Farnsniente

Dinner at La Terrase in Vézelay

Dining with Kitty Cat

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in
📍 Vézelay, France

Photos

Trip index

Summary

Enjoyed the nice buffet breakfast at our hotel then drove down the hill to Saint-Pères to find a rose garden I’d read about. The only thing currently in bloom there was a massive white wisteria. But, in the village there were plenty of lilacs, irises and peonies. Drove from there through the beautiful Cousin River valley, and then into the town of Avallon. Had a nice lunch and did some exploring, then headed back to Vézelay. Relaxed on our balcony with some rosé and then hiked back up to the top of town for a great dinner at La Terrasse, an appropriately named terrace under a huge linden tree.

Details

I didn’t sleep well. It was 74° in the room overnight and one of our devices has the bad habit, when connected to the charger, of fully charging and then going down in charge a bit and then dinging to announce HEY EVERYONE, IT’S OK, I’M CHARGING! This happens every 10 minutes until you take it off the charger (and probably throw it against the wall).

Downstairs we have our breakfast. As we were coming in they greet us and say good morning. They ask our name/room number. When they hear their eyes light up. We’re the ones who skipped out on our dinner reservation last night.  They ask about it and I explain about messaging to see if we could get a reservation but never hearing back. Ah oui… is the dejected reply. How about tonight! She asks, do we want a reservation for tonight!? We look at each other and say… non, merci. (We’d seen the prices). 

Breakfast alone here is 50 euros (~US$59) for the two of us. Steep. The buffet includes similar offerings to other breakfasts we’ve had this trip. Here, as well, they also have chocolate cake, and a number of other desserts that we can have with our breakfast. I’m sure the kids love it! 

58° and sunny outside. Brisk but calm and it feels delightful. I walk to the Bureau de Poste up the street. It’s the post office but also a bank (and who know what else). Being such a small village it’s only open five days a week, from 9 AM to noon. 

I need to mail a card back to the states to wish my aunt a happy birthday. I’m not sure if the stamp I have is sufficient. It turns out it is not. It is short 15 centimes (US$0.18). Madame offers to print a stamp for that amount. I have no “pièces” (coins) with me, so I have to charge it. Madame doesn’t mind. 

Cleaned up, we drive to a nearby “somewhat famous” garden. On Google Maps satellite view it looks very promising. We drive in through the small village a long way, down a windy narrow street with houses, a big church, and some businesses. Those places looked so interesting we hike to see them before we go to the garden. We find lots of flowers, houses for sale, a huge church with the religious equivalent of a front porch, very interesting. One of the houses we see is really fixed up, the house, the drive, the yard, etc. If you have enough money you can really make these places shine. That one wasn’t for sale.

The garden is visible but not accessible. It’s plants and flowers, but not a theme of just roses or vegetables. It does all look very healthy and pretty. We find a randonée (walking/hiking) path, with color coded tags to let you know on which path you are. We see a few hikers taking advantage of the path. We see an old clothes washing facility. The big house that “owns” the gardens is actually a chambre d’hote (room rental) if the sign is to be believed. Their decorating theme, by the house, is watering cans. There were a bunch of them everywhere. 

Heading out we decide to drive the short distance over to Avallon for lunch. We’ve stayed outside of the city a couple of times at a wonderful (not cheap) place. We stop by to say “Hi” but won’t be eating there. The place is along the most picturesque creek. There’s a water wheel, but it’s no longer turning. The shade, babbling creek, and soft breezes are truly magical. One of my favorite places on this planet. 

Having blown through a chunk of change already on this trip we sheepishly drive into the heart of Avallon for a cheaper lunch. We eat at a fun, busy cafe at the center of town. There are a lot of people here, eating, drinking and mostly just socializing. The French are very social (with their family and friends). Lunch is good and a price performer. 

Post lunch we walk through town and scope out places to buy or rent (not). We check out the drive-through clock tower and the old church. At the old salt storage building (now an art exhibition hall) a lady is having a show of old postcards from Avallon back a hundred years ago (plus or minus) and the identical views today. It’s fascinating!

At the end of the street we go through one of the gates to the city and visit the tree lined vista space. We enjoy the view. On our drive home we take some photos looking up towards our current home, Vézelay, way up on the hill. 

We chill in the room a while as our bottle of wine chills in the small fridge. Eventually we stir and get gussied up for dinner. We enjoy a glass of our chilled pink wine out on our small balcony before sneaking out the back. We’re heading next door for dinner. Alas it’s obviously closed for the night. Zero signs of life. Argh. 

