with all its displayed earthenware, I saw in my rather unrealistic fantasy rows of monks sitting behind potter’s wheels, vehemently kicking the wheel in order to deliver yet another cup, saucer or plate to the anxious shop attendants.

The shop in Taizé

This image was rudely disrupted after we had read in the local paper that the potters in Taizé were opening up their workshops for an open day. And since we are always in for an outing, we went uphill, where the workshops would open up around 11h00.
This image I had of hundreds of old monks, bent backs from years sitting at the wheel turned out to be incorrect. We were welcomed by a young brother, who first showed us the clay mixers and the presses. They were located in a small space, but to call this handiwork is a bit farfetched. The mixer was big, and the press for clay tablets of approx. 40 x 20 x 3 inch³ and the press that produces a continuous clay sausage with a diameter of approx. 8 inch hardly classify as hobby tools anymore.

Press for clay tablets - Taizé

Also the pots, cans, mugs, cups, etc. in the next workshop were more or less mechanically produced. The brothers working here were all wearing aprons, and only the fact that most of them were wearing sandals might have been an indication that these were indeed brothers. I assume, that workers in an industrial earthenware factory would wear safety shoes, or at least closed shoes.
During this visit we saw the whole production line, from forming earthenware with presses, moulding in moulds, enamelling and glazing, making enamel, baking in the kilns with a content of 1 m³ each up to the hand painting of various types of earthenware, such as trays, plates, cups, etc.

Clay sausage press - Taizé

The painting however is only done to order. The main difference with an industrial earthenware factory is that the brothers are working when it suits them. Hence the production line is very flexible, most likely reason why production is not always keeping up with demand.
And even though my vivid imagination of how Taizé pottery is made does not really correspond with real life, it was certainly an interesting and educational outing.

Workshop with moulds in Taizé

Guests of La Tuilerie de Chazelle cannot just hop into the workshops whenever they wish, however, the Taizé shop is certainly also worth a visit and is open every day.

6 : Auberge du Grison in Prayes

Besides the restaurants around Cormatin which classify as slightly more up-market, there was one missing, a restaurant where we had eaten a long time ago.

The Auberge du Grison in Prayes (commune of Chissey-lès-Mâcon) is not far away from our house, reason why on a beautiful Sunday afternoon we decided to have lunch there. The restaurant rated on my personal scale above Les Blés d'Or in Cormatin. The last time we had had dinner there was in winter, and there was quite a bit of game on the menu. The woods around here are good hunting grounds, and wild boars, roes, deer and pheasants are certainly not safe in the forest in winter. The ambiance I remembered was that of a rural inn.
Since then we have been back twice. The first time a young girl waited at the tables on the terrace, and not only was she more interested in a baby sitting at the next table then in the other guests, but she came back time after time with the question "Excuse me, what exactly had you ordered?", "Sorry, what desert did you want again?" and (for the third time) "By the way, did you order coffee or not?".
The second time we were treated quite badly by the proprietor, and in the end we were actually ripped off as well. So this restaurant, no matter what the quality of the food is, has been stricken off our list.

5b : La Table de Chapaize in Chapaize

La Table de Chapaize

The rather prestigious restaurant "La Table de Chapaize" has changed owners as per 1 July 2013. The name however was not changed, but the prices seem a bit more modest than those on the menu of the previous owner. Also the set-up of the menu is slightly different. However, this does not make the choice of dishes much bigger. For comparison : both, the old and the new menu are attached to this blog.
Since we have not eaten here yet, and have no intention to do so on short term, I quote from a previous blog I wrote about this restaurant. Even though this was written based on experiences of others with the previous chef, it is for the moment the best I can come up with....

The original menu

Quote :
Since we have not eaten here yet, and have no intention to do so on short term, I quote from a previous blog I wrote about this restaurant. Even though this was written based on experiences of others with the previous chef, it is for the moment the best I can come up with....
No, each time it was the limited choice that scared us off. The menu mentions one starter, two main dishes (always one fish and one meat dish) and a variety of desserts. Desserts are not really something we are interested in, one of us is allergic for fish and shell fish, hence if there is lobster in the starter one person bottles out. The other party is relatively content with standard food. Give him a good piece of steak and he is a happy little fellow. Fowl and lamb are only an option if there is no beef or fish (in that order) on the menu. And that is the reason that we have never managed to indulge in what everybody assures us is an outstanding high class culinary experience. Hence we have to go by what we have heard about the place. And that is 100 % positive. Everyone who has ever eaten there is raving on about the quality, the presentation of the food and the service.
Unquote.

