The highlight for today is Oingt, considered one of the most Beautiful Villages of France and our next goal after Fossilea. We use side roads to get there, one lane roads almost driving through some beautiful countryside and through some small villages. We especially like Bagnols with its cute pigeon housing at the outskirts, it might have been worth a stop if we would have additional time.
Arriving in Oingt we find out that the only major restaurant stops serving lunch in about 5 minutes so we sit down first to eat lunch. We get one menu which is quite good including some great ice cream.
The other two meals we order are quite good too, a refreshing burrata and a more traditional burger for our relative.
Refreshed and full it is time to explore Oingt with the entrance gate being right next to the restaurant. Besides us everyone else from the restaurant headed into town so we expect it to be quite busy as we enter the gate.
But as we enter the city it is quite deserted. We explore a few side streets and they also have very few other tourists but they are really quite beautiful, we can see why the this is considered one of the most beautiful villages in France.
As we go higher up there are more and more tourists but still not the masses of people we were expecting. There are no other major restaurants, only a few creperies but they are quite popular with the tourists that didn’t make it to the restaurant in time.
Soon we reach the top of Oingt which as expected has the main village church, the Saint Matthias Church. Before entering it we find a geocache and also enjoy the great views all around of the Beaujolais area.
The church entrance is on the other side of the viewpoint plateau and up some stairs but inside it is quite cozy with some nice stained glass windows and welcome cooler temperatures.
Next we walk to the nearby Tower of Oingt that can be climbed but we decline as it is both relatively costly and quite visibly full of very loud tourists.
However right next to the tower is another free attraction, the Museum of Mechanical Music. It is a surprisingly interesting even though small museum.
It even has a live show with a volunteer demo-ing how a music box works, quite fun and interesting to watch even though a bit too popular.
Now it is time to return via side streets enjoying the beautiful houses and interesting windows. There are nooks and places here that can keep a photographer busy for days for certain.
And on we go through the side streets and narrow alleys finding stray cats and impressive fortified houses. The village is certainly worth the visit and is one of the highlights of our visit, we are surprised that so few people are visiting it really compared to Eze for example.
And then after a few more houses we find the gate and it is time to return to the car. We are not going far now as the next target is close by, another medieval village, Ternand.
