Tuesday 17th May
Paris to Vézelay, and Dijon – a visit to The
Saint Magdalen Basilica
After spending a few more
cruisy days in and around Paris taking in the sights we set off for
Switzerland.
David highly recommended that
we go through Burgundy (his fav region in France) and visit the historic sights
of Vézelay, “a noble place of Christianity” since the
Middle Ages. In
1146, Saint Bernard preached the Second crusade at Vézelay and Philip Augustus and Richard the Lion Heart met here before
embarking on the third crusade in 1190.
The village is much visited, as the most important
feature in Vézelay is the Saint Magdalene Basilica, a Romanesque church,
which is classified as a World Heritage by Unesco.
Originally it was a simple Benedictine monastery
then was built and rebuilt from 1120 to 1165. Because of the relics of the
saint, Vézelay's abbey became a major shrine in the middle ages due to the cult
of Saint Magdalene relics and has been a meeting point for the pilgrimage to
Santiago de Compostella in Spain.
The pilgrims walked on one of four
routes from France to Spain and the church, with its Mary Magdalene relics, was
an attraction. On the road to the church
we saw the scallop shell in the road, used to show pilgrims the route through
the village to the church. The story is
that once the pilgrims reach the coast of Spain they bring back a scallop
shell.
The
Abbey’s architectural plan is simple - designed
like a Latin cross. Over the last few
centuries the location of the Mary Magdalene relics was disputed, so the route
was not as popular and in 1796 the Abbey was sold as a national monument. In 1840 it nearly collapsed from neglect and
then was restored.
Well
enough of the “tours d’histoire”….we set off past the famous wine growing areas
resisting the need for a roadie and reached the campsite near the river at
Dijon at 6pm. How clean and cheap is it
here! €10 ($15) for the tent space for the night. The shop also sells wine, baguettes and
breakfast if needed. How relaxing after
a long day…we enjoyed the wine, the free wifi and, after updating the blog, we retired
to our tent surrounded by other grey nomads…