The new menu

5a : Le Saint-Martin in Chapaize

Le Saint-Martin - Chapaize

 This restaurant, beautifully located opposite the church of Chapaize, has changed hands. We have not yet had the opportunity to try it out, but what we hear from usually reliable sources it is not an unpleasant place with a nice ambiance and good food. The prices are slightly higher than at what we call "Plat du Jour"  restaurants.

Saint-Martin - Chapaize

Hopefully to be continued.

4 : Le Relais d'Ozenay in Ozenay

Ozenay is a small village close to the metropolis of Tournus, about 11 miles or 25 minutes driving from here. It has a cute Romanesque church with an interesting interior, but I will not elaborate on this since this blog is supposed to handle culinary aspects, not architectural ones.

The church of Ozenay

We had heard very flattering reports, and not only from guests, but even from a columnist in a Dutch quality newspaper.
Although we normally have quite a strong preference for smaller down to earth restaurants, we also have often thought "wouldn't it be nice, if only for once, to really splash out?". At the end of 2012 we were invited to a meal in a slightly more posh restaurant then our usual one, and we were given the choice. We were in doubt between La Table de Chapaize and Le Relais d'Ozenay, and because the menus and the carte in Ozenay looked as if we would have a bit more choice than in Chapaize, we proposed Ozenay.
We arrived around 19h30, and although that is quite early according to local standards, the restaurant filled up quite quickly. The interior was tastefully decorated. The walls were adorned with various ceramic "paintings" made by a local artisan from Martailly-lès-Brancion, and the patterns on these "paintings" were in perfect harmony with the way the rather "Nouvelle Cuisine" dishes were made up and decorated.

A "painting"

When we were about to order we were a bit disappointed with the unexpectedly limited choice. We had set our mind on a not so expensive menu, and the € 33 menu was the same price or slightly cheaper than the remaining main dishes alone on the à la carte part of the menu. And since this € 33 menu had only 2 different starters and main courses to choose from, the choice was all of a sudden roughly the same as in Chapaize. For starters one could choose between a butternut soup and a smoked salmon dish, and for the main course there was a choice between a risotto dish with soul and a lamb dish. For the person who is allergic to fish and shellfish the choice was reduced to choosing between 1 starter and between 1 main course. The same applied to the person who does not like pumpkins in any form or shape, nor lamb. Upgrading to a € 38 dinner was also no option, because these menus could only be ordered when every member in the party ordered the same menu. The meal started with an amuse and closed off with a number of cheeses and a rather obscure desert where the recognisable bit was a small piece of pistachio cake.

Le Relais d'Ozenay

Unfortunately the wine we chosen from the carte with our meal, a red Henri Lafarge Pinot Noir was not available anymore, and we had to resort to a red Henri Lafarge Mâcon. The food was beautifully laid out and presented, the service very friendly and efficient. My starter (salmon) was nice, but not exceptionally, however those who had ordered the butternut soup were very enthusiastic about it. There was more consensus about the main courses. I thought the risotto and the soul quite bland, and those who had ordered lamb had a similar comment about their dish.
The cheeses were a nice selection of goat's cheeses, a blue cheese and two runny cheeses, of which the Époisses was not bad at all. I certainly was not thrilled with the desert, but I have to be honest: I am simply not a sweet tooth or a desert type of person. Having said that, most people at our table were also not terribly impressed with it.

The interior

Summarising:
The food was mediocre to good, although I thought the quality / price ratio a bit disappointing.
I would prefer a wider choice of dishes (I think 2 fish main dishes and 3 meat main dishes à la carte is not exactly a big choice).
The ambiance and the service were impeccable.
My preference was and most likely will always be a restaurant with a wider, although not such an exclusive choice. However, that might have something to do with the lack of snob appeal I am suffering from....

