The Languorous Loire

Monday, we traded the busy city of Paris for the much more quiet Loire Valley with its slow moving, broad and scenic river.  We took a train to Tours - and luckily picked a travel day that was not affected by the rolling strikes SNCF is doing.  We picked up a cute little Nissan car (Juke model) and drove about 1/2 hour to Amboise which will be our base for the next couple of days.

It was very busy as the day was holiday in France - Pentacost or Whitsunday as it is known in the UK.  The hotel where we are staying is one I have stayed at a couple of times but not since about 10 years ago.  It has been refurbished and is quite lovely;  both our rooms have views of the river - well, after all, it is called Hotel Bellevue!  We took the short walk into the old town where we sat and people-watched while sipping our drinks.  Amboise has a lovely castle, the Château d'Amboise, which was the grand 15th-century residence of King Charles.  Leonardo di Vinci who spent the last years of his life in the nearby Château du Clos Lucé is buried in the chapel there.

Main street of old town Amboise

Sunset from my hotel room

This is part of the Loire valley is famous for its chateaux and Tuesday we visited two of them.  Chaumont-sur-Loire was new to me and we picked it because there is a garden exhibition currently featured there.  I am not sure what I was expecting in terms of it but a lot of it was "interesting" art installations in various parts of the castle and gardens.  Some stretched my sense of beauty!  However, the chateau itself is lovely and we toured both the interiors and the grounds before moving on.  The chateau was owned at one time by Catherine di Medici and she lived there for a number of years.

The bedroom of Catherine di Medici

 

Our next stop was the Chateau of Chambord.  This is one of the most recognizable châteaux in the world because of its very distinctive French Renaissance architecture blending traditional French medieval forms with classical Renaissance structures. The building, which was never completed, was constructed by King Francis I of France and was altered considerably during the twenty-eight years of its construction between 1519–1547.  Chambord is the largest château in the Loire Valley and it was built to serve as a hunting lodge for Francis I who maintained his royal residences at the Château de Blois and Amboise. The original design of the Château de Chambord is attributed, though with some doubt, to Domenico da Cortona.  Leonardo di Vinci is credited with the interesting intertwined staircase which runs from the lower floors up to where the royalty slept.

We had also planned to visit Chenonceau but ran out of time - and thunderstorms were threatened - so we just headed back to Amboise.  It was a good plan as it "bucketed" down rain on the drive back.  There is always tomorrow with the promise of more chateaux.