We work our way up the main street of the village, checking out each possible restaurant we pass. There aren’t a ton. Many aren’t open. Some of those that are don’t interest us. 

Up at the big open area in front of the Basilica is SY Terrasse restaurant. It’s Trip Advisor’s #1 restaurant. They have lots of outdoor seating and the majority of tables are already occupied. Each unoccupied table has a little “reserved” sign. Karen asks for a table and we’re in. Dinner is really good. One of the best since we’ve gotten to Europe. A cat can smell our food and is begging for a bite. We resist. We ask and the waiter says the cat’s name is “Kitty Cat”. He admits it’s not too original. 

No cheese, dessert or coffee and we’re on our way. It’s a long walk back to our hotel but not long enough. We walk farther, on the ramparts trail around the city. It’s very dark and very quiet.  

Back in our room we prep for bed and soon we’re there. 

Photos

[Note: to view the photos in chronological order, start at the bottom :-/ ]

It’s past 9:30 but it’s still plenty light. Given our heavy dinner we keep walking, around the outside of the town, on the ramparts walk. It quickly gets dark and quiet. So peaceful. Am sure in mid summer it’ll be the wonderful touristy chaos that these businesses live for.
This guy (gal?) regularly made the rounds to see who might give up some small morsel of beef, fish, mouse, whatever. We asked. The name? “Kitty Cat”
The meal, both courses, was probably the best I’ve had on this trip.
Time for dinner and we don’t find an open/acceptable place until we get back to the top of town. It’s getting on toward golden hour and the basilica looks respondent in the light. Our dinner restaurant is off the the right, in a courtyard, outside, under a spreading linden tree.
We were surprised to see this guy dragging his sad ass through town. Next to him was another guy, slowly walking, working his way through what looked like a twine rosary. He seemed to be reciting something. Some number of Hail Mary’s?
Driving back home to Vézelay we can see the town from the outside. Again you can see the bright line divide between the town proper and everything else. Back in the day this was critical. You had the outer wall, the ramparts, and everything inside was defensible. Outside the walls? Good luck. The invaders will gladly take your stuff and your life.
Where we had lunch. Good place. Popular.
At the end of town there’s a flat lookout with lots of shady trees. It’s nice. You get an idea of how quickly the town ends and the surrounding forest or pasture/crop land starts. So much green here.
In the old salt storage building (now an exhibition space). This was built in 1490, yikes. The exhibition going on is old postcards from the city. Someone did a lot of work to match up the current look of the building in the postcard to what it looks like now. For the most part not much has changed. It is fascinating.
The clock tower perhaps could have been better situated. It’s right in the middle of the road and cars have to drive through it.
Fortified we wander off to burn calories and explore. There’s certainly old buildings here and they’re well maintained.
In Avallon proper we have lunch somewhere a little more ‘cost effective’. Good food and the beers tend to follow the seasons. Now they’re having the Printemps (spring) Blanche (whit or wheat beer). Light and slightly fruity.
Onto the city of Avallon. We’re stayed here twice, at the same place, overlooking the Cousin River. It’s so cool and pleasant. The gurgling water sounds and the gentle breezes here are some of my favorite.
It seems every old village had a place to do laundry. They’re maintained for some reason. It’s good, we like to look at them and appreciate the shade. The little decals/stickers on the near right post are for walking trails. Each is IDed with a purpose and a color code of three bands. You know you’re following the Yellow-Green-Orange, reading from top to bottom. We saw at least a couple of people doing this hike.
The “big garden”. I don’t think we were allowed to walk through it, but we could look. It is big, so it doesn’t fit into the picture. The village of Saint-Père is in the background. Every such visit spawns thoughts of “could we live here??”
We couldn’t see much of the huge house that maintains the big garden, but this view gave us a hint that the theme up here is “watering cans”.
These were the flowers I wanted to walk back to for another look. The house on the other side of the stone wall was in immaculate condition. Such workmanship.
Off to see a big garden in Saint-Père. Along the way we see flowers and other things we want to look into more closely. This is the Église Notre-Dame de Saint-Père. This one has kind of a front porch which we’d not seen on other churches. A modern innovation?
Another very good hotel breakfast buffet, if pricy. 25 euros (US$29+) each, but lots of breads (some heathy, many sweet), cheeses and meats, fruits (both fresh and dried), yogurt, eggs and bacon or sausage. Since we are paying for it, I try to get my money’s worth. I don’t think this is a win-win for me.