3d : Eating out in Cluny (4 of 4)

Hôtel de Bourgogne

After long deliberations we finally decided to go for a real expensive meal. We had chosen Hôtel de Bourgogne, a beautiful building overlooking the square where also the Palais du Pape Gélase is located.
That sounded very promising, a dining room with a view, were it not, that the dining room was not located at the front of the hotel, but at the side of it, with a stunning view on the building site of the abbey which is being restored. Unfortunately our table was facing the window, hence I was overlooking the restoration works. Further, the street along the windows connected the town centre with a parking area, and the narrow pavement allowed pedestrians to have a good look at what the financially better off were having on their plates.
Of course one goes to a restaurant to eat, and not to criticise the location or surroundings. Still, I felt a bit like being on display here, something that does not bother me the slightest when I am having a meal on the terrace of a much cheaper restaurant in a busy street.

Palais du Pape Gélase

Anyway, here we were. Sue was strategically positioned overlooking the (in my eyes) old fashioned, almost English interior.
Neither of us ordered a menu, basically because a starter and main course contain more than sufficient food for us. Both of us ordered a foie gras with very special pieces of toast, I ordered a tournedos with mashed potatoes, spinach and chanterelles, while Sue had a piece of Bresse chicken in mushroom (morels) sauce, with carrot and asparagus and a few new potatoes.
As an amuse we got a tiny bowl with a bit of red cabbage with a creamy sauce.
The food was really excellent, as were the staff and the service.

The now finished renovations of part of Cluny III

We knew that this meal was going to set us back a few bob. I had spotted in the menu that the prices were nett, hence the additional VAT on the bill did not come as a surprise. Why the VAT was not included in the menu prices however is a mystery to me. All in all, we had spent approx. € 65 a head, including a bottle of wine and a cup of coffee.

3c : Eating out in Cluny (3 of 4)

Speciality restaurants
There is one restaurant well known around Cluny for its frog’s legs.

Le Rochefort

The place is called Le Rochefort , on the through road from Cluny direction Mâcon. I once ordered a plate of cuisses de grenouilles including desert for € 25, without desert it would have been € 21. The portion was so big, and eating the legs so time consuming, that I had finally eaten all the legs only after two hours. Fortunately Sue did not mind to take my desert, because I really felt stuffed. The frog’s legs were deep fried, garnished with parsley, and over-delicious.
On the same road, near the old railway station one finds bio-restaurant Le Pain sur le Table .

Le Pain sur le Table

We went in one day, but neither the clientele nor the dishes made us think “yes, let us try!”. It all looked a bit too healthy and too bio for my taste. However, vegetarians have a hard time in Burgundy, when it comes to finding something else but a green salad (which often has lardons = bacon in it anyway!). So maybe this is the place for them. We hope to get a review from one of those vegetarians who are not put off by the look of their food!
Le Potin Gourmand (just outside the centre, at the very “end” of the main street) offers apart from (sporadic) jazz concerts also mediaeval meals. I can vouch for the jazz music, but have not (yet) tried the mediaeval meals.

Expensive restaurants
One of those,  Hôstellerie d’Héloïse is still on our program for a very special occasion. Once we have been there, we will probably give them a separate entry in this blog. Another one, Hôtel de Bourgogne we have tried in the meantime (see the next chapter).

Auberge du Cheval Blanc

The only slightly more expensive restaurant we have frequented for a while was Auberge du Cheval Blanc, not quite in the centre of Cluny. The food there was always excellent, the ambiance nice. However, recently we resorted again to this place (our usual restaurant for special occasions has stopped to exist). They gutted the inside of the building, the service was not what it used to be, and although the food was good, it certainly does not rank like it did before.

3b : Eating out in Cluny (2 of 4)

Cheap, cosy restaurants
Cosy is a strange criterion for a restaurant, but we distinguish cosy and design restaurants. In our view design restaurants are slightly more expensive than “normal” places, and boast design furniture and decorations. We have tried several, and despite the food, which has the same quality as elsewhere, the “sterile” atmosphere puts us off.

La Petite Auberge

Our favourite : La petite Auberge , a small intimate place with a terrace on the main street. I have been eating a plat du jour there every Tuesday, for over a year, and I still cannot understand how the cook manages to bring something different on the table each time. An estimate: I have a plat du jour approx. 40 times a year. Of those 40 times I have seen a maximum of 5 à 6 dishes which I have had before. And these 5 à 6 are also different from each other! The food itself is excellent, Sue loves the pizzas here, the service is friendly and efficient, and for well under € 10 one has a plat du jour.

