The Majestic Loire Valley and its Enchanting Chateaux
We have arrived in the Loire Valley for just 3 nights, our first stop is at Blois, situated right on the banks of the Loire, the medieval streets dominated by the Cathedral and its famous Chateau.
The Chateau was a stronghold of the Kings of France for a century but the most interesting feature of the Chateau is its architecturally development from the Middle Ages to the 17th Century. The Chateau now is a mixture of medieval, Classical and Renaissance architecture, according to the whims and fashions of the times and the owner. Some of the change in architectural style from one to another looks like ‘Bodge it & Scarper’ had the main contract. The Renaissance outer spiral staircase is a thing of beauty.
Whole wings of the Chateau and gardens have been demolished, built over and demolished again throughout its history. In 1843 Felix Duban being a project of restoration and was the first historical monument outside of Paris to undergo restoration by the French state. During the 20th Century the Chateau has been subject to numerous restoration programmes.
Aside from the Chateau there are quaint medieval streets to wander through and the gardens at the Bishop’s Palace. Across the square from the Chateau is the ‘Maison de Magie’ or ‘House of Magic’, we didn’t visit this but if you have children, it could be a hit! By accident, we arrived in the square on the hour and the Maison de Magie, puts on an animatronics performance, huge robotic golden salamanders appear out of the windows of the house. Salamanders were the personal emblem of King Francis I. Strange little show, but an entertaining five minutes for children.
Our next stop is Amboise, where we are meeting our friends, Iain & Kerry, who are on the way to a wedding. Our campsite is on the island in the middle of the Loire and looks towards the Chateau d’Amboise. The Chateau has been a royal residence since around 1434 when Charles VII seized it from the owner who was suspected of plotting against the monarchy. Charles VIII died there after hitting his head on a door lintel, Francis 1 was raised there and Henry II and Catherine de’ Medici raised their children there, along with Mary Stuart, who had been promised in marriage to Francis II.
Leonardo da Vinci came in 1515, lived and worked there until his death in 1519 and is buried at the Chateau. In fact, he’s been buried twice there, once in the Chapel of St Florentin which fell into disrepair over the centuries and sometime in the late 1700’s, some bones that were found whole with extraordinary large skull and fragments of stonework containing some letters of his name were re-interred in the Chapel of St Hubert. You can see the grave in the chapel but it is distinctly underwhelming, although the stonework in the Chapel is exquisite.
We toured the Chateau and the most impressive part of the Chateau was the tower that allowed horse and carriages to make their way from town level up to the heights of the Chateau. The huge towers enclose a circular ramp, wide enough for horse, carriages and carts to ascend the ramparts.
On the Sunday morning, there is a large market held along the banks of the Loire, which we spent an hour wandering through, mostly produce stalls, selling local fruit, veg, wine, cheese, sausage, bread etc. There is the usual amount of clothing and tat, but a nice way to spend a Sunday morning. Some very reasonable plant stalls but I don’t think we have room for the fruit, fig and olive trees that I had my eye on.
We had a lovely evening catching up with Iain and Kerry, despite the cold. The sun hasn’t made an appearance for several days and everyone is wrapped up like it is November. The wind has a real northerly chill about it.
On Monday 3 June, finally there was blue sky and time for us to move further north.
Our next stop is at Merville sur Plage in Normandy for the 80th Anniversary of D-Day. This will be our base until Monday 10th June. We are meeting up with 13 friends, the Redheads/Weeks family, who are 10 in number and my brother-in-law Jim, Jane and Toby.
RoundandAbout 