Vallée de la Loire Part 2

Bonjour

As promised, here is the rest of our Loire Valley experience.

We stayed in Amboise and had fantastic accommodation right in the heart of town. We are guessing that it was originally a house for someone with a bit of wealth and we stayed in probably what was the caretaker’s cottage in the grounds. The photos below show the front door of the hotel, from inside and outside and the entry to our cottage. And the photo taken looking down on the town shows our cottage (circled).

The town surrounds the Chateau d’Amboise, which was the king’s residence when he moved from Paris. One of the highlights is the tomb of Leonardo da Vinci who moved to Amboise from Florence in his final years under the patronage of the French king.

Guided tours are a thing of the past these days, but at the chateau they gave out ipads with a great thingy which you holdup like you are taking a photo and scan around at various rooms through the camera and it showed how the scene at would have looked centuries ago. Below is a view of the bridge across the Loire River today and how it would have looked in 1495.

Not everyone in the Loire Valley lives in a chateau. Troglodyte caves can be found all over the region, cut out of cliff faces or dug underground, often carved out of disused quarries and have provided housing for centuries that is cool in summer and warm in winter. We visited one (used as a wine cellar) that is a consistent 12 degrees all throughout the year. They can be hard to find and look bit like a home for a hobbit.

Arrow points to the front door of what is probably a sizeable home built into the chalky hillside.

And one more chateau to show you. It’s arguably the most photographed one in the area and, like most of them, has quite a history. Chateau of Chenonceau dates back to 16th century it’s called “The Ladies Chateau” because of the number of very strong females who have designed it, owned it and put their stamp on it.

The original chateau is on the left and the arched wing over the River Cher was added later. Interesting fact – it served as a military hospital during WW1 and the river was the line of demarcation during WW2 between occupied France and the free zone. The gallery crossing the river made it possible for Resistance to pass large numbers of people into freedom.

The chateau was given by King Henri 11 to Diane de Poiters, his ‘favourite lady’ and this was her bedroom. After he died, his widow, Catherine de Medici, gave Diane her marching orders and then had her own portrait hung in the bedroom. Point made!

Small room adjacent to Catherine de Medici’s bedroom overlooks the river. The original decoration has been amazingly preserved.

That’s a small sample of our photos. It’s understandable why the Loire Valley is so popular. Probably in normal years there would be huge numbers of coachloads of tourists from all over the world, but not this year. Lucky for us as it would be so much more crowded and hard to see these beautiful sights, but do feel for the hospitality and tourism industry.

Anyway, till next blog.

Au revoir

L & M.