Chez Sissis / Café du Centre

Almost next door there is Le Bistrot , which we have tried some time ago. The menu is not very inspiring, and the general impression is that it is more a bar than a bistro. We stick to their neighbours.
Another typical French restaurant, with reading table and excellent French food is Café du Centre or Chez Sissis , just off the main street.
There are few others, which I will just mention. La Halte d’Abbaye is one of those, as is Le Cloître . They offer good food, bur are just a bit further away from the main street, near the abbey.

Design restaurants

Brasserie du Nord

Cluny has a handful of restaurants we do not frequent any more, basically because we do not like the un-French, a bit sterile, ambiance. However, some people are a bit more modern than we are, hence here they are. The main street has Le Comptoir and La Nation . The latter has a terrace, the first one has some chairs and tables cramped outside under an archway. Brasserie du Nord (near the abbey – with terrace) has the same sort of interior and food and the same owner as Brasserie La Nation.

3a : Eating out in Cluny (1 of 4)

Cluny is without a shadow of a doubt the town around here offering the widest range of restaurants. We have tried (almost) all restaurants mentioned here at least once. There are a few places we prefer not to eat, and that is irrespective of the quality of the food; it is mainly due to the ambiance we do not like. We start off with low budget places.

Fast food

Le Bosphore

Le Bosphore in the Rue Prud’hon (centre) is an excellent kebab place, although different compared to their English name sakes. For less than € 6 one gets a very nice sandwich kebab, and for around € 9 one gets a plate with kebab (different varieties), French fries and lettuce. The sauces that come standard with the dish are sauce blanche and harissa, a North-African hot (spicy) sauce. The service is excellent and the personnel is very friendly.
There is something resembling a (French) fast food place in the main street, called Quebec Burger. This street changes name as number of times, hence I keep calling it main street. One can buy French fries here, or various types of burger sandwiches, at very reasonable prices. The portions are big, possibly the reason why this place is very popular with the ENSAM students. The restaurant plays rather noisy music, with heavy basses pounding away, reason why we do not go there anymore. However, the service is good.

Pizzerias

Le Loup Garou

The main street has two pizzerias, Le Loup Garou (at the beginning seen from the post Office) and La Petite Auberge (a tiny bit further).
As a pizzeria I prefer Le Loup Garou, because the pizzas there are very thin, well filled with a negligible empty edge. For less than € 10 one has a wonderful pizza here. Since I have discovered the pizza saumon, I have never ordered anything else anymore. They also sell various pasta dishes.
La Petite Auberge is also a pizzeria, with roughly the same assortment. Since I am rather choosy when it comes to pizzas I refused to order a pizza here after I tried it once. My better half, very keen on thin crusty edges on pizzas, disagrees with me on this and fully enjoys her pizzas whenever I indulge in their unbeatable plat du jour (see also under cheap restaurants in part 2).

Le Forum

Just outside Cluny’s centre, on the other side of the river Grosne, lies Le Forum, another Italian restaurant / pizzeria. We ate there once, and were quite happy with the food as well, but we prefer Le Loup Garou because of quality, ambiance and location.

2 : Eating out in Saint-Gengoux

Saint-Gengoux-le-National is located approx. 10 km north of Cormatin along the Voie Verte, reason why many cyclists sooner or later end up there to find something to eat. Apart from a handful of bakers, always good for a cake, a quiche or even a (French) sandwich, Saint-Gengoux also has some restaurants.

Not really in town, but somewhere halfway Cormatin and Saint-Gengoux on the D981 is restaurant La Place in the hamlet with the same name. La Place is a dépendence of Les Blés d’Or in Cormatin. The food is good and reasonably priced. The restaurant often gets bus loads of tourists, because the kitchen is capable of catering for big groups.

Hôtel de la Gare

On the edge of town, near the old station on the Voie Verte one finds hôtel-restaurant de la Gare.
Early 2012 some friends invited us over for a lunch there. Although we had made a reservation for six, there was no table laid for us. However, one of the laid tables (linen napkins, proper wine glasses) was re-laid, this time with paper napkins and the typical glasses normally used wit the menu du jour. The restaurant has a bar and a dining room. The bar is meant for menu du jour (€ 12.50) or plat du jour only; the dining room is restricted to those ordering à la carte only. How they go about companies where some want a menu du jour and some want to order à la carte is beyond me. The reception was rather chaotic, and I thought the prices were a bit on the steep side. The available menus were € 20.00 (simple menu, starter, main dish and cheese), € 28.50 (starter, fish or meat dish and cheese) and € 34.00 (starter, fish and meat dish and cheese). One of the available starters consisted of an excellent buffet à volonté of various starters. The other dishes we ordered were nicely laid out and of very good quality.

