Page 326 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - France

13 French Resistance during World HIDDEN GEM
War II. Today it’s a Regional
Morvan Nature Park, and the main Château de
attraction is its wildness. Bazoches
! E4 ⌂ Yonne, Côte d’Or, Information on a wide variety
Nièvre, Saône-et-Loire Southwest of Avallon,
k Dijon £ Autun, Mombard of outdoor activities, inclu ding this 12th-century
 Château-Chinon, Saulieu, cycling, canoeing, skiing and castle was given by
Louis XIV to the famed
Avallon n 6 blvd Répub- horse trekking, is available military strategist
from the Maison du Parc at
EXPERIENCE Burgundy and Franche-Comté Morvan is a Celtic word for two well-signed long-distance monument is the 12th-
lique, Château-Chinon;
Maréchal de Vauban,
St-Brisson, where there is also
Maison du Parc, St-Brisson;
who trans formed it
the very moving Musée de la
www.tourisme.parcdu
into a garrison.
Résistance. There are plenty
morvan.org
of short walking trails, and
“Black Mountain”, which is a
paths: the GR13 (Vézelay
to Autun) and the Tour du
century Roman esque Église
good description of this area
St-Lazare, with two handsome,
when seen from afar. The
Morvan par les Grands Lacs.
carved door ways. The larger
immense, sparsely inhabited
Musée de la Résistance
of the two illustrates the 12
plateau of granite sud denly
appears in the centre of the
"' ⌂ Maison du Parc,
signs of the zodiac, the
labours of the month, and the
St-Brisson # Mar–Nov:
Burgundy hills and farm land.
Stretching roughly north to
10am–6pm Wed–Sun (daily
horsemen of the Apocalypse.
south, it gains altitude as it
resistancemorvan.fr
proceeds southwards, to a
sophisti cated acanthus capitals
culminating point of 901 m
and poly chrome statuary.
(2,956 ft) at Haut-Folin.
The Musée de l’Avallonnais
The area’s two sources of in July–Aug) ∑ musee The nave is decorated with
has an intricate Venus mosaic
14
natural wealth are abun dant from the 2nd century AD,
water and dense forests of Avallon Georges Rouault’s (1871–
oak, beech and conifer. Lumber ! E3 ⌂ Yonne £ @ 1958) Expres sionist series of
was once floated out of the n 6 rue Bocquillo; www. etch ings, the Miserere, and
area to Paris via a net work of avallon-morvan.com pieces by the renowned
lakes and rivers. Today it travels silversmith Jean Després.
by truck, and the Yonne, Cure This fine old fortified town is
and Cousin rivers are instead on a granite spur be tween Musée de l’Avallonnais
used for recreation and pro- two ravines by the River " ' = ⌂ 5 rue du College
ducing hydro electric power. Cousin. The town is a quiet, # Mid-Feb–mid-Nov: 2–
The Morvan has always been peaceful place and full of 6pm Wed–Sun ∑ musee
a poor, remote area. Its largest charming details. The main avallonnais.com
towns, Château-Chinon in the
centre and Saulieu on the
outskirts, have barely 3,000
inhabitants. Its remoteness
made it an ideal refuge for the

326-327_EW_France.indd 326 30/01/2019 16:44

EW Must-see / Catalogue template v1.1 – 18th May 2018
Fonts: Aptifer Sans LT Pro, Posterama Text, Soho Gothic
Pro, Soho Pro, ITC Caslon 224