Another good night’s sleep, lightly medicated.
I had somehow managed to make friends with the breakfast waiter, who gave us a very good table and really tried hard with the coffees which were a big improvement on yesterday.
(I’m writing this lying on the bed in our hotel room in Besançon, it’s hot and there’s no air conditioning so the French doors are wide open. Through them I can hear a brass band playing “These boots are made for walking”. I think it’s coming from across the valley but the acoustics are very good. It’s half past six in the evening.)
After breakfast we set off for Besançon, a couple of hours drive away on another toll road. These are privately built and run and have a 130 kph speed limit. The drive was mostly through forest as far as we could see, with a number of wildlife bridges crossing over the route. We reached Besançon and then had to navigate through the tiny narrow streets of the old town to get to our hotel. Simon is really doing a terrific job with the driving and never panics or even gets flustered. Hats off to him because I couldn’t do it.
Our hotel is in a converted old building and is full of character. My French has been very useful, it’s been surprising how limited the locals’ English is.
After settling in we decided to take a trip on the local tourist train. Besançon old town is encircled by a river and has a citadel on top of the hill, similar to Edinburgh castle. Our hotel is near the top of the hill, so we had to walk down to get to the train stop. The temperature was allegedly in the mid twenties but because of all the roads and buildings it was actually far hotter on the ground. We were half an hour early for the next tour so thought we’d grab a drink. We found a bar/Tabac and got some drinks out of the fridge, but when we went to buy them, the lady said they were only for take away. If we wanted to buy a drink to have there, either inside or on the terrace, we had to buy different ones from behind the counter. As you can imagine, since the lady spoke no English, this was quite a difficult concept to get across to us. Eventually we worked it out and had our drinks where she brought them out to us on the terrace.
When we got back to the train, it looked full. Somehow a large number of people had arrived while we were having our drinks. The driver and conductor hummed and hahed but eventually let us on. The trip was 45 minutes long but useful as it took us up and down the hill. I wasn’t that impressed by the town but I think it was just because I was hot and grumpy. In fact it is very well preserved.
After the train trip we decided to take a boat tour on the encircling river. It was a lovely walk alongside the river to get to the embarkation point. For some reason the mid afternoon trip was cancelled so we had to wait another 45 minutes for the next one. Luckily there was a little cafe nearby where we could get a cold drink while we waited.
(This band is very talented. They’ve done Bowie, Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, amongst others, and now it’s Tom Jones “It’s not unusual”. The crowd is now calling for an encore and no wonder. No luck unfortunately.)
The captain of the ship had tried explaining to another lady who had been waiting patiently that there was a delay, but she didn’t understand (“I’m English!” She said, apologetically.) In the end I had to translate. It’s nice to be useful. The captain was a real character.
When it came time to board, we thought it might just be the three of us, but then a big group of Spanish speakers got on board. They must have pre booked. Shortly after we set off we reached a lock, which two of the Spanish speakers helped with. According to the captain, they were from Panama, but that could have been a joke.
We cruised around for a while and then turned inland towards the hill, which was a little baffling until we realised there was a tunnel heading right under the town to rejoin the river on the other side. There was another lock at the exit, although this one was automatic, opened for us by a weedy local wearing a life jacket and vaping furiously. The river on the other side was partially dammed so that the water levels could be regulated. It was really a marvel of engineering.
The boat trip was a really nice way to see another perspective of the town, and the captain’s commentary was fun and informative. It was still hot on the top of the ship but it was far more pleasant than on the tourist train, with a light wind that was very helpful.
We saw a number of a type of swimming rodent in the river, at first we thought it might be an otter or a rat, but it turns out to be a coypu, a relative of the Guinea pig, that were brought to France from South America for the fur trade, but then released into the wild when the bottom fell out of the pelt market. Apparently they are a pest and quite destructive.
As we got off the ship, the captain was talking to a number of the South Americans, and he told them, pointing to us “These people are from NZ! They play rugby and do the haka!” (in French) while miming a haka, as everybody clapped. It was strange to be a celebrity even briefly, but he’d been grateful for my translation abilities earlier on.
Back on land, we walked back through town to our hotel, for Simon to have a beer while doing his inbox, and me to write this while listening to the band playing outside. This has been a great holiday so far, every day has been very different.
….,
Dinner at the posh hotel restaurant, disappointing food and service but the bottle of local Chardonnay was nice.