Bonus Blog: Arcy-sur-Cure

April 3, 2026

Arcy-sur-Cure, France

The Cure river runs under a bridge in Arcy-sur-Cure (Arcy on the Cure).

Fun Facts

France

• French gastronomy is recognized as a UNESCO cultural heritage.

• The French consume around 25,000 tons of snails each year.

• The French consume around 40 liters of wine per person per year.

• In France you can eat a different cheese every single day of the year.

• France is the largest country in Western Europe.

• It’s unlucky to place a baguette upside down.

• Paris introduced the world’s first public transportation system in the 1660's.

• The French invented the hot air balloon.

• The world’s first film screening was in Paris.

• You can marry a dead person in France (but only under extraordinary circumstances).

Arcy-sur-Cure

• The caves of Arcy-sur-Cure, just south of the town, hold the second-oldest cave paintings ever known.

As we mentioned in our previous blog, we flew to Paris on March 31 to visit our friend Nicolle. Nicolle used to live in Chula Vista, but moved to France over 15 years ago. We have visited her many times since she moved to the city of Paris; however, a few months ago she moved about 2 hours south of Paris to the Bourgogne region in a small village called Arcy-sur-Cure (Arcy on the River Cure).

Nicolle's house is charming, and over 100 years old.

Nicolle in front of her house.

View when walking in through the front door from the street.

The front room (left) and the den/TV room (right).

Exploring the Area:

These are the places we went during our three day visit:

Exploring - Day 1

Noyers - a town near Arcy-Sur-Cure that has maintained much of its medieval appearance.

Chablis - the area, not the wine, although the Chardonnay grapes that make Chablis wine do grow here.

Chablis Town

Chablis Bar for lunch

Chablis Vineyard

Winery Visit to Domaine Bersan, to see wine caves and partake in a French wine tasting. This is our first visit to an authentic cave (cellar) that has been around since the 11th and 12th centuries. And those steps are steep....and the cave is really cold! We tasted 3 white wines and 2 reds.

On our way back to Nicolle's house we stopped to visit with a friend of hers who has a beautiful house and a small vinyard that produces approximately 100 bottles each year. A few years ago Nicolle and some other people helped her friend prepare the grapes by removing the stems and then stomping the grapes! Can you picture Lucy Ball and Ethel in that one hilarious episode???

Exploring - Day 2

Vézelay

The Vézelay Abbey, now known as the Basilica of Saint Mary Magdalene, was constructed between 1120 and 1150. One interesting aspect of the Basilica is that it was only discovered recently that at the Summer Solstice, the sun aligns directly with the windows of the church and creates a pattern of light on the floor of the church.

Vézelay is also the starting point of one of the many routes for the Santiago de Compostela, also referred to the Camino de Santiago.

Path for the Camino de Santiago marker (left) and a direction marker (right).

Saint-Pére

This is a small village, also on the Cure river. There are old stone houses, diverse landscapes, a gothic church, and roman ruins.

This is the gothic church , Notre Dame in Saint-Pere

Inside Saint-Pere church

Avallon - Our next stop was the town of Avallon. The town is best known for the clock tower, and Saint-Lazare square.

We also ate lunch in the town, but we were running late and almost all the restaurants close at 2:00 pm, so our choices were limited. We finally found one and enjoyed a quick lunch.

Exploring - Day 3

So, since we didn't get a great french lunch yesterday, Nicolle arranged for us to eat at an amazing french restaurant in the town of Augy, L'Auberge de Augy. The food was absolutely delicious. I started with a delightful dish of escargot in a puff pastry, with a yummy sauce over it. It was so good I forgot to take a picture! The main dishes were also amazing. On the left is a salmon dish in a wonderful sauce, and on the right is a mushroom soup.

And at the restaurant they had a dog. His name is Rocco! He weighed 91 kg (206 lbs).

Roman Ruins

After lunch we visited an ancient archaeological site from roman times in the city of Escolives. The site is on the ancient Roman road known as the Via Agrippa, and south of the town of Auxerre, France). The ruins are of a villa that was built around the end of the first century BC, but was not discovered until 1955.

Excavated Ruins

Museum artifacts: on the left part of a painted plate; on the right excavated columns and statues, etc....

Then, we ended our day with a visit to a Winery that specializes in Crémant (a sparkling wine). The winery was incredible. The wine making, storage, wine shop, tasting area, and parking were all inside a HUGE cave with connected caves and caverns. Unfortunately, it wasn't open for tours today - but we will definitely come back! The pictures below show the entrance, and the wine shop/tasting area.

Entrance to wine cave

Inside cave:

Tasting!

Interesting Road Signs in France: Can you guess what these mean? (Answers below)

1

2.

3

4.

5

6

7 (top sign)

8

9

Answers:

1 - Reminder, speed is 90 km (very polite!)

2 - Left picture - Entering the town of... (in this case Saint Bris) ; Right picture - Leaving the town of.. (in this one is Aigremont)

3 - The upside down town names were part of a protest by Farmers in France that started in 2023.

4 - Left picture - give way to oncoming traffic, road narrows; Right picture - priority over oncoming traffic, road narrows.

5 - Radar controlled

6 - Round about ahead

7- Speed bump ahead

8 - Left - Crossroad ahead; Right - Uncontrolled Crossroad ahead

9 - Yes - this is a stop sign, but why is it in English???? Turns out this is true across Europe, because it is short, and understood by most drivers in Europe.

Animal sightings (including dogs) in no particular order:

Ceci conclut notre blog (this is the end of our blog)! Mercí for following along with us, especially the Bonus Blog. And, a special mercí beaucoup to Nicolle for hosting us these past few days.

We head home on Saturday, April 4th, with a full heart from traveling and a welcomed anticipation to see family and friends back home! Until we all meet again...safe travels, farewell, adieu!