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Overview:
Chalon sur Saone, France, The OLD
CITY Born from the meeting of the waterway and the
terrestrial roads, the Trawl-net-on-Saone, old episcopal city of
ancient origin, preserves a preserved center today, profiting
from a national recognition like safeguarded sector.
Chalon, a sizeable port and bustling industrial centre
on a broad meander of the Saône, is generally uninteresting,
though its old riverside quarter does have an easy charm, and it
makes a good base for exploring the more expensive areas of the
Côte d'Or. It's a thriving business centre, and trade fairs
frequently take over the town, but more festive occasions are
also an important part of its appeal and good reasons to stop if
you're around at the right time. The pre-Lent carnival (February
or March) features a parade of giant masks and a confetti
battle, and there's a national festival of street artists and
theatre in July.
The old town is just back from the river around
Grande-Rue and rue du Châtelet. At the junction of these two
streets stands a fifteenth-century timber-framed house, and
around the quarter you'll find a number of half-timbered jettied
facades. Nearby, 200m to the west on place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville,
is the Musée Denon (daily except Tues & hols
9.30am–noon & 2–5.30pm; €3.10, free on Wed & first
Sun of the month), whose most vaunted exhibit is the
18,000-year-old Volgu flint, rated one of the finest stone tools
yet discovered. Apart from the usual collection of bits and
pieces excavated nearby, look out for the local furniture and a
painting by Vuillard.
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