Eight kilometres east of Alésia, on the D954, stands the handsome Château de Bussy-Rabutin (guided tours daily except Tues: mid-May to mid-Sept 9am–noon & 2–6pm; mid-Sept to mid-May 9am–noon & 2–5pm; €5.50), built for Roger de Rabutin, member of the Academy in the reign of Louis XIV and a notorious womanizer. The scurrilous tales of life at the royal court told in his book Histories Amoureuses des Gaules earned him a spell in the Bastille, followed by years of exile in this Château, which contains some interesting portraits of great characters of the time, including the famous female beauties of the age, each underlined by an acerbic little comment such as: "The most beautiful woman of her day, less renowned for her beauty than the uses she put it to".
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