Wednesday 13 July 2016

Tours & The Loire Valley Chateaus

11:12:00 No comments

Our trek across France wasn't really planned too much, prior to leaving Australia we sort of circled a couple of things we wanted to do (mainly see a couple of stages of Le Tour) and locked in the Workaway and some accommodation Carpentras - Provence. So when it came to figuring out how to get to these two places without going back to Paris we grabbed the opportunity to head inland a little to suss it all out. Thankfully inland meant we'd get the chance to see some quality scenery and icons of France.

Tours: 10th July

Located in the centre west of France, the largest city in the Loire region consisting of 130,000 people. We quickly booked an AirBnB and a train ticket before leaving our last workaway and sort of threw ourselves at the area knowing it was popular for its wine and chateaus.

We explored Tours on a Sunday, just because it was the only day we had to do so and everything was shut. We did managed to see some sights such as Saint-Gatien's Cathedral and the beautiful town centre with a beer in hand! As a general rule I don't think you can rely on shops to be open at any stage in france, seems like they just open and shut when they please.

Trains across France - we've steered clear of the fast trains because they can cost 4-5 times more than a standard train.

Our Airbnb at Tours - our overall experience with Airbnb hasn't always been good. This particular stay, the host was late to meeting us at the house, we had to wait for the room to be cleaned and wifi only worked outside (because our room was in a basement). but then again it was only $40 bucks per night..Thankfully the weather made this one bearable.

Tours town hall

Tours had one sort of central tram line which worked pretty well and only cost a couple of euro for a trip.

These 500ml beers cost 1.80 euro from little shops, You can just walk around and enjoy a froth outside no dramas.

Musee des Beaux-Arts - Entrance

Musee des Beaux-Arts - Garden

Musee des Beaux-Arts - Tree

Saint-Gatien's Cathedral - built around 1070 - similar to Notre Dame but a bit smaller. It was a lot more intimate to look around and areas more accessible then the Notre Dame. Just as impressive.

Typical streets of Tours, it was fattened in WW2 so majority of the city building are relatively new.

Exploring the Loire Valley: 11th July

Today we hired a car via Eurocar ($60AUD) for the day to travel away from Tours to see what the area is famous for - Chateaus (Castles). Loire Valley is known as the valley of the Kings, Kings would come to spend some down time back around 500 years ago.

Chateau de Chambord was our first destination and about 70km north of Tours - built by Francois 1 in the first half of the 15th Century, it was massive! It took a couple of decades to build. Francois built it so show his power to people of importance, also as a place to hunt as it is built on the edge of the game filled Chambord forest. Francois visited the palace a few times but his visits generally only lasted a few days. I believe he only managed to spend about 70 nights in total over his life at the chateau. His son used the chateau a bit but not a great deal afters his father Francois 1st death. There was a period of nearly 100 years where the chateau was barely used if not at all.

In the early 1800's, Napoleon gave the chateau to one of his Marshal's in recognition of his services at war. Apparently this bloke only visited Chambord once for a hunt before his death, when it was past onto his widow. Unable to afford the expenses of the chateau it was sold around 1820.

1750's ceramic wood stove - Louie the 14th had three of these built for one of his visits because the chateau was so cold and the open fires were so inefficient at heating the massive areas!!!

There were a lot of homage to hunting around the chateau - the chateau located in this area because of its access to game.

The twin spiral staircase - thought to be inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci's sketches - Francois 1 was mates with Leonardo but he died before the beginning of construction of the chateau.

Some of these rooms have been decorated to the dates of 1700's roughly.

This is Francois 1st specific room recreated as it would have been in the 1500's. It was very simple, the floor would have been wood and it was bloody cold.

In the background is the chapel.

On the top of the 3rd floor, it was so big on the roof and there were building springing up everywhere, like its own village.

Chambord was so freaking impressive. Imagine coming across something this big 500 years ago? The rooms were huge, filled with massive fireplaces and tapestries. But it felt unfinished or something, it was cold and and vast but almost the size of a city it's hard to imagine how something like this could have felt functional and homely.... Well worth the visit and paying 22 Euro's to get in and 6 Euro's to park. Fuel for the day cost 13 Euros (the hire car was a hybrid and pretty bloody impressive).

Chateau de Chenonceau

Built 1511-1514 on the foundations of an old mill. After King Henry 2nd died in 1559 his widow Queen Catherine made it her own favourite residence and spend bulk money on the gardens and parties. When her son Francois 2 took to the throne in 1560 the chateau witnessed the first ever fireworks display in France #funfact

Throughout time it has changed hands from the royals to been privately owned as I think it is at this current day... The chateau played an important role in both WW1 and WW2. The two story galleries housed 120 beds during WW1, during WW2 the other side of the river was occupied by the Germans, so the owners would sneak jews etc. over the river into the chateau and onto french land when safe to do so.

The rooms were typically furnished very similar to what we would expect a room to be today. Unlike Chambord.

A small chapel compared to Chambord - the windows were destroyed when the Germans tried to bomb it.

Louis the 14th I believe - apparently he smelt so bad that if you entered a room with him he would have you dry retching. He spent a fair bit of time at this chateau I believe.