Here's a "what's that thing".
The Domstein is the broken remains of one of four enormous granite columns that supported the 4th-century cathedral in Trier. Found beneath the cathedral in 1614, the fragments were placed outside. Legend says the Devil threw it at the cathedral in anger.
We'll be writing about the cathedral at some stage.
One of the highlights of our recent trip was a visit to the Fosse Dionne in Tonnerre, Burgundy. I'd heard about this place but we had never previously visited. It wasn't on our itinerary, but when I realised how close we were going to be I requested a diversion. Luckily we also happened to have plenty of time.
The Fosse Dionne is a karstic spring which emerges right in the middle of the small town of Tonnerre, in the departement (county) of Yonne. It is fed by rain falling on the nearby Jurassic limestone plateau, and is connected to an underground river. The spring is remarkable for the quantity of water flowing through it (an average of 300 litres per second) and the extent of hydrological network, which reaches a distance of at least 40 kilometres.
The presence of this spring is the reason the town was established here. In the 18th century a public laundry (lavoir) was created around it.
The name is a corruption of the Old French phrase for 'divine spring'. It is thought likely that the name of the divinity associated with the spring in Celtic times was a goddess called Divona, who is associated with the watery underworld.
During floods the flow of water can be ten times the average, but in summer it can reduce to about a third.
In 1758 Louis d'Eon had the lavoir constructed around the spring. There is a 14 metre diameter pool surrounded by a semi-circular roof to protect the laundry women. A low wall separates the spring itself from the trough used for laundry, in order to prevent pollution. Nearby households were engaged to supply the ash needed in the laundering process.
The spring consists of a vast cistern with an opening onto a drowned gallery, which you can see from the surface. There have been a number of exploratory dives conducted in the 20th century, but access is now rarely granted because of how dangerous the site is, with very narrow passages. Two divers have died and the extent of the exploration is 400 metres. The most recent dive was in 2019, when a new guide line was laid down. The diver reached nearly 80 metres in depth and just a bit further than any previous exploration.
I present to you a bottle of Krombacher Alkoholfrei 0.0% Pils, labeled "isotonisch." I bought a six-pack whilst we were in Germany last month, and was intrigued that it labelled itself "isotonic" as I've only ever seen that on exercise drinks. I'd had an alcohol free pils in a restaurant the evening before and it tasted just like beer, so of course curiosity meant I had to buy it.
Isotonic means the drink has a similar concentration of dissolved particles (electrolytes and carbohydrates) as human blood plasma, so it more or less matches the body's fluid concentration. What this means is that because the fluid's osmotic pressure matches your blood, it passes through your stomach into your bloodstream quickly.
This appears to be a fairly common category in Germany, but I've never seen it anywhere else. Alcohol-free beers marketed this way typically contain added or naturally-occurring sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium. All of these are minerals you lose through sweat during exercise. Apparently, alcohol-free "isotonic" pils is marketed almost like a sports drink alternative, often sold in gyms or after races, rather than purely as a beer substitute. This started in the 1990's, which means they've had plenty of time to get it tasting like beer, unlike some of the more recent efforts to come to market.
Krombacher wasn't the only alcohol free isotonic beer I drank as most restaurants and bierkellers also stock it. This is another bottle I remembered to photograph, although my original photo wasn't properly in focus and I AI corrected it.
Motorist's beer. Now there's a concept
The Devil's Bolete Rubroboletus satanas (Fr. Bolet Satan) is a mushroom species related to that delicious and well known delicacy the cep (or as you might know it by its Italian name, porcini). Toxic and rather rare, the scary name is well known to foragers, but they can't necessarily correctly identify it when they find it. It is quite distinctive looking though, with a white cap, bulbous red stem, red spongey pores and if you cut it a sky blue stain emerges. Nothing else has that combination of characteristics, but it is true that there are a dozen or so species that do look superficially like the Devil's Bolete.
I spotted one in the Forest of Preuilly the other day and thought I'd snaffle it to take photos for my archive and for the blog and social media. It was not far off the track, partially hidden by fallen leaves. To be honest, it looked like a piece of limestone rock. But there was something about it which made me go over and take a look. As soon as I saw the red stem I knew what it was. The local fungi foraging group on Facebook is showing that a couple of other people have found them in the last few days too, in the Forest of Loches.
It's one of the relatively few toxic boletes or ceps, so that combined with its striking appearance and rarity has turned it into rather a legendary species. In some areas of France it has been Red Listed as Near Threatened.
