Beaune (pronounced "Bone")

To lift another passage from my new favorite New York Times travel article, this really describes today's destination:

But something happened to me. Even now, I’m not exactly sure what. I have a friend who once told me about the first time he ever took a ferry to an island off the coast of North Carolina, and how he knew, right there on the ferry — with the salt spray and the light off the ocean — that he’d come back to this same spot every year. He’d come to relive that feeling of leaving his old self behind. That annual renewal, the reacquaintance with the person he felt himself to be on that island, was something he wanted to organize his life around. Similarly, Guzmán instantly and improbably became my place. It made no sense, practically speaking. Even if I didn’t live 3,000 miles away, or if I spoke Spanish, or didn’t have a baby at home, it wouldn’t have made sense. And that was part of its tug too. I was certain this town had secrets to tell — and that maybe my best self was there to be found.

Reading that pulls my thoughts immediately to that last turn I take when leaving the outskirts of Beaune right as I round the bend and the vinyards reveal themselves, when I realize I am in a completely different world.

This weekend I took Peter to my "Guzmán," or as Peter described it, my "Disneyland for adults," full of medieval villages, wide azure skies and emerald vinyards into which are carved narrow trails for biking, and some of the world's best wine accompanied by the connoisseurs who'll be more than happy to teach you. It's now the fourth time I've been in the nearly two and a half years since I discovered it while in search of a middle-point between Paris and Lyon.

After this many visits, I hardly need to explain its allure. The only tip I'd offer is to be sure to visit on a Saturday when the farmers' market in Beaune's medieval town center is bursting with colors and smells and all you might need for a picnic out in the vinyards. If you need more explanation of why I visit Beaune, I think the photos can do the work.