Loire Valley Wrap-up

Overall, we're pretty happy with this trip - the Loire Valley is known for its huge number of chateaux (aka castles). We definitely had to visit a few, but we didn't want the entire time spent getting numb with castle-fatigue! We discovered that the area itself is beautiful! It's full of forests, farmland, and rivers. It has a thriving wine industry (we found a new favorite white). The weather is pleasant. And apparently the music festival (June 21 all over France) is *extremely* popular! Crowded even. (we had to give up on that plan...)

Getting home was an adventure... We drove it all in one go, mostly on autoroutes (aka freeways). Google maps decided to have a little fun with us 🙄. First, it wanted us to drive way out of our way, sticking with the freeway long past when we should have turned off (it did this to us once before, returning from the Millau viaduct, so I was prepared for that. Then, it wanted us to get on the freeway at Tours, then get off, cut through town, get back on... Well, I was able to force some directions that kept us on a nice freeway exchange, but I couldn't set it like that on the day. OK - I figured we drive the easy route, ignoring the directions, until it could catch up. But even then, it sent us in the opposite direction! Here's a perfectly good half-cloverleaf, but it says to turn off, then U-turn, then get back on going the right way. Unbelievable, the mess! Well, anyway - the drive was mostly pleasant and low key 🙂.

A fun item - one department (aka county) we drove through is bounded by the Loir river and the Cher river, giving it the name "Le Loir et Cher" (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loir-et-Cher). When you say this out loud, it sounds like "le loir est cher," meaning that the place is expensive! (If all you thought about were the chateaux, you could believe it!) 😜

One of our rest stops was at the overlook of the Eiffel Viaduct - yes, the same Eiffel of Tower fame also built bridges! You can definitely see the same hand here

This aire (aka rest stop) is one that can be accessed from either direction of the freeway - I'm glad we got to see it!

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Our total driving for the trip was 1800 km (1120 miles), quite a lot! 

We kept a pretty good gas efficiency, at 5.3 l/100km (44 mpg).

If I had paid just a *little* more attention to the speed limits, we probably would have had better gas mileage. And, I wouldn't have come home to a love note from the traffic guys - a 45€ speeding ticket from our very first day! 

See all the photos in the Loire Valley 2023 album.

Loire Valley - Tours

Tours is the name of the town we called home for our 11-day stay in the Loire Valley. It's a good size, at 136,000 inhabitants, and it has some interesting sites!

Here's the Hôtel de Ville (mayor's office, and also the préfecture)

And the train station isn't too bad either!

We didn't get around to everything, but we did see an awful lot!

We toured Old Town, starting with the clock tower, Charlemagne's Tower, and the Church of Saint Martin (at one time, these were all part of one building!) See the placard text for details.

Church of Saint Martin (the back)

Charlemagne's Tower 

Clock Tower 

Church of Saint Martin (the front)

Church of Saint Martin with Charlemagne's Tower 

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The Collegiate Church of Saint Martin

When Saint Martin, Bishop of Tours, died in 397, a small oratory was built over his grave, to be followed later by a more ambitious edifice referred to in early texts as the Basilica Sancti Martini. This first Saint Martin's Basilica became a collegiate church in 818, with a chapter of two hundred canons regular.

The edifice was entirely rebuilt in the early years of the 11th century and, in the second quarter of the 13th century, its eastern section was demolished in order to make way for a magnificent new chancel, twice the size of and considerably higher than its predecessor, with a double ambulatory (walkway) serving five radiating chapels. There can be no doubt about its stylistic filiation with the eastern end of Bourges Cathedral, which had been completed a few years earlier. Intercession by succeeding monarchs and prominent Tours families led to further modifications being made, including the addition of chapels on the north and south sides, heightening of the transept towers, and construction of a rood screen. At the end of the 18th century, lack of upkeep had caused the edifice to fall into such a state of disrepair that the authorities decided to pull it down to clear the way for further city development, so leading to the building of Rue des Halles and Rue Descartes.

Today, the Clock Tower (to the east) and Charlemagne Tower still stand to give us some idea of just how big Saint Martin's collegiate church was, one of the largest religious edifices in all Christendom. The light-coloured paving stones along Rue des Halles mark the location of the columns that once lined the nave and chancel.

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More of Old Town, where we stopped for lunch 🙂😋😋😋

Crooked!!

We drove over to the cathedral next...

And now? Home!!!

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See all the photos in the Loire Valley 2023 album.

