Loire castles

 

Travel date: August 2000.
Report date: September 2001.

Select a part of the journey by clicking the map or the desired yellow dot in the index below.
Amboise castle and La Clos Lucé Chenonceau castle Chambord castle Cher valley towns and villages Azay-le-Rideau castle Villandry castle gardens Tours Falconry show in Montrichard Loches Blois castle Chaumont castle

   

Global description

For summer 2000, our target are the castles in Loire valley, France. The base plan includes a short trip, with six camping overnights. The zone we are going to visit is quite small and our tents are a bit slow in being mounted, so we decide to set our camp in only one place, moving by car day by day for the various visits. We don´t want to have a marathon, so we are planning to spend about half a day in each castle, not less. This year we are not alone by ourselves, our group is made of 3 families: Laura and Mich, Cinzia and Gianfredo and Antonella, Marco and their little daughter Francesca, that is 6 adults and one baby, with three tents and two cars.

After a long thinking about which castles we are going to visit, we decide to set our base near Amboise, that becomes our target by now. The departure is set on Saturday, July 29th, starting early in the morning from Bardonecchia, at the entrance of the Frejus tunnel. We plan an all highway trip, passing by Lyon, St. Etienne, Clermont Ferrand, Bourges, Vierzon, where we are going to leave the highway for the last 100 km to Amboise. Despite a disturbing tyre blow out, that causes a two hours delay on the planned time table, we finally arrive in Amboise.

The only one camp site we find in Amboise is very fine, and even cheap since it is municipal. It is located on the Ile d´Or, an island in the middle of the Loire river. From there we have to beautiful sight on Amboise castle, that lies in front of us on top of to rocky cliff on the Loire left side. The only problem is that, since we are in the middle of the river, it is a bit wet, but no matter … On the opposite, we remember that, two years ago we have already spent some days in a municipal camp site near Nancy, and we loved it.

   

Amboise castle and La Clos Lucé

We spend our first morning, Sunday July 30th, in Amboise, where we are going to visit the castle and La Clos Lucè residence, where Leonardo Da Vinci lived and died. It is worth noting that this town is strictly linked to Leonardo because he spent here his last years, hosted by the France king Francois I, who gave him the house La Clos Lucè, that I´m going to describe in the following.

The castle lies on top of a rocky cliff near the Loire side, strategically located near the bridge that crosses the Loire itself by passing on the Ile d´Or. The buildings that we can see now were built in the XV century, but some of them have been demolished during this time, and now there is a wide esplanade that is the castle courtyard, from which we can have a beautiful sight on Amboise city and the Loire valley.

The pedestrian entrance takes the visitor in the castle through a steep ramp that starts from the small square down the cliff, in the city. On the castle esplanade there is the main building, the Logis du Roi. It is made of two parts, the older one, gothic, built in the age of king Charles VIII, and the newer one, built in renaissance style in the period of king Louis XII. Guided tours are available, but also a visit without guide is allowed. First of all we see St. Hubert chapel, actually a jewel built in flamboyant gothic style. It is separated from the main building and it lies near the cliff edge, in front of the city. Inside we can see the grave where Leonardo Da Vinci was buried.

Later we keep visiting the main building of the castle, where we can see both the inside architecture, quite simple at all, and the furniture. Some ids quite aged and we can follow the evolution from the beginning of the Renaissance up to XVII century. We end our visit with the huge round towers, whose base lies on the bottom of the cliff. They host inside some large round ramps supposed to allow carriages and coaches to reach the esplanade on top of the cliff itself.

We end our visit of Amboise city by giving a sight to La Clos Luce, about 700 m far from the castle. It is a typical XVI century manor, surrounded by a park with a lot of old trees, that can be easily seen by the castle esplanade. It is not a defensive building, except for the main entrance to the park, it rather seems a luxury countryside house.

The park entrance is free of charge, while the ticket allows to enter the house itself, that is a kind of Leonardo Da Vinci memorial and museum. Inside we appreciated a lot the old furniture, aged XVI century and probably the original Leonardo furniture. Anyway, we found much more interesting the underground exposition. It is made of wood and iron models replicating most of Leonardo inventions that have made him famous all over the world. All models are built according to his drawings and paintings, some of which are also reproduced here, and everything gives the idea of such a genius, that really has foreseen a lot of modern technology.

   

Chenonceau castle

Not far from Amboise there is the famous Chenonceau castle, that we are going to visit in the afternoon. Unfortunately today is Sunday, so we find a lot of crowd. It is not a big problem, but it is worth noting that, being Chenonceau the most famous and characteristic among Loire castles, it is better non to plan to visit it during the week end.

It lies on the Cher river and it is known for its covered gallery that spans across the river itself. It is also famous because of two women and their struggle one against the other: Caterina de´ Medici, king Henry II wife, and Diane from Poitiers, his official lover.