La Jouvence

My verdict: if I want to spend a bit more money than usual for a meal, I know where to find better places with the same price around La Tuilerie de Chazelle. And if I want a simple meal in a place with a nice ambiance, Saint-Gengoux has more than one other place to offer than just Hôtel de la Gare. In a word: for the time being I will not store Hôtel de la Gare under “My favourites”.

In the centre, on the Avenue de la Promenade one finds restaurant La Jouvence, which is a “normal” French restaurant. It serves good food at very reasonable prices. A formula or menu du jour costs (order of magnitude) € 13.

Pili-Pili

For those who want something simple there is pizzeria Pili-Pili. It is located in the Grande Rue, a side street of the Avenue de la Promenade, and not really worth this flattering name. Although not exactly a place for a cosy candlelight dinner, the pizzas they serve are of good quality and the service is friendly and adequate. It is also a take-away.

Further Café du Marché near the lavoir is said to serve sandwiches.

01b : eating out in Cormatin (2 of 2)

La Terrasse in Cormatin was run by a rather brusque lady, Mme Monique R., a woman requiring some instructions before use.

La Terasse, a few years back - Cormatin

We got on with her very well (which cannot be said for every one of her clientele) and we were very impressed with her cookery skills (grandmother's cuisine). It was for us a double shock to hear that, for serious health reasons, she had to sell La Terrasse. The restaurant did not stay empty for long though, and the new owner decided to renovate the rather old fashioned interior, to modernise the menu, to give the terrace itself a complete facelift and to buy the house next door in order to break through and to enlarge his indoor seating capacity. After the dust had settled La Terrasse new style has definitely established itself.

La Terrasse as of now, on a busy day - Cormatin

My first experience with the new La Terrasse was after a wreath laying ceremony on the 28th of June 2014. The local bars and restaurants in Cormatin serve, on turn, the vin d'amitié after the event, which gives "new" restaurants an opportunity to characterize themselves. La Terrasse came up with a big number of immaculate exquisite amuse-bouches, fitting for a good restaurant. We decided to try the kitchen of this place some other day. We grabbed our chance on the 8th of May 2015 (liberation day). After the wreath laying the mayor announced that the verre d'amitié was at La Terrasse, and since we often stay on in Cormatin for lunch in case the wreath laying takes place around noon, we decided to hang on in La Terrasse.

The longest parade since 2005 - Cormatin

Again this time there were amuse-bouches, and again they were a feast for the eye as well as the palate. We had to wait a bit longer than usual, but that could easily be explained by the fact that instead of the usual max. 25 suspects turning up this time the terrace was invaded by over 50 people. After we had sipped from the kir and had a go at the amuse-bouches, the meeting broke up and we went inside, into the newly opened part of the restaurant.

Wreath laying - Cormatin

Because we hardly ever eat a heavy meal for lunch, we decided to take only a main course, moisten it with a glass of local wine, and have only coffee for desert. I ordered a magret de canard, and for the first time in my life I was asked what cuisson I wanted. That is a very normal question where beef is concerned, but I was never asked that question with duck. The owner suggested rosé, and rosé it was going to be. At home I found out that the normal cuissons for magret de canard are bleu (red and bloody), rosé (pink) and bien cuit (well done). Normally I would have chosen bleu, but the rosé I had asked for was excellent and very tasty indeed.

Vin d'Amitié - La Terrasse Cormatin

The duck was served with a jacket potato and lettuce. The whole meal was very nicely presented, and the (cheap) wine we had chosen was excellent for the price we paid. This simple but more than adequate meal set us back only € 15 pp, and the price/quality ration was excellent.
Based on this experience we chose, when we were invited for a festive meal of our choice, for La Terrasse. Unfortunately this time it did not work out so well. My starter (escargots) was rather tough and chewy.

La Terrasse - Cormatin

My piece of beef, no Charollais but French, was streaked with sinew and as a whole also rather tough. The others were very happy with the salads they had for starters, but the magret de canard that was chosen by two had a peppersauce with it that was far too hot, even for my taste. Only the person who ordered poulet à la crême as a main dish was reasonably content. Everyone was very impressed with the deserts. The quality difference with the last time might be explained by the fact that the owner was not running the kitchen, as opposed to the previous occasion.

