Walk: 13km; total: 371km
After a breakfast of cereal, yogurt, bacon, eggs, bread and jam we headed out for the day. As usual we followed the little metal triangle on the footpaths, Le Tracé de la Plume and the tourist map. It was much easier to find the sights in Mâcon as the triangles were closer together. By 11am we’d covered all of them and some others. Mâcon is a nice little, but busy city and we enjoyed our walks.
We had lunch back in our room and a rest before heading over the St Laurent Bridge to the island. There was not a lot to see apart from a few restaurants, what seemed to be a disused church, and a lot of medium density housing. Back home via our favourite supermarket for dinner before retiring for rest of the afternoon, watching the TDF, blogging, and reading. A wander after dinner finished the day nicely.
Le Tracé de la Plume (Feather Tour)
Saint Pierre church, founded in the 1860s, is a neo-Romanesque style building with a three storey facade, and two bell towers topped with stone spires.
Montrevel Mansion, aka Town Hall, built in 1750
Soufflot building, built in 1621 as a charitable foundation, founded by St Vincent de Paul, to accommodate poor people and orphans. It was renovated between 1752 and 1761, and again in 1981.
Chamber of Commerce and Industry, established in 1871. The building was started in 1911 and completed in 1914, but due to WWI, was only opened in 1964
A mosaic mural
The Saône. In 1912, the stretch of the river before the bridge became a landing zone for float planes. In 1936, the British company, Imperial Airways organizes a technical stopover in Mâcon. Over the next few years a refueling station and a customs registration office are built. In 1938 the Mâcon line is extended to provide services to Southampton, Cape Town, Delhi, Calcutta, Australia and New Zealand. The base was to have been in Charon-Sue-Saône, however, a three-star Michelin chef persuaded the authorities that the base should indeed be in Mâcon. A little bit of a conflict of interest as he owned/worked at a hotel on the river front that was to eventually supply the aircraft with meals. The civilian aircraft landing zone was terminated with the onset of WWII, whereupon it became a landing zone for military aircraft until 1942.
The restaurant the three star Michelin Chef worked and that supplied the meals for the aircraft
Alphonse de Lamartine, 1790-1869, a French poet and politician
Saint Laurent Bridge. The Romans built a wooden bridge here a long time ago, and in the 11th century it was replaced with a stone bridge with six shadow arches. These were fortified in 1221, with further work undertaken until 1550. The bridge was one of the few bridges in the region not destroyed during WWII. Since then, its appearance has not changed except for the addition of six more arches.
Madison de Blois, aka Wooden House, built between 1490-1510, is the oldest house in Mâcon, and allegedly the most famous due the multitude of saucy statuettes adorning the façade.
Prefecture, built between 1618-1631as an episcopal palace until 1790 when it became the prefecture’s HQ. It has large terraced gardens, and still houses the residence of the prefect and the reception halls.
The new Prefecture HQ building
The old St Vincent Cathedral, rebuilt several times between the 7th-17th century due to the unstable ground on which it is built (alluvium and Saône River sands). Largely demolished in 1799, the only remaining parts are those that can be seen today. These bits range from 11th-13th century.
Passage des Amphores
Musée des Ursulines
Courthouse, rather uninspiring
A good-looking rooster
Saint Laurent church on the island
View from our window
