The Loire Valley

After Madame Salade read two very enjoyable blog posts about the Loire Valley: here and here , we decided to explore the area on our drive back down to Aix. The Loire Valley is a gorgeous, lush stretch of land along the Loire River. It is also known as, The Garden of France, due to it's abundance of farms, vineyards, and orchards. The Loire Valley is famous for it's wine and it's several hundred grand chateau which pop up all along the river. We are not exactly sure why the French kings began building their grand homes here (or in many cases, stealing others' grand homes already built), but the nobility soon followed suit and the area became a sort of Hamptons for French nobility in the 15th century. For a time the French court was a nomadic one, travelling from one chateau to another and staying for short periods of time. In fact, King Francis I was travelling for over 8,000 days of his 11,778 day reign.

We made reservations at a hotel in the countryside outside of the beautiful town of Amboise. The hotel, again run by English ex-pats, was the perfect place for our family. It was so perfect that we extended our stay by another night and we would have all loved to stay even longer. The boys were won over when they found lollipops laid out on their beds. We had doors that opened out on to a small patio and a field filled with grazing cows. There was a small play structure for the kids and they even offered picnic basket lunches, a service we took advantage of. When I picture "bucolic," I picture cows grazing in a green pasture filled with buttercup flowers. Add a glass of champagne from literally down the road, and you have the right idea. It was quiet, peaceful, relaxing...ahhh, can we go back now?

While in the Loire Valley, we of course toured a couple of the chateau. The first was Chateau D'Amboise, a chateau right in the heart of town and a favorite residence of the French monarchy due to it's strategic location. King Francis I was raised mostly at this chateau. It was pretty impressive.

Views from the chateau walls:

I was not able to get my own shot from across the river, so here is one from the website, www.chateau-amboise.com:

While walking around the chateau grounds, we entered St. Hubert Chapel, built in 1493. Oh hey, look what we found:

Leonardo da Vinci's grave. We were aware that Leonardo died in France, but really? Stumbling onto the guy's grave? That's how this family rolls! He was apparently a very close friend of King Francis I, who gave Leo the honor of being buried at his home.

After touring the Chateau D'Amboise, we decided to walk up the street to Leonardo da Vinci's home in Amboise, called the The Chateau du Close Lucé:

We walked around the outside of the home. You can pay to enter, but we did not. We had another chateau on our list for the day and needed to get going.

We left Amboise and drove to the incredible Chateau de Chenonceau. There are so many beautiful chateau in the area available to tour, but this is a chateau built over water that we had seen many pictures of. It's just gorgeous. It was built on the site of an old mill, sometime before the 11th century, and they must not have been able to get it just right because they kept adding on and remodeling for the next few hundred years. It was given as a gift from King Henri II to his favorite mistress, Diane de Poitiers. She must have been really something. When the King died in 1559, his disgruntled widow, Catherine de'Medici, promptly booted Diane out of Chateau de Chenonceau and took up residence there herself. Catherine was known to throw magnificent, expensive parties here, with fireworks over the river. It passed through several members of the royal family and was saved during the French Revolution (the chapel was saved by boarding the walls and disguising it as a wood store). The kids especially enjoyed the extensive gardens, complete with a maze of bushes. They were pretty proud of themselves for finding the way through.

This was one of our favorite rooms, a hall known as, "The Gallery". It was officially opened by Catherine de' Medici in 1577 and used as a ballroom. It was used as a hospital during WWI. Out each window is a view over the river:

Catherine De' Medici's bedroom, decorated with a rare set of Flanders tapestries, illustrating the life of Samson:

The amazing Renaissance fireplace in Francis I's Drawing Room:

We loved our stay in the Loire Valley and hope to go back one day. Although touristy, the pace is slow and easy. The clean air, open fields, peaceful river, and green vineyards feel a world away from the traffic and noise of Paris. It was a trip good for the soul.