Loire Valley - Château de Chambord

Today we went to the second of the two castles that we had earmarked for thorough visits - the Château de Chambord! It was a very nice drive East from Tours for about an hour and a half.

Château de Chambord is the largest château in the Loire Valley; it was built to serve as a hunting lodge for Francis I . François the First is known (per my French civics class) for making French the administrative language (previously Latin).

My main draw was the double spiral staircase! Here's the description from a placard at the castle:

«One of the most curious and remarkable things in the building is the staircase, made in such a way that one person may go up and another down without them ever meeting though they see one another.>> Memoirs of Mademoiselle de Montpensier, 17th century.

Since the 16th century, all eyes have been drawn to it, every visitor entering the keep is fascinated by it: the double spiral staircase at Chambord is in itself a monument.

Unlike most staircases that are built into stonework or jut out from a facade, the double spiral staircase at Chambord is set at the heart of the entire building, at the junction point where the four great rooms meet to form a Greek cross. With the staircase everything falls into place and everything falls into place around the staircase. The staircase is formed by two, identical, twin helicoidal flights of stairs entwined around an empty central nucleus with openwork bays to let in light from the sides. The staircase gives access to the main floors of the keep as far as the roof terrace, from which point it is crowned by the château's highest tower, the lantern tower. This houses a narrow spiral staircase, and, at the very top of the building, bears a fleur de lys, symbol of the kings of France. The mathematical perfection with which the staircase was designed, its central position within the building, as well as the many viewpoints it reveals, all provide arguments in support of the theory that Leonardo da Vinci took part in the Chambord project. As a master engineer, painter and architect, he was invited to France from Italy by King Francis. It is more than likely that he suggested the inclusion of a double spiral staircase, a figure he so often liked to draw in his notebooks. We invite you to walk up and down the staircase, admire its stone carvings and enjoy navigating all its amazing ins and outs!

But of course there was so much more to see!

Gargoyles!

And guess what?!? We finally saw some castles across the Loire river (from highway D952)! I guess it was just the direction...

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See all the photos in the Loire Valley 2023 album.

Loire Valley - Guinguette

And just what is a Guinguette, anyway? Historically, it was a place to go for fun and to drink cheap wine, being just outside the tax man's boundary of Paris. "Today, the term 'guinguette' is still used for a waterside refreshment stand, particularly open-air, all over France."

Guinguette - you can just see the Loire river in the distance 

For us it was a pleasant and relaxing place for a late lunch. Although we didn't stay for it, there was dancing in the evening.

My lunch - Spider Pork!?!?
Well, it did sort of resemble a spider...

That was how our day ended! But it *started* with a fantastic wine tasting at Blanc Foussy in Rochecorbon (just outside of Tours). We started with the sparkling, then the still whites. We thought we were done! 

Took home the three pushed forward 

But then she asked if we wanted to try some reds... Hahaha - of course! No photo, but we brought one of those too...

We had a very interesting discussion about Cabernet Franc, and how it's treated differently in the Loire Valley than in California. Here, they don't leave it with the skins as long, so it's a lighter flavor that the bold, long-aging version of California.

After our tasting, we aimed for a Guinguette in Tours. Well, we had some issues... We finally got to this parking lot, along the Loire river - it was beautiful and tranquil, but we saw no sign of an open Guinguette. 

Wilson bridge 

We could have had our lunch on a bench (we had our cooler, full of generic picnic food), but we both thought of the Guinguette we had passed on our way to the winery! Off we went!

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See all the photos in the Loire Valley 2023 album.

Wine Tasting!

Today was an easy day - we went wine tasting! The area around Montlouis-sur-Loire generally grows chenin blanc in clay with either flint or limestone, and that's what we tried! In our past wine life, we'd had plenty of red wines to age, but not really whites - that changed now 🙂. These whites will be best (depending on which one) anywhere between 1 and 10 years...

We made quick work of several caves, then parked and had a picnic lunch along the Loire river.

Our Picnic Spot

Heading back to the apartment, we stopped for groceries and a couple of different wines to try (now that we know what's what)!

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See all the photos in the Loire Valley 2023 album.

Loire Valley - Château de Chenonceau

Today we toured the Château de Chenonceau! It's one of the most famous and visited châteaux - a favorite residence of various queens, regents, and king's mistresses from the 1500s, it's quite luxurious! 

I took a *lot* of photos - see the Loire Valley 2023 album for all of them...

The Château over the River Cher

Julie is There!

Castle and Garden with Fountain 

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More: https://www.chenonceau.com/en/