Our tour guide, Lindsay, was a lovely American girl who had lived and was studying history in Paris for the last three years, so she was the perfect companion for this tour, her knowledge was amazing, and very interesting, which has lead me to want to research more about the French history!
We hopped on our coach, with seven others, so a total of thirteen in the tour, plus Lindsay and our bus driver Ivan, and off we went, passing through the 14th Arr, heading out of Paris in a South-West direction, towards the Loire Valley. We had a good view of the countryside, and were surprised by the large amount of crop that was planted, and we saw hardly any cattle or sheep. The massive big wind turbines dotted around provide 7% of the electricity used in a France, the rest is sourced by nuclear energy.
After 2 1/2 hours of driving, our first stop was Chambord, known as the king of all French castles! In 1516 Francis I commissioned Leonardo da Vinci to design this palace, and building started in 1519. The chateau was the kings hunting lodge, so it was not lived in for long periods, according to history he only ever stayed there for a total of seven weeks all together, therefore it was never furnished, so when the king came to stay, he would bring all his furnishings with him!! It was a very impractical design too, with open windows and very high ceilings, heating was an issue, so it is a very cold place! Even so, it was very beautiful, built for a man who had grand designs on himself, especially with the ladies, who thought he was the most handsome man ever to walk! Google him, and you will find that desires were a lot different back then! ;)
From here we went through the town of Blois, and then to the town of Amboise, where we went past the Amboise Chateau, the burial place of Leonardo da Vinci. A beautiful looking chateau, but very busy! We arrived at a lovely yet smaller chateau, which was completed in 1543, and is called Chateau de Nitray, and is now an operating vineyard. We tasted some lovely wines, first a Sauvignon, then a Rose, finished off with a sparkling white (champagne, but as we were not in the champagne region it is not allowed to be called champagne!). We then had a delicious lunch, of roast chicken, potatoes and tomatoes, finished with an apple tartin, all with as much red wine that we could drink! ;)
We were then given a tour of the outside of the chateau, and the surrounding winery. The chateau is privately owned, and the owner, with his family, lives on the second level, and his mother in law lives on the first level, therefore we were unable to see inside. After a final tasting of the dessert wine, and some quick purchases, to get us through the next few days, we were back on the bus and heading to our next destination, the chateau Chenonceau.
The chateau Chenonceau (known as the ladies castle) is one of the finest of the Loire Valley castles. It was built by the Bohier family, in 1522, however it was passed on to Francis I, due to the Bohier family needing to settle some debts. It then became Henry II after the death of his father, who then gave it to his mistress - Diane de Poitiers. It was a very tangled web, as the French Court loved Diane, however Henry was married to Catherine de Medici, who was not so popular amongst the court. After Henry died, Catherine got her revenge, and removed Diane from the chateau, even though legally Diane owned the estate. There are two gardens, one which Diane created, and not to be out done, Catherine created her own, wanting it to be bigger and better. As you can imagine I loved the story behind this - and I'm amazed that there had not been a current movie made about this tangled web!
The uniqueness of this chateau is the fact that it is literally built over the top of the river Cher, and also during World War I the gallery was used as a hospital ward and during World War II it was a means of escaping from the Nazi occupied zone on one side of the River Cher to the "free" zone on the opposite bank.
In 1913 the chateau was purchased by the Menier family, better known for starting the company Nestle, and it is still owned by this family today. It is the second most visited chateau in France, to Versailles. We had a lovely time wandering the gardens, even managed to taste some more wines while we were there!
It was 4.15pm by the time we all got back on the bus, and with a three hour bus trip ahead of us, and after what was a fun, yet exhausting day, it was a chance for us all to have a nap!
We arrived back in Paris, just after 7pm, and we picked up a couple of takeaway pizzas as we walked back to our apartment. Showers and bed, ready for another big day in Paris tomorrow.
Amour Beaucoup, (love, lots of)
Chrissie xx
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