Dijon France

France

A stone owl, polished by millions of hands, brings luck to whoever strokes it with the left hand. It may be France's smallest attraction, and it is Dijon entire: a capital of art that lets itself be tamed by small rituals. The barge moors at the canal port, an old trading basin turned pleasure-boat stop, where an obelisk commemorates the Burgundy Canal's cutting. From there, the former ducal city is reached on foot, along the Ouche then the boulevards.

The Palace of the Dukes, the City's Beating Heart

Every visit converges on the Palace of the Dukes and States of Burgundy, a monumental ensemble enclosing Place de la Libération, a hemicycle designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, Versailles's architect. The palace houses the Museum of Fine Arts, one of France's richest, where the sculptured tombs of Dukes Philip the Bold and John the Fearless hold court, surrounded by their alabaster mourners. The valiant climb the Tower of Philip the Good: from the summit, at 46 metres, the city unfolds its glazed tile roofs in coloured lozenges, the region's visual signature.

The Jacquemart and the Townhouses

The old centre is discovered following the Owl Walk, marked on the ground in 22 stages. It leads first to Notre-Dame Church, whose façade lines rows of gargoyles and whose jacquemart clock, brought from Flanders by Philip the Bold in 1382, rings the hours as a family: the mechanical blacksmith acquired wife and children over the centuries. On the north side, the famous owl awaits its caress. Around it, Rue des Forges and Rue Verrerie line half-timbered houses and townhouses of Burgundian magistrates, interior courtyards half-open onto stone staircases.

The Market Halls and the Pleasures of Taste

Dijon is the birthplace of Gustave Eiffel, and its nineteenth-century metal halls honour that industrial kinship. Under the open-work framing, stalls offer Époisses, parslied ham, snails and Bresse poultry; on market mornings, the whole quarter hums with baskets and conversation. Impossible to overlook mustard, declined in historic shops, or spice bread, another local glory. To go further, the International City of Gastronomy and Wine, set in the former general hospital at the Ouche's edge, explores the French meal from every angle, tastings included.

At the Gates of the Great Growths

Some excursions extend the day southward, where the Route of the Great Growths begins. Gevrey-Chambertin, Vougeot, Nuits-Saint-Georges: the villages' names read like a wine map, and the climates of Burgundy's vineyards, inscribed in UNESCO World Heritage, checker the slopes in a patchwork of walls and walled growths. A tasting in a vaulted cellar suffices to understand why these few kilometres of hillside count among the world's most-studied terroirs.

Lingering a While Longer

If an hour remains before return on board, Darcy Garden and its tiered terraces offer a shaded rest near the Guillaume Gate. The bookshops and boutiques of Rue de la Liberté suit final purchases: a jar of cassis mustard, a plaque of spice bread, a few nonnettes.

The canal regained, the barge seems almost motionless after so many centuries crossed in a single day. The owl has received its caress; by tradition, the wish made will come true. Ours is already certain: may Burgundy call us back to its table soon.