There’s more to Dijon than just the mustard.
When a place is so well known for one thing, it’s hard to convince people there’s more to it sometimes. It’s fortunate for the French town of Dijon that it’s only mustard because there’s so much in this beautiful town than a hot yellow paste that makes your eyes water.
Dijon’s cultural heritage
As the capital of the Burgundy region in the west central area of France between Paris and Lyon, Dijon has enjoyed an illustrious history that dates back to Roman occupation. Its prime period in history was in the 11th – 14th Century when the Duke of Burgundy made the town the centre for art, architecture and culture. Nowadays it houses some beautiful example of middle ages French architecture and is a brilliant place to visit for a long weekend.
Dijon Cathedral has sections dating back over 100 years but, like many European cathedrals, it has become an amalgamation of many periods from Gothic, to Renaissance to Capetian. It’s home to the Archbishop of Dijon and famously houses former Duke of Burgundy Philip the Good, whose son was Charles V of France.
The town has been very fortunate over the years and has managed to avoid the loss of many of its prized pieces of architecture whilst in the midst of wars. The Franco-Prussian war in the 1870s could have spelt the end to some of the amazing 12th Century wooden houses but it didn’t and they can all be found in and around the central district such as the Carrefour du Miroir.
Festivals in Dijon
Dijon loves food and wine. This might be the case all over France but there’s always been something about Dijon that has been commonly regarded as a wonderful place to taste the very best French cuisine. It doesn’t get much better than Les Gourmandises de Tatine, behind Eglise Notre Dame. A small and subtle little café but full of the very best local flavours and some great coffee too. It’s not open in the evening so get down there for a lunch to remember.
Then there’s the world famous and important annual event the International and Gastronomic Fair, held in October every year. Then in May the town bursts with perfume and colour when it hosts a flower fair called Florissimo. The show is packed with tropical flowers and plants from all over the world.
Dijon’s Museum of Fine Arts
If you fancy some culture then the Musée des Beaux Arts is not to be missed. It’s in the old part of town on Rue de la Liberté. It’s free to enter and boasts some of the finest oil paintings and medieval sculptures in France as well as housing the tombs of some of the great Dukes of the region.
Dijon Mustard
It’s worth mentioning a certain condiment before finishing though. Mustard is what the town is most famous for but strangely almost all of the necessary mustard seeds are imported from places such as Canada. It’s more about what the people of Dijon have done to the seeds though. There’s the addition of white wine, which gives it its unique taste and subtlety. It is not a registered by a Protected Designation of Origin under EU law though so it’s more than likely all the Dijon mustard you have ever eaten didn’t even come from France let alone Dijon. That isn’t to say they don’t make it there anymore though. But if you had some mustard from Dijon it’d probably taste very little like anything you know.
Photo of colored roof, Dijon, France, by MicMacPics1
Topic: General Travel |
0 Comments
Tags: food, France
Leave a comment