Go Back in Time to Experience the Extravagance of Royalty in the Loire Valley

Hello again, Welcome back!

Paris is returning to its normal self! The streets are lively with people going about their normal business. The streets are also lacking the beggars and pickpockets and scammers. Police and soldiers are everywhere. At every shop/ mall entrance you are asked to open your bag for checking by security guards. There are fewer tourists; for the locals this is a nice change, but for the shop keepers not so!

This week we are leaving Paris, pack your bags, check out of your hotel make your way to your transport as we start our tour of France.

Mode of transport:

Your mode of transport depends on where you want to go and what you want to see. Most main towns and cities can be accessed by train and public transport, but the surrounding countryside is impossible to tour without a car. For all that France is small, it still takes a long time to drive around and having a car can be expensive and time-consuming. The French have excellent freeways, but most are toll roads that can be costly. If you drove via tollways the approximately 1000 km from Calais and to Marseille, non-stop; or the 900 km from Strasbourg to Nantes; they would both take you about 9.0 hours. The problem with the tollways is that they are characterless; you will fleetingly see a château or gorgeous village in the distance, but there may not be an exit to it. Don’t get me wrong, we often jump the freeways and get somewhere relatively quickly, if the destination is the goal.

My advice for travel in France is:

• Train between bigger cities
• Rent cars for outside the big cities;
• Secondly, allow plenty of time to drive around;
• Get a small car, the roads can be narrow, and the car parks are small!
• Avoid driving into central Paris; it can be a nightmare! Traffic jams on the ring-roads of Paris, parking spots are rare, narrow streets and the scooters and motorcyclists are very aggressive!

So…where to this week…the Loire Valley

180 kilometers south of Paris about from central Paris is the Loire Valley. It’s famous for the numerous Chateau’s in that region with the quaint little villages that are hard to see except by car. So… get up early and get yourself to Orléans, positioned on a bend of the Loire river, and most famous for Jeanne D’Arc whose statue can be seen in the Place du Martroi. The fastest and safest way is to catch a train to Orleans and then hire a car in Orléans.

I would not get a hotel in Orléans as there are many beautiful places more centrally located to the sites of this region.

Château I would recommend visiting, but don’t be limited by, are:

Blois

The small town of Blois is situated on the hill above the banks of the Loire River it is surrounded by farmland specializing in strawberries and asparagus. But the dominant building in the town is the Château. The Château de Blois, a Renaissance château once occupied by King Louis XII, is located in the center of the city, and an 18th-century stone bridge spans the Loire. The stone, spiral staircase allows the visitor to think of women in wide skirts climbing the shallow stairs in tiny jeweled slippers! The town of Blois is worth walking through its steep winding streets and medieval buildings.

Villandry

The reason for visiting Châteu De Villandry is for the gardens. The rooms and apartments are worth paying for only for the aerial view of the painstakingly re-created, geometric patterned, gardens. Built on three levels the upper terrace with water basins enables the watering system for the garden, a “Jardin Potager” (vegetable garden) and “Jardin d’Ornement” (ornamental love garden). The latter gardens of love depict the different shades of love in garden beds shaped as flames, butterflies, hearts and daggers.

The best time to visit these gardens is in the Spring! My first visit was disappointing due to the winter weather and, therefore, lack of any decorative plants in the garden. Other visits have been spectacularly better. Gardener’s will find inspiration seeing these gardens, a lot of work to try and achieve!

D’Azay-le-Rideau

The château of Azay-le-Rideau, built around 1527, on an island in the Indre River, its foundations are in the River. Described by Balzac as “a faceted diamond set in the Indre”, Azay-le-Rideau is a relatively small château with two main wings surrounded by the Indre River and a landscape garden. From the town, the entrance to the château is in the form of a triumphal arch, sculpted with the initials of Gilles Berthelot, the first owner, and his wife. The lower parts of the central staircase are decorated with the salamander and ermine emblems of King François I and his wife Claude de France.

The apartments are well worth visiting and show the wealth of a French Renaissance château and the influences of Italian architecture and style, but it is also a more domestic and authentic experience than many of the larger and more opulent château’s in the region

A beautiful château with a peaceful water setting gives a photographer the opportunity to capture the mirror image of the building in the reflections of the vast walls and turreted and gabled roof.

