Dijon Audioguides

Dijon was the capital of the Duchy of Burgundy at the height of its power in the 14th and 15th centuries, when the Valois dukes controlled territory stretching from the North Sea to Switzerland and accumulated the wealth to build one of the finest Gothic palaces in France. The Palais des Ducs, now containing the Musee des Beaux-Arts and the city hall, anchors the Place de la Libération, a semicircular square designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, who also designed Versailles. The owls carved into the outer wall of the Notre-Dame church have been rubbed smooth by centuries of people touching them for good luck.

The medieval core around the Rue de la Chouette and the covered market Les Halles, designed by Gustave Eiffel in 1875, is dense with Gothic and Renaissance buildings that house mustard shops, wine merchants, and restaurants serving oeufs en meurette and boeuf bourguignon in the way they have been made here for 200 years.

Grey Poupon was founded in Dijon in 1777; the original shop still operates on the Rue de la Liberté. The mustard from this region carries a protected designation of origin, though most of the mustard seed now comes from Canada.