The castle in surrounded by a wide wood, with old oaks, and one can really imagine deers and other animals while walking around. We note that even the park visit is included in the price, that is here there is nothing free: this is a little difference with the other castles we will visit in the following days. So we enter the park, walking in the wood towards the castle we can see among the trees. In front of the main building we can see a wide flowered garden divided into two parts. The left one seems a bit more lively and animated and is called Diane from Poitiers garden (Diane was the king´s lover), while the right one is much more serious and austere and takes is called Caterina de´ Medici garden (the king´s wife garden).

The castle main building is quite small and lies on this side of Cher river. There isn´t any guided tour, one can move everywhere from the underground rooms, where there are the castle kitchens, up to the first and second floor, where all the rooms and halls can be visited. Everything is perfectly held, with old furniture and several paintings and tapestries, and everything gives a XVII sec. feeling. It is a fine tour, really a cannot miss castle. If you want something more, in another building there is also a waxworks museum (entrance fee not included in the main ticket), with a lot of old dress replicas.

   

Chambord castle

On Monday July 31st we are going to visit Chambord castle, that is the only one that was built as a new one and not by modifying a previous middle age building. Again it is surrounded by a wide wood, but its park is so large that it is crossed by a lot of national roads.

Its main characteristic is its structure, with huge round towers, cone rooftop and a lot of skylights with renaissance shaping and decorations. Inside the rooms there are nearly no furniture, in order to drive the visitor´s attention to the architecture itself.

Its shape is square, with four wide corridors crossing in the center of the building, and is due to Leonardo da Vinci, mainly as far as the big, helicoidal staircase in the center of the cross is concerned. In Leonardo´s projects, this staircase had to have four ramps, instead of the two ones it actually has, but it would have been too steep. This staircase starts from ground floor and takes the visitor up to the top terrace, where he can watch all around on the countryside. It was intended to allow the king to be watched by his court while hunting in the surrounding woods.

While walking around we can see almost everywhere Francois I royal sign: the ermine and the salamander. We will see them in every kind of decoration, on the wall and on the roof, on the columns capitols and on the fireplace mantels.

One more note: outside the castle there is also a horse carrousel show (entrance ticket not included), that we didn´t see and so cannot comment.

   

Cher valley towns and villages

In the afternoon we decide forgetting about castles for a while and move to the little village of Bourrè, near Montrichard, in Cher river valley. In the hills here around there are a lot of underground tamp mines that have produced the stone blocks used in building all the castles. This fact has produced a lot of tunnels that are now very useful in cultivating mushrooms, mainly because their constant temperature and low light level. We are now going to visit one of this cultivations.

We glance astonished at the mushroom matrix blocks, roughly shaped as wooden logs, hosting groups of small mushrooms, and are taught that the mushrooms growth is activated by switching on the artificial light inside the tunnels. What really seems unbelievable is that there are some Japanese mushrooms that, instead of being activated by lights, begin growing when stimulated by strong mechanical shakes, that simulate the typical Japanese earthquakes ...

Later we visit a troglodyte home, again in Bourrè, dug in the rocky hill as a tamp mine. The visible part is articulated on three levels. The lower is the cellar, in the middle one there are some living rooms and the upper hosts a small exhibition about the history of tamp mining and silk bugs cultivation.

It is worth noting that none of this visit is really a must in the region, but are a pleasant visit, a bit different from the usual castle theme.

   

Azay-le-Rideau castle

On Tuesday August 1st we move to river Indre valley, whose most important attractive is Azay-le-Rideau Castle, that we are going to see in the morning. Similarly to the others we´ve seen up to now, it is located in the middle of a park and it is almost surrounded by a lake, whose function is merely esthetical.

The building is L shaped and is a luxurious XVI century residence. Also here we admire mostly the internal and external architecture, since the furniture seem to be surely old, but not five centuries old. The build period is again the age of king Francois I, remarked by his royal sign, the salamander, carved everywhere.

   

Villandry castle gardens

In the afternoon we go to Villandry, a so called castle that is only a countryside house built in the end of XIX century and is absolutely not worth mentioning. On the opposite, the gardens that surround the castle are really worth visiting. They are divided into several sections and the best view can be achieved from the terrace on top of the hill on the left side of the castle. It would be too difficult to describe them in words, better give a sight to our photo gallery, we only note that people are not allowed to walk inside the gardens, but only to move in the main boulevards that cross them. Such a choice is right at all in so far that the sight from the terrace is far better without people wandering about.

   

Tours

We end the day in Tours. Such a town is not very interesting, for example, there is not a castle but only some ruins. Anyway, the gothic St. Gatien cathedral is surely worth seeing, and even the historical city center is worth a walk. Here, in tha main square there are some old middle age houses, some of which were built in XV century.

