Loire: Valley of the Chateaux

An hour south of Paris the Loire river runs east to west and eventually to the sea. This central area of lush vegetation finds extensive grape growing and the garden center of France, abounding with wonderful wines, cheeses, produce of all kinds, and where the kings and gentry of past centuries built their castles and hunting lodges. There are hundreds of these chateaux--and a few major ones, all centering around Tours, the city of my college abroad. We visited 10 of them--with the very best described here. The favorite of all time was Chenonceux--gift to Diane de Poitiers while Henri II's mistress, taken over by Catherine de Medici after his death (Henri's wife and mother of his ten children, including three subsequent kings of France. )




Chenonceux has extraordinary formal gardens, wonderful interiors, and a famous gallery built over the river Cher.




The chateau of Villandry has among the most extraordinary gardens we have seen in our lives.




In the vegetable garden, magnificent geometric shapes of boxwood outline perfect rows of cabbages, lettuces, etc.




We spent three wonderful days in Chinon, west of Tours. Overseen by a 12th century protective fortress, this wonderful medieval city with irregular cobblestones, tiny lanes and wonderful buildings, found Linny and me discovering vins "petillant"--white or rose wines sparkling like champagne. Very nice. Especially as while we were here the sun finally came out with a vengeance. As did the mosquitos. Our last visit was to the Abbaye Royale de Fontevraud, where we encountered in the church the sarcophagi of Henri II (of England), the first Plantagent king, his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, and their son, Richard the Lionhearted. Amazing history! We had toured the castle where they had lived in Chinon (in the 12th century).
Then on to a much anticipated visit to Chartres. The cathedral here is the most famous in France. For pure high gothic style, built in 60 years rather than the usual several hundred, with perfect dimensions, incredible scultures over all of the entrances, and the best preserved 13th century stained glass in the world (second in Ste. Chappelle, in Paris). We happened to arrive on the monday of Pentecost weekend, a national holliday in France, and the site of an extraordinary pilgrimage annually, 15-20,000 people walking all or part of the 70 miles from Paris to this cathedral. We arrived the culmination day--thousands of marching modern-day pilgrims coming to a service within a couple of hours of our arrival.




The stained glass we could see, wonderful.




Unfortunately, they are cleaning most of the inside of the cathedral, and so much of the inside was blocked off.
We altered our plans a bit, visiting one last city in France before heading back north--Reims. Like Chartres, this city is really only known for its cathedral. This has been the site of the coronation of all but two French kings in the last 1000 years. Charles VII was king for some time before Joan of Arc convinced him make the perilous journey to Reims (it had been in English hands during the 100 years war), to be officially crowned--boosting the spirit of his troops, resulting in the ouster of England from France. Beautiful building, with both old and 20th century stained glass, including some incredible windows by Marc Chagall. Our favorite cathedral that we have visited--and after all, whatever your belief, these are some of the structures which best embody man's quest to enclose or describe his feeling of spirit.








And so we leave France with so many feelings: a beautiful country with so much history, wonderful sites, good wine and cheese, and lots of rain. We were here during the recent presidential election. We even drove through the edge of Tours, and suddenly came across where I spent wonderful college time in 1968. And so we head up north. Much love, Joel

Location:Reims, France