About 90 minutes from Paris, Auxerre is easy to reach on any French vacation and offers quite a bit of sightseeing for the interested traveler. It's also a great home base for visiting some of the surrounding vineyards.
While it doesn't have as many sights to visit as some other French cities, Auxerre retains a few remnants of its flourished past as the seat of the Auxerre bishops, including the Gothic Saint-Etienne cathedral and the ninth-century Saint-Germain Abbey. Don't miss the 13th-century clock tower in the old city. Nearby, you can also visit an exhibit that contains the entire original mechanisms of the clock.
Today, Auxerre is, above all, a commercial capital, but it's also a center for food and wine production. Some specialties of Auxerre and the surrounding area include the gougere, a cheese puff renowned throughout France, and wines including Chablis and Cote d'Auxerre Burgundy. You will also find other Burgundian delicacies such as truffles in Auxerre.
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