Poulet à la crême

However, the whole restaurant starts to resemble Fawlty Towers if the quality of the food is depending on the presence or not of a chef. The experiences only one month apart are too different to classify this place as a very good restaurant.
We had hoped that La Terrasse could fill the gap left behind by La Grange Finot in Bray (closed some time ago) or its successor La Régalade in Cluny (also closed down). Unfortunately this is not the case, hence we are still looking…..

Click here for the website of La Tuilerie de Chazelle.

1a : Eating out in Cormatin (1 of 1)

This story marks the beginning of a project that has been in the pipeline for a very long time, but that finally gets off the ground as of now, and is actually finished. We have visited a number of restaurants around La Tuilerie de Chazelle, and we have given a (very personal) review of the establishments concerned. Since restaurants often change hands or disappear altogether, we will try to keep those articles as up to date as possible. The first place to be covered : Cormatin.

Cormatin is not really a place where one would find the highlights of French haute cuisine. However, there is more than one restaurant that serves good home cooked food. We will review those places in order of appearance, coming in from Chazelle.

Pizz'a Marco

Pizz’a Marco – Grande Rue
Marco has a good assortment of pizzas, all made on the spot. If you do not want a certain ingredient on your pizza, Marco will without hesitation deviate from his recipes. His pizzas have a very nice thin bottom and are well filled, which are musts for a good pizza in my opinion. Marco has a small terrace outside, but one can also eat inside. Although he is in this sense a small pizzeria, most of his pizzas are to take away. The prices range roughly from € 8 to € 10. For those who forgot to buy some wine: he also sells small and normal size bottles of white and red.

La Terrasse

La Terrasse – Grande Rue
La Terrasse has been closed for a short period of time, but has reopened on july 1st 2013 under new ownership. The interior has been renovated, new tables, chairs and parassols have been installed, in short, the old La Terrasse has made place for a completely new one. Although I always have had a soft spot for La Terrasse old style, the new place looks a lot more inviting. We have eaten there once so far. The service is excellent, the food is good (in stead of the Plat du Jour the place offers a Suggestion du Chef, which is slightly more expensive than what the previous owner had to offer) and La Terrasse had potential to become quite a competitor for its neghbours at Les Blés d'Or, reason why I have dedicated a separate blog to La Terrasse.

Les Blés d'Or

 Les Blés d’Or – Grande Rue
This hôtel-restaurant, located next to La Terrasse, has a slightly more extended menu compared to La Terrasse. In summer there are pizzas available. The service is excellent, the food is good, and there is also a terrace where one can sip a cold beer whilst watching the village life of Cormatin. The prices and the menu are similar to those of the neighbour. 

Café de la Poste, since early 2013 also under new ownership, shares the premises now (mid 2015) with the Tabac, and the owner has developed the place from a not so efficient snackbar into a proper restaurant. About the food as well as about the service we have heard nothing but positive reactions. It might result in a separate blog once we have tried it out.

Snackbar Le Hameau des Champs

Although Cormatin cannot boast a fast food joint like a kebab place, there are some alternatives available for those not too hungry. The campsite “Le Hameau des Champs” has a snackbar also open to those not staying there.

Also Bakery Roy (Boulangerie du Château) has opened a lunchroom cum tearoom next to its shop, where one can buy the baker's products.

Elections

This guy is certainly not standing!

The elections are coming up. Not the national one, not the presidential one, no, this time we will have to vote for the town council. There are no familiar parties taking part here such as Labour, Tories or LibDems, no, not even Screaming Lord Such is running for local councillor. I can only compare these elections with the local ones in the Netherlands, and the French certainly know how to make something simple quite complicated, at least in my eyes. How it works? I have not the foggiest, but I hope to find out in the coming weeks!
Everything started off by registering in the voting register. Once registered, on may, even as a foreigner, vote for the town council. We have found out in the meantime that there are different rules for the elections, depending on the size of the commune. Our commune has 503 inhabitants, hence we follow the rules for the category less than 1000 inhabitants.
The mayor still in function has drawn up a list of 15 candidates, of which he is the head, hence the mayor to be. This list is completely non-political, if that is possible at all. In Cormatin we will not see a struggle between ultra left-wingers or ultra right-wingers. There are quite a few communes with only one list, and this list is often incomplete as well. One could ask oneself what on earth is the purpose of an election with only one incomplete list. But that seems to be a non-relevant question. Even though there are 15 candidates, it is quite well possible that one cannot identify with one or more of those. The voter is allowed to cross off names, and even add different ones.