   

Falconry show in Montrichard

Montrichard is a little city on river Cher banks with a group of hills behind it. On the nearest there is a huge and partly ruined tower, the Donjon, that is the main tower of an old XIII century fortress that is now almost completely destroyed. Such a building catches the traveler´s sight from several kilometers far. Our sight, anyway, was not caught by the tower itself but by some eagles flying around it. This was the way we got aware of the beautiful falconry show named Les aigles du donjon, that we are ging to attend to on Wednesday 2nd in the morning.

The XIII century ruins are the charming frame where we can see some of the most exciting raptor birds in the world. We see the well known white head eagle, the USA symbol, the South American condor, several differen raptors coming from Africa savannas, an incredible flying carrousel held by small hawks, European royal eagles, pilgrim hawks and also some night raptors. Maybe some animal friend could have some remonstrations about such a show, but it is worth noting that falconry itself is an old and noble art deeply rooted in middle age castles traditions.

It is impossible for me to describe the whole show, but there are two images I will never be able to forget. The former is the terrible, icy sight of the white head eagle, that I tried to keep in a photo shot, the latter is the amazing acrobatics of a group of four little hawks fed on the flight by their trainers, a dynamic image impossible to fix into a photo shot ...

   

Loches

We spend the remaining of the day in Loches, a middle age town whose fortified city center is still well preserved. We don´t have enough time to visit both the fortress and the royal palace, Logis Royal, so we choose the former one. It is dominated by the XIII century donjon, of the same period of the Montrichard one but preserved much better. It is 37 meters high and its walls are up to four meters thick, including a staircase inside. Along the times all the wooden parts got lost, so there is neither the rooftop nor the intermediate floors, but the fireplaces mark clearly the missing ones, with the garrison barrack, the town prince apartment and, on the top, the sentry place, in a location that allows a long range surveillance on the whole surrounding countryside.

If you are not satisfied for such a high climbing, it is also possible to get down underground to visit the prisons, dug in tamp rock, where once the duke of Milan Ludovico il Moro was also kept prisoner for several years. The fortress is completed by another tower, again climbable, the Martelet tower.

Since I´ve already mentioned the Logis Royal, the only other important building is the romanic church of St. Ours. We also expected a middle age city, but it is not worth walking around since most of the houses of the city center have no historical importance.

   

Blois castle

On Thursday, August 3rd, we go to Blois castle. Similarly to Amboise, it is located in the middle of the city, on top of a rocky cliff in a strategical position on the right Loire side. It is composed of three separated elements, that make three of the four sides of a square that is the courtyard.

The first is Louis XII wing, the oldest, in a pure gothic style. It was built during the XV century and includes the main portal. Inside, it hosts an art museum. On the right side of the courtyard there is Francois I wing, built in XVI century in Renaissance style. It is remarkable for the big external helicoidal staircase. Inside it hosts Caterina de´ Medici and Francois I apartments, including old furniture. The third element, in the end of the courtyard, is the severe Gaston de Orleans wing, classically styled and built in XVII century. Inside this building hosts temporary expositions whose entrance fee is usually not included in the castle ticket.

   

Chaumont castle

We end our castles review with Chaumont castle, that we are not going to visit. We only have a relaxing walk in the park, among old and huge pine trees and perfectly kept lawns. Anyway, the external view of the castle is remarkable, with the entrance enclosed between two huge cylindrical towers, with a moat and a working drawbridge.

   

Back home: Bourges e Lyon

Our way back is the same of the forth journey, but takes us two days, Friday 4th and Saturday 5th since we add two visits. Our first stop is the city of Bourges, where we spend only two hours, mainly because of the rainy weather. In spite of this, we succeed in visiting the beautiful gothic cathedral, where we can admire some decorated windows aged XIV century, and in having a walk in the city center. We leave in the early aftrenoon and arrive in Lyon by the evening.

Also this visit is very fast, we leave aside all the museums and, as usual, give a look to St Jean gothic cathedral and have a brief walk among the historical buildings of the city center. Moreover, we also climb the Fourvière hill to have a look on the whole city. Here we see the awful church of Notre Dame de la Fourvière, an horrible example of the eclectic XIX century French style. Again the rain helps us in shortening our tour, and after a quite difficult dribbling among the inside-town highways, we succeed in leaving Lyon ant take our way home, via Chambery and Frejus tunnel.

   

All entrance fees

Warning: in the prices listed below, the € value has been calculated by me because, in summer 2000, € pricing was still optional, so some discrepancy may occur in comparison to the real € prices.

 

 

Conclusion

Well, the Loire valley castles are a typical target for international tourists and span over a far wider area then the one we have been visiting. For example, we intentionally left aside all the lower Loire valley, from Tours down to the ocean. So we didn´t consider Angers and Chinon fortresses, as well as the fable castle of Ussè, about which we can´t say anything. Aniway, such an approach has helped us in not saturating our minds, allowing a good appreciation for those few castles we actually visited. By doing so, we have succeeded in avoiding that awful consideration that "anyway, all the castles are similar one another"