Blois
Blois was the nearest big town to us with a chateau. It also happened to be one of the most spectacular and one of the most important in French history. Blois is famous for its history because several French kings were born and raised in Blois chateau; the famous murder of the Duc D'Orleans, a cousin of the King, because he was protestant and supposedly posed a threat to the Catholic rule, took place there; and it was the home of Catherine di Medici (of the famous Florentine Medicis), who married King Henry 2nd of France and had all her poisons hidden behind the wood panelling in her bedroom - you visit this room on the tour, but sorry - no photo. It is very impressive as you approach. From the river it towers above the town, although much of it is hidden by the adjacent cathedral. But from the other side it presents this massive wall of rooms and windows sitting on solid rock above the main road that leads from the river to the railway station. From the front, it presents a more fanciful structure with lots of decoration and a relatively small front door, above which a very ornate statue of Francois 1st sits. Architecturally it is a huge mixture of styles as different kings added on whole wings in different centuries forming a square of buildings, each side different, surrounding a courtyard. However it works as a whole and is lovely to walk through. Blois chateau, like Amboise further down the river, is built in the middle of the town so it is really fascinating exploring the old parts of the city that abut the chateau walls. France is truly a heaven for those who love the Middle Ages!
Inside, the furnishings and decorations were really worth seeing and were like a museum of midddle ages interior design. Of particular note were the sumptuous bedrooms (photo of Catherine di Medici's room below), various instruments and ornaments from the different periods including a beautiful full size beautifully decorated porcelain mandolin & violin, a beautiful painting of court dancing and the embellished symbols of Francois 1st everywhere. The state hall was also of important historical & architectural note, so I have included their plaque for you to read.
One of the best parts of Blois was the night spectacular. I can’t remember if we wrote about this or not, but every night in summer, the French put on these sound and light spectaculars at several of the major chateaux. The one at Blois is truly spectacular – they portray the history of the chateau through a slide / movie show projected on to the 4 courtyard walls of the chateau and supported with commentary and sound effects. It is amazing to see how much the exterior of a building can change with impressive lighting effects. We took Dot & Joyce, and Denise to see the show and all agreed it was excellent.
Inside Blois Chateau
The Spectacular Sound & Light Show
Amboise
Amboise was the first Loire Valley chateau we saw, because we came through Amboise on our way from the Dordogne to our cottage at Prunay. We couldn't stop at the time, but it was a very imposing site sitting above the village, next to the Loire, so we eventually made it back to Amboise for the day to look around the town and visit the outside of the chateau. Unfortunately by then Alan had seen several other chateaux and was overdosed, so we did not go inside; although a highlight of the day had to be the trip to the cellars under the chateau which now house a fabulous wine tasting room, where about a dozen or more winemakers from the local Vouvray and Tourraine districts provided an excellent opportunity to research the local vintages in depth. Needless to say we did buy some wine and sparkling wine as Vouvray offers a very acceptable alternative to Champagne. The town of Amboise is very historic and offers not only the major chateau, but also a minor chateau or grand house, called Clos Luce, where Leonardo spent the last 3 years of his life from 1516 - 1519. Clos Luce is only a short walk up the hill from the castle and offers a museum dedicated to Leonardo, of course. We went on a Saturday so were also fortunate to get the weekly food and craft market at the foot of the castle. I also noted the plaque at the foot of the castle. In previous blog entries and emails, I have commented on the impact of WW2 in France and the number of memorial plaques and statues. This one I found of considerable interest, having recently visited the Resistance Museum in Blois. For those who don't read French, it says "To the memory of the defenders of the bridge over the Loire, dying for France at the foot of the Chateau in front of the advance of the enemy between 16 - 21 June 1940." The enemy in this case were the Germans, who bombed and destroyed many towns and bridges in central France before France signed the treaty with them.
Langeais
Langeais was a large village that we drove through by chance on our way to a wine tasting afternoon in the Borgeil area of the Loire Valley. As you will see in the photos below, as soon as we