Loire Valley Drive

Yesterday we plotted a route going to several châteaux along the south side of the Loire river, then back along the north side (D952). The objective was to see a bunch of castles from the outside. Well, that was definitely a mixed bag!

Our first stop was the Château de Villandry 

That mostly worked - we could park and then see the castle through the hedges 🤪 but when we drove around the side, hoping for a view of the gardens... Fail! The entire area was closed in by a high stone wall.

Onward! We drove through a lot of farmland and forest - it was beautiful country, and generally a relaxing drive. 

The Château d'Azey le Rideau was highly recommended, so we meandered around, trying to get a glimpse of it - one photo showed a great view of the castle reflected in a moat, but we could only see the tiniest hint of stone through the surrounding forest.

River with flowers (not the castle)

Church (also not the castle)

The Castle through the gates

From there, it was a straight shot to Chinon - this a medieval riverside town with a Royal Fortress. We parked and walked to a viewpoint on the heights 

The Fortress 

The Town

Then we drove down into the town (lots of narrow roads!), and across the river to another viewpoint 

We decided we had seen enough castles up close, so we crossed back to the north side of the Loire river to drive back to Tours. While a *lot* of castles are built on the banks of the river, there are also a ton of trees! On our very pleasant drive, we did not see a single castle across the river! It was interesting to note however, that there are many many pull-outs where you can drive or walk down to the riverbank and picnic.

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We weren't exactly sure where to find the "troglodyte houses" (caves turned into homes), so we missed that stop - decided to go on instead of going back to what might have been the turn...

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See all the photos in the Loire Valley 2023 album.