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Halfway between Besancon and Dijon on the edge of the flat and fertile valley of the Saone, DOLE is a quiet and provincial town. The medieval capital of the Comte region until Louis XI ordered its destruction in 1479, it's a place to stay overnight, or rest, and attractive enough in a subdued way. Grey-stone houses with barred ground-floor windows stand on narrow streets around the vast, stolid collegiate of Notre-Dame , with its lofty belfry (July & Aug guided visits roughly three times a week; check with the tourist office for the days and times; 25F/3.81) - it is well worth climbing for the view. Inside the church, there are beautiful windows and a wonderful Rococo organ. The Rhone-Rhine canal washes the feet of the town, and along its bank below the church runs the narrow rue Pasteur, birthplace of the French biologist and chemist Louis Pasteur , who discovered the rabies virus (and its cure), and whose name is commemorated in the process of "pasteurization", another of his discoveries. He was the son of a tanner, and his house, like those of his father's workmates, backs onto a pretty waterside walkway leading to an island. The newly renovated house is now a museum (April-June, Sept & Oct Mon-Sat 10am-noon & 2-6pm, Sun 2-6pm; July & Aug Mon-Sat 10am-6pm, Sun 2-6pm; Nov-March Sat 10am-noon & 2-5pm, Sun 2-5pm; 20F/3.05). The gare routiere is next to the train station , a ten-minute walk northeast of the Collegiate Notre-Dame down avenue A. Briand. Whatever happens in Dole happens between the Grande-Rue - leading up from the bridge - and place Grevy, with the tourist office on one side of the square at no. 6 (June Mon-Fri 9am-6pm, Sat 9am-noon & 2-6pm; July & Aug Mon-Fri 8.30am-6.30pm, Sat 9am-noon & 2-6pm; Sept-May Mon 2-6pm, Tues-Fri 9am-noon & 2-6pm, Sat 9am-noon; tel 03.84.72.11.22, fax 03.84.82.49.27), and cafes on the other. At the top of Grande-Rue is the delightful place aux Fleurs, with its fountain and amusing bronze sculpture of Les Trois Commeres (The Three Gossips). There are some reasonable hotels in Dole, including Le Grand Cerf , 6 rue Arney, near place Grevy (tel 03.84.72.11.68; under 160F/24; closed Sat evening & Sun); and La Chaumiere , across the river on avenue Marechal-Juin (tel 03.84.70.72.40, fax 03.84.79.25.60; 220-300F/34-46). But the cheapest rooms, as usual, are at the HI hostel , St-Jean , place Jean XXIII (tel 03.84.82.36.74, fax 03.84.79.17.69); take bus #1, direction "Mesnils-Poiset", stop "Les Paters". The local campsite , Camping du Pasquier , is down by the river (tel 03.84.72.02.61; mid-March to mid-Oct). For food , there are various pizzerias and creperies - such as the canalside La Demi-Lune , 39 rue Pasteur (closed Mon out of season) - and Le Bec Fin , 67 rue Pasteur (tel 03.84.82.43.43), for the gourmands (menus from 105F/16.01).
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