Road trip to Chateau Fontenay, Chateau Chalon, and Baume-les-Messieurs

We headed out on a road trip with the kids today to visit some cool places in their region, basically a 1 hour radius. We headed out with an itinerary in the GPS but about 20 min in we saw this poking put of the trees on the hillside.

 So of course we had to go investigate what turned out to be the ruins of Chateau de Présilly.

 It was so cool and there were some conservation groups working to help preserve and rebuild walls using chisels to chip away at rocks like they were built back in 1434.

 Found this strange ruin, anyone guess what it is? It is an actual flushing squatty potty. It was quite the experience!

 Next we were on our way to our first destination at Chateau de Frontenay which was given to the equerry (officer/horseman) to the royal Lords of Chalon-Arlay in 1446 and it is still inhabited by his heirs today.

 Such beautiful grounds. It looked like they were setting up tables and chairs for a wedding with and amazing view.

Next we head to Chateau Chalon which is a town that sits on top of this plateau in the mountain. It is really cool place because it is where Gaëlle's Grandfather and Great-Grandfather were raised.

 Such amazing views from the top! It is a super quaint city.

 The inside of this church is very beautiful but the highlight is actually the metal gate barriers inside which were built and installed by her grandfather. He was very proud of his contribution.

 This is the school that her Grandfather attended which is next to the church. This became a school in the 1880s.

 This is the cutest little chapel we have ever seen.

 This was her grandfather's house down a quaint little street. It was neat to have some connection to this town to feel what it might have been like to be raised in a town like this.

 Next we head to a city caled Baume-les-Messieurs. We found this overlook that shows the city between these fortress type granite walls and straight down is a waterfall and caves which are our ultimate destination today.

 Here is looking into the fortress of granite walls from the opposite direction.

 The waterfalls in pictures are quite an impressive site but this time of year it is just a few trickles coming down.

 But was still super fun to discover little grottos in the rocks we can access since the water is low.

 Next we head into a tour of the caves which are essentially bat caves. The caves were very first discovered in 1610 but explored further in 1800s. They opened to the public around 1900.

 We didn't see any bats this time but had fun exploring and the nice cold cave was abreak from the summer heat and worth the price of admission alone.

 The church in Baume-les-Messieurs! So beautiful!

It was another great day exploring the region with great company. We got home just in time for a wonderful dinner of duck with potatoes from the garden, salad, bread, cheese, macarons and caramel pot de Creme. Oh la la!