1936 On the Continent

struggle up the mountain slopes.
    The monastery is built at the foot of a big grim mountain, the Grand Som. When you see the wildness and isolation of the spot, imagine what it must have been like in 1084 when Saint-Bruno and his companions arrived on foot with no roads or paths to guide them, and built little wooden shelters for themselves out of the pine woods at the base of the mountain. At that time the woods were full of wolves. The monastery has been burnt down three or four times since it was founded in 1084, but the present buildings date back all the same to the late Middle Ages. It is sad to think that this order, one of the most fascinating in the history of Western Christendom, should have been driven out of France by the authorities in 1903. Themonks took with them the secret of their wonderful Chartreuse liqueur, and now manufacture it in Spain at Tarragona.
    Another excursion you should make from Grenoble is to the Vizille and its château, the property of the President of the Republic. He never sets foot in it. The château is a fine example of Renaissance building, erected between 1611 and 1620. Uriage is another interesting town near Grenoble, a very elegant watering-place situated in a neighbouring valley and overlooked by an old castle. There are all sorts of other excursions into the mountainous valleys round about to be made from Grenoble.
    In winter Grenoble becomes a big winter sports centre. The most famous resort is Villard de Lans, in the mountains to the south of the town, with magnificent ski-ing slopes and bob-sleigh tracks and a large number of good hotels. Perhaps, though, you will find it more amusing, though less comfortable, to stay at the chalet hotels of the Col de Porte, on the road from Grenoble to the Grande-Chartreuse, or of the Recoin, at the foot of the Croix de Champrousse above Uriage.

BURGUNDY AND LYONS
    My English friends have a very deplorable habit of ignoring entirely the centre of France on their visits abroad. They come to Paris for a time, and then shoot off by a night express to the Côte d’Azur or to the Alps, without giving a single thought to the magnificent country through which they are passing. Personally, when I am going south from Paris, I always travel by day. It is more tiring I know, but I can never see enough of that gradually changing landscape and climate as the train pounds its way right down through the whole of France. And there is one spot which, as I pass it, always makes me long to get out and walk. I don’t know its name, and so far the train has always been going too fast to let me accede to my impulse, but it is in Burgundy in the midst of those wonderful billowing wooded hills: a little village half hidden in a hollow. I have often walked in Burgundy, and to me it is one of the loveliest regions for walking in the world.
Dijon
    Even if you are not keen on walking, Burgundy is worth a visit, if only to see Dijon, the capital, and Lyons, one of the most important towns in France. For one thing, Burgundy is a place of pilgrimage—or should be—for all wine-lovers; there is no wine in the world to touch Burgundy for richness of flavour, quality and variety.
    Dijon, which is a town of about 75,000 inhabitants, is the former capital of the powerful and wealthy dukes of Burgundy. It still has many beautiful monuments, witnesses of this glorious past. Besides the cathedral and the Church of Saint-Michel, you should pay a visit to the Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy, to the Palais de Justice and to the Museum which contains the tombs of two of the most famous Burgundian rulers, Jean the Fearless and Philip the Bold.
    But the most attractive thing about Dijon is its cooking. It is one of the gastronomic centres of France, and every year the Gastronomic Fair meets there. Among the many hotels of the town, I prefer personally the Chateaubriant in the Avenue du Maréchal Foch. But you should haveat least one meal—it will certainly not be the last—at the Restaurant des Trois Faisans where you will drink an incomparable Meursault. All the other wines of Burgundy can be had there too, for the villages with the glorious names of Romanée, Chambertin, Nuits-St.-Georges, Corton, Pommard, Volnay, are only a few miles away. At Dijon itself they manufacture an exquisite sort of gingerbread and the well-known Dijon mustard.
    Lyons, the town with two rivers, the Rhone and the Saone, is one of the oldest towns in France. It was the capital of Roman Gaul