Chenonceau

The Château de Chenonceau spans the River Cher, near the small village of Chenonceaux. In 1535 the château was seized by King Francis I of France for unpaid debts to the Crown; and was given to Henry II’s mistress, Diane de Poitiers, who lived in this château commissioned the building of an arched bridge joining the château to its opposite bank. Diane also oversaw the planting of extensive flower and vegetable gardens along with a variety of fruit trees. Set along the banks of the river, but buttressed from flooding by stone terraces, the exquisite gardens are laid out in four triangles.

On the death of Henry II, his wife Catherine de’Medici, forced Diane de Poitiers out of Chenonceau. Catherine spent a fortune on the château and on spectacular night-time parties including a fireworks display during the celebrations marking the ascension to the throne of Catherine’s son Francis II.

The highlight of this chateau is the peaceful gardens with the sound of constant running water and the grand gallery that spans the length of the arches across the River Cher. It is very popular, because it is a more intimate château, the apartments above the gallery are worth seeing.

Manoir du Clos-Lucé

Home of Leonardo Da Vinci, until his death, Manoir du Clos-Lucé is a small but unusual; house set in lovely gardens on the outskirts of Amboise. Check out the troglodyte dwellings on the road to the Manor and near the entrance. Within the house are his rooms where his favorite painting “Mona Lisa” once hung and a museum dedicated to Leonardo’s technical drawings and experiments plus computer generated, scaled models of his inventions.

Also visible, but not open, is the underground passageway that lead from Leonardo’s house under the town of Amboise, 500 meters, to the royal château so that Leonardo and King Francis I could visit each other without going out on the street. The beautiful park surrounding the manor is filled with life-size inventions of Leonardo’s inventions.The manor house is a family favorite. Our son loves to spends hours exploring the museum and all the life-size replicas of Da Vinci’s inventions!

Not to be missed whether you are 14 years old or an adult, I cannot recommend it more highly.

Towns I would recommend visiting, are:

Amboise

This lovely market town was the home of kings and queens and Leonardo Da Vinci. Ambroise lies on the banks of the Loire River, 17 miles (27 km) east of Tours. The streets meander between old houses including troglodyte homes set into the limestone hills. Dominated by the Chateau D’Amboise where it was once home of the French royal court and houses the magnificent 15th century Chapelle St-Hubert.

The Château at Amboise was home to Mary Stewart, Queen of Scots, for much of her early life, being raised there at the French court of Henry II. The terraces were once the playground of Francis I and his friend Leonardo Da Vinci who created firework spectaculars.

South of the town is the Mini-Château Park where scale models of all the Loire château’s can be seen!

Saumur

Renowned for its sparkling wine, Saumur spans the river with the château perched across from the main part of the town. The Château houses a museum devoted to horse-riding, and the town is famous for its national riding school.

From Saumur south to Montsoreau the banks of the Loire has the highest concentrations of troglodyte dwellings in Europe. These cave houses are incredible with people still living in them. In the Saumur region of France, there are over a thousand miles of underground tunnels and thousands of caves, known as “troglodytes,” homes, hotels, restaurants, museums, wineries, farms (silkworms, mushrooms, snails) and even a disco and a zoo (for nocturnal animals like bats).

Close to Saumur is one of the most complete examples of underground or cave living is the Troglodyte village of Rochemenier, which is in the commune of Louresse-Rochemenier 6 km NW of Doue-la-Fontaine, just of the D761.

Check out this video on living in a troglodyte house — Cave home in the Loire is charming bioclimatic troglodyte house

Places to visit if I you have time…

Chambord: This enormous, cavernous château is situated in forests and has little furniture. In winter, the massive fireplaces have tree trunks burning to try to give the impression of warmth! The highlight of the château are the ingenious staircases said to have been designed by Leonardo Da Vinci, who was invited to live in Amboise whilst the château was built.

As a result the building has many Italian features.with the double helix staircase as the centerpiece of the château. The two helices ascend the three floors without ever meeting, illuminated from above by an early version of a sky light at the highest point of the château. If two people ascend the stairs at the same speed they will never see each other!

The other interesting things about the château are the roof terraces amongst the turreted and spired gables and the fact that the Loire was diverted to create the partial moat.

One of the traditions of this region apart from the wines is Tarte Tatin, or apple tart. check out the link for a recipe!

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If you are planning a holiday to Paris/France and don’t know where to start; we can help you plan your trip with a tailored itinerary just for you. WE can organize your entry tickets and travel passes, whilst helping you avoid a lot of the stress associated with getting around.

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