Day 23 – Cruising in the sunshine

We woke up this morning to sunny, blue skies. The gray clouds we’ve seen all week were replaced by fluffy white ones. That meant one thing – Roadtrip!

Our destination was the Abbaye de Pontigny. It was just a twenty minute ride to get there, though it took us longer due to our stopping to take pictures along the way. From where we are in Chablis, the route took us along and around the Grand Cru hill and through many of the Premier Cru Climats. It was very fun in a ‘we’re wine nerds’ kind of way.

The landscape was beautiful and the sun was shining as we made our way to Pontigny. Besides the vineyards, there are only a couple of small towns that we passed through.

It wasn’t long before we made a final turn and the Abbaye came into view.

From a logistics standpoint, you drive around some farmland, then pass alongside a sunflower patch before turning in through a narrow iron gate. From there, you could drop off passengers and then head down an inner street through the large stone gate. When you get to the main road, you make a quick right turn and there is a large free parking lot. It’s then a two minute walk back to the front gate.

Now that we’re on the grounds, it’s just a short walk to the reception center. It’s a pretty walk, mostly paved with some cobblestones near the center gate. Before getting there, it would probably help to have an idea of what type of tours they offer. You can take a guided tour at certain times; otherwise, you take an unguided tour. You can just freestyle it and wander or they do have a great self-guided audio tour – that’s what we selected (you can choose French or English language).

It takes about an hour and the audio is really great. While walking you through, they present it from the standpoint of multiple people who would have been there throughout the ages. The sounds, music and narration are all excellent.

In 2014, the Abbaye celebrated its 900th birthday. That’s not a typo – 900 years. It was founded in 1114 by a group of Cistercian Monks who were given the task of starting a new monastery. The monastery became a devotional location due to its reputation for quiet solitude.

It has been destroyed and rebuilt to its current appearance many times throughout its history. What started as a simple spiritual retreat grew and transformed over the ages. However, all those changes have not taken away the simple spiritual feeling that the monks originally imparted on the building.

The scars of revolution and wars, faith enhancements and mere masonry work can be seen and felt as you walk about.

In pictures, I’ll walk you through the Abbaye. Your job is to look and use your mind to add in the sounds of shuffling sandals, boots walking across the stone floor, monks at prayer and singing in their chanting tones. Don’t forget the sun streaming in through the windows or the dim nighttime candle glow. And lastly, remember that the monks went there to contemplate life and look for fulfillment.

Follow me:

An interesting note: The rules of the Abbaye were that no women were allowed in. Queen Adèle of Champagne, with her entourage, as a beloved patron of the Abbaye petitioned to be allowed to visit in 1204. She felt rare peace and sanctuary at the Abbeye. When she died in 1206, she was entombed in the Abbaye. How could they turn down the Queen of France’s final wishes?

And that is our look at the Abbaye de Pontigny.

It was a very pleasant way to spend a part of the afternoon. It wasn’t very crowded, so we were never jostled or bothered by others – allowing us to capture the quiet reverence and spirituality of this beautiful building.

We returned to the reception center to drop off our audio equipment and then stopped at the cafe to have a quick bite for lunch. Everything on the menu looked good and we both chose a sandwich and salad combo plate. The sandwiches are made using a puff pastry and were both delicious.

We walked back to the car park and noticed a glass recycling container. It just so happened that we were planning to stop when we got back to Chablis, so we opened the trunk and ditched our bottles. That saved a few minutes back in town.

The ride home was just as nice as the ride to the Abbaye. With the sun shining and not much traffic, we were able to scoot right home without any problems.

All the walking on stone floors and cobblestones had both of us grousing about having sore legs, so relaxing and putting our legs up was a top priority. It sure did feel good!

I had a bit of a tummy ache in the evening, so we opted not to go out to dinner and instead just munched on some of the bread and crackers that we had at the house. After all the rich meals we’ve had, I guess a simple salad and sandwich had my system in a quandary.

We enjoyed the evening just listening to some tunes and talking about next year’s vacation plans. We have a couple of different ideas that will once again leave people wondering “Why?”