Last sightseeing stop of the day is Chambery the historical capital of Savoy where we spend an hour exploring before making our way to Beaune for the night. Chambery was the capital of Savoy between 1295 and 1563 when due to the threats from France it was moved to Turin. It remained part of Savoyard territory till 1860 when it was ceded to France. We start in the downtown area visiting the Castle of the Dukes of Savoy and the Museum of Arts from the outside, both are closed when we arrive.
However the major attraction is not closed as fortunately it cannot be closed, it is the public Fountain of the Elephants. It was built in 1838 to honor the feets of a Savoyard explorer in India and the elephants are really quite lifelike. We also pass by the City Hall while trying to avoid the coming rain.
We then continue exploring the downtown area but everything is closed, it is quite dark already and it seems it will rain any minute so we decide to move on towards Beaune our stop for the night.
Luckily Beaune is a bit more open than the previous cities we stayed in at night and we find a restaurant open for dinner. More importantly we find a dish we were looking for since we started our tour, snails, a French specialty. We have to order them while our relatives settle for something more reasonable like steak. Their loss as the snails are quite good and filled we are ready to go to bed, tomorrow it is the last day before returning the car.
