CRUISING
BARGING THROUGH BURGUNDY By Liz Humphreys
Set sail for sublime views and culinary delights on the unsung canals of France’s premier wine region
HISTORIC TOWN OF AUXERRE ON THE YONNE RIVER
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he fluffy fish dumplings — a combo of pike, egg whites, choux pastry and thick cream — float in a rich, velvety crayfish sauce. The generous chef at L’Eternel in the French hilltop town of Vézelay has piled extra crayfish on top. I’ve never tasted the famed quenelles Nantua — made, I am told, by simmering the crayfish shells with onions, carrots, fish stock, white wine and plenty of butter. The light-as-air dumplings melt in my mouth, and taste even better when washed down with a glass of the local pinot noir. Beyond the meal, the scenery’s not half bad either. Vézelay is an adorable UNESCO World Heritage Site, and I hike up its steep streets to see the evocative 3 2 | B O N V I VA N T 2 0 2 1
9th-century Romanesque Basilica Sainte-Marie-Madeleine. The church, thought to hold the relics of Mary Magdalene, became a popular stopping point in the 11th and 12th centuries for pilgrims venturing to Santiago de Compostela in Northern Spain. As I walk back down Vézelay’s cobblestoned streets, now in their modern incarnation of galleries, clothes stores and cafés, I glimpse vineyards planted all the way up to the town’s edge that remind me where I am — Burgundy. But this isn’t the hyped Burgundy of Beaune and Dijon fame. Instead, Vézelay is one of the stops on my six-day cruise down the Canal du Nivernais, which might be Burgundy’s best-kept secret.
Experience barge cruising the scenic River Saône and Canal du Centre in Southern Burgundy.