(Part of the ruling clique

The new names however will have to be chosen from those who made themselves available, although they did not want to be on any list. Their names are displayed on a piece of paper in the voting booth. It appears to be possible, someone explained to me (without me understanding one word of it however) that the complete list does not get a majority of 50% + one vote, in which case there will be a different voting round. With two lists I can however more or less understand this majority principle. And fortunately Cormatin has produced a second list, although with only 11 names and without leader, but anyway….

The list without head

After having verified for the umpteenth time that we are properly registered (where we were allowed to look at this important piece of paper), we are now waiting for the propaganda of the two fighting factions. The “Opposition party” uses the words transparency and involvement a lot. Of the “Ruling party” however we know most candidates personally, and even without knowing the “political programs” our choice will most likely be quite simple. But who knows: one week before the elections the presses start rolling and the Agitprop will be distributed. So there is still time for change!

In some villages windmills are a hot item.

You can find out whether there are any great changes in Cormatin or not during a stay in La Tuilerie de Chazelle.

One ticket with discount, please

As mentioned earlier, an old admission ticket to certain castles entitles the holder of it to claim a discount when purchasing tickets for a different one. And since we were told this explicitly when leaving the castle of Germolles (see a previous blog), and because we had not been to the castle in Brancion for a long time we decided to cash our discount. A nuclear bomb could not have caused more panic in Brancion.

Brancion

Those behind the till were aware that "their" castle took part in some sort of discount scheme of a number of castles, but how it all worked was a total mystery to them. We had read outside on the sandwich boards that the normal admission was € 5 pp, and that certain groups (students, unemployed) could visit the château at the reduced price of € 3 pp. After long and painful deliberations the two behind the till asked us if we could live with a 50% reduction. Of course we could; and finally, after 15 minutes waiting, we marched into the castle.

The logis

The word castle in its own right suggests robustness, and makes one automatically think of the famous big English castles. Not that this castle was so much smaller, but there was relatively little left of this once great and mighty fortress. The big donjon is still more or less intact, there are some remains of a number of round towers, and both logis (residences), the one of Beaujeu and the one of l'An Mil give a good impression of how big the place once was. The lords of Brancion were regularly in conflict with the abbot of Cluny, and the location of the fortress is such that it is very well defendable.

Fishbone parttern

The undersides of the walls suggest that the original walls of the Logis de l'An Mil belonged to an older castle. They show in several places a fishbone pattern, suggesting that at least the foundations were built before the 11th century. The first known lord of Brancion was Warulfe I (approx. 875-927), who is mentioned in a charter of Cluny Abbey from 926. Which would make the château, or at least some parts of it, a pre-Romanesque building.
Even if Brancion would not have had the château which is well worth a visit (click here for a picture album of the castle), it would still be worth a visit. It is a lovely little village, located high above and offering stunning views of the Grosne Valley. It has a very interesting Romanesque church, an old mediaeval covered market hall, and the houses and streets have been restored a couple of years ago by a group of professionals, assisted by a group of inmates of a nearby prison. They were taught a trade during this period and were prepared for a return into "free" society.

The view from the donjon

The church is sometimes used for concerts, and in the church "square", an open field with view across the valley all sorts of events regularly take place.

As for more châteaux in the area, the tickets to one of the castles mentioned hereafter give the visitor a discount on entrance tickets for or one of the others : Berzé-le-Châtel, Brancion, Brandon, Couches, Demigny, Drée, Germolles, La Ferté, Pierreclos, Pierre-de-Bresse and Sully. I always staple the tickets to the brochure "La Route des Châteaux en Bourgogne du Sud", because I know from experience that if I do not do it that way I will never be able to present old tickets at the till!

Logis and donjon

Although Brancion is only 12 km away from La Tuilerie de Chazelle, it is not advisable to go there on a bicycle. The slopes are quite steep, and one year the Tour de France had an intermediate sprint on the Col de Brancion, which counted for the mountains classification.