A quick note as I’m looking through my photos six years after visiting Dijon. The city itself was…fine. To be fair, we were only there for one night and it was a Sunday so most shops and restaurants were closed. We had also just come from the beautiful and quaint Beaune, which we loved. That being said, revisiting these photos, Dijon has excellent art and architecture and we were lucky enough to see some of it while we were there.
When we knew we were heading to the Burgundy region, Kevin made an adamant request to stop in Dijon for a night, so he could get his mustard fix. With our schedule being what it was, we decided to stay on the Sunday night before we went to Paris. We arrived at our Airbnb around 2:00 and left to explore the city. Unfortunately, we failed to anticipate that everything would be closed on Sunday. We did find one mustard shop open but no tastings anywhere. Luckily, Kevin got to experience all of that back in Beaune. We were also fortunate that most of the museums were open (and free!). We visited the Musee des Beaux Arts, an art museum housed in the former Duke of Burgundy’s residence. As you can see from the photos, there is a lot of creepy, and even gruesome, art in Dijon. We also stumbled into the Francois Rude museum, where we saw the biggest statue either of us had even seen, and the Notre Dame church.
After a walk around the old part of the city (buildings dating back to the 15th and 16th centuries), and a quick espresso in the city center, we wanted to grab an early dinner and call it a night. This isn’t so easy in France. Of the very few restaurants that were open, none served dinner before 7:30, and with no grocery stores open, we had no option but to wait. After a quick dinner, we walked back to the apartment and got a good night sleep.
Recommendations:
- Musee des Beaux Arts. 1 Rue Rameau, 21000 Dijon, France.
- Francois Rude Museum. 8 Rue Vaillant, 21000 Dijon, France.
