On this section of the return journey we only had to travel for 3 ½ hours so we decided to visit the town of Macon.
A short drive into the town centre led us to a a huge mural to one of icon’s most famous citizens, Alphonse de Lamartine, a polymath. Lamartine helped shape the 1848 revolution with ousted Louis-Phillipe from the the throne and established the second republic. He was also an author and poet.
We continued to wander around the city which is situated on the slow moving Saone river. Macon benefited from the wine of the region which could be shipped by river to the rest of France. Now the centre of the town looks a bit down trodden with lots of shops boarded up. However the place has a lot of history going back to Roman times and before.
I hoped to enter the ancient cathedral but found it to be a building site. We continued to wander and found the current cathedral built at the beginning of the 19th C sits in the middle of the town and doesn’t really impose itself on the city. It seems to hide among the nearby buildings.
Chalons-en-Chammpagne
After our short unguided tour we returned to the car and drove on. As we entered Chalons-en-Champagne both of us felt a deep sense of disappointment. We hadn’t arrived at a picturesque and enchanting french town, but a place dominated by cheap apartments and showing signs past glories.
We found our hotel in a back street not far from the centre. The Maison Lia had just been taken over by new proprietors. We had a reasonable room and after an hour rest we went left to check out the city. It didn’t take us long to walk to the centre and a couple of restaurants that Maggi had found on the internet. Neither of them were open so we couldn’t book.
We shuffled round to the main town square and we sat down for a drink.
After a lazy drink in the square we left to have a look at the city’s cathedral.
Once we had finished our sightseeing tour we returned to our hotel to get ready for the evening’s entertainment based around a decent meal. We retraced our path to the two restaurants we had seen earlier only to find that they were both fully booked. Left in a quandary we search around and then picked a hotel with tables out in the open. Although the place only had one other couple at the tables when we arrived we convinced ourselves that it would be okay, because it was still early.
The place did start to fill up around 8 pm, but we should still have followed our original instincts because the food was well below par. If by chance we ever come to Chalons-en-Champagne I will certainly not eat at Les Caudalies again
After our very disappointing meal we walked back to or hotel with a very poor meal in our stomachs and no regrets about leaving Chalons-en-Champagne in the morning.
Saturday
Our drive home proceeded without any incidents. We didn’t even buy any provisions in France, which is unusual. We arrived at LeShuttle and charged up a little at the terminal before we embarked. This extra charge proved enough for us to arrive home without a further stop.