There are several red pored boletes, and studies show that although they belong to the Boletaceae family, they are not all that closely related to 'true' ceps. Those red pores and the blue staining when cut are what distinguish the relatively new designation of the genus Rubroboletus.
As well as being well known for its toxicity, the Devil's Bolete is also the largest recorded bolete in France, and can grow a cap up to 30 cm in diameter. The one I found was a modest tennis ball sized specimen, much more typical in my experience. With age the cap tends to flatten out, and go greyish. If there is any sign of pink on the cap it almost certainly means it is another closely related species and not a Devil's Bolete.
Underneath the cap there are yellowish tubes (only visible if you cut the mushroom), ending in fine red pores so that it is like a sponge. The stem (called a stipe) resembles a large radish in both shape and colour. When you cut the mushroom you can see that the flesh is whitish, and slowly turns sky blue on exposure to the air. Take a good sniff and the mushroom smells unpleasantly of slightly off meat.
The Devil's Bolete likes warm calcareous habitat where it grows under beech, oak and hornbeam. It appears at the end of summer or the beginning of autumn in response to hot stormy weather.
Despite its name the Devil's Bolete isn't really dangerous to a healthy adult. Consuming it will cause nausea, repeated vomiting, and diarrhoea, sometimes with traces of blood. Poisonings are very rare though because the appearance and smell of the mushroom does not encourage one to eat it.
Although the name Devil's Bolete is well known amongst foragers it is not always applied to the correct species. There is a tendency to call any red pored bolete that turns blue when cut a Devil's Bolete.
One of the common lookalike species that is often passed over 'just in case' is the Scarletina Bolete Neoboletus luridiformus. See this blog post for a photo https://daysontheclaise.blogspot.com/2023/10/fungi-foray-at-carrefour-de-linspecteur.html
The star attraction of the museum at Chatillon sur Seine, in Burgundy, where we had such a great time recently, is the collection of archaeological finds from a hilltop at the nearby hamlet of Vix. Around 465 BCE a woman was buried on the site, laid out on a four wheeled open wagon and surrounded by unimaginable treasures made of metal. Her gold torc was stolen exactly a month before we got there, but the most outstanding piece, a huge bronze krater used for mixing wine and water, is totally worth the visit.
The Vix Krater.
The hilltop settlement at Vix is strategically positioned to overlook the valley of the upper Seine. It was a staging post for shipments of tin coming from Britain and being sent to Italy and the community here could control a wide territory. The Celtic culture in the 5th and 6th centuries BCE at Vix appears to have been matriarchal, and in possession of immense wealth from the collection of taxes related to the tin trade passing through their territory.
Detail of the Vix krater.
A local farmer and keen amateur archaeologist noticed a slight anomaly on the lower slopes of the hillside at Vix in 1953. He told another local self taught archaeologist and the latter began excavations. Although he recorded each object found he did not always record in what position those artefacts were discovered.
Detail of the Vix krater.
The tomb was dug into the earth, creating a chamber of 4 x 4 metres. It had been covered with a 6 metre high, 40 metre diameter tumulus, but this had more or less disappeared by the time of the dig. A skeleton of an approximately 30 year old woman was found laid out on a four wheeled parade wagon with bronze fittings. Numerous jewels, bracelets, torcs, and bronze fibulae brooches were associated with the deceased. As a consequence the finds became known as the Treasure of Vix.
Reconstructed wheel of the vehicle the Lady was laid out on, with the original bronze elements in place.
The French State Archaeology Agency (INRAP) conducted a dig in 2019 designed to contextualise the previous amateur dig of nearly 70 years ago. The head of INRAP likened the situation to being a bit like if you opened a book and kept the pictures but no longer have the text which went with them. This new dig has recovered missing fragments of the krater which completes the frieze of warriors.
The bronze elements of the parade wagon the Lady of Vix was laid out on.
The krater is the largest metal vessel from classical antiquity in the world. It was made in Greek workshops based in the south of Italy around 535 BCE, and probably shipped to France in seven main pieces to be put together once it arrived in Burgundy. Its dimensions are exceptional -- 1.64 metres high (that's the same height as me!), weighing 208 kilograms and having a capacity of 1100 litres. The decoration features gorgons as volute handles, a lid, and a frieze of horses, chariots and hoplites (soldiers) around the neck. It is masterpiece of antique bronze working.
View of the upper Seine valley from the archaeological site on the hill at Vix.
This was absolutely the highlight of our recent trip and it was on the first day of travel!!
