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Dijon

— Capital of Burgundy and seat of the illustrious Ducs de Bourgogne, Dijon is packed with history and culture.”

Tour de Bar, Palais Ducal, Dijon

We reacquainted ourselves with the half-forgotten world of service stations, with their acrid coffee and grubby, echoey toilets.

We’d thought ourselves wise to set out early in the cool haze that follows soon after dawn, with several weeks in hand over the annual summer exodus. In reality, it was a strategy in common with many others and the advantage seemed minimal by the time we slid into Lorraine.

Traffic was ugly around Metz, where drivers yawned, smoked and made early phone calls, doing anything but concentrating on the road. Things were calmer after the fork for Strasbourg and we took a break someplace with friendly staff and murderous pastries.

By mid-morning, we had reached the fringes of Dijon, capital of Burgundy and keyholder to vast estates of national history.

In common with other old French cities, the characterful central quarters of Dijon are walled in by brutalist banlieues and ill-conceived business areas.

Equally however, the fine reward for the visitor’s perseverance is a carefully maintained and proudly publicised historical core.

The Ducal palace complex, the churches and the Musée des Beaux-Arts are all splendid, making it entirely possible to forgive the touristic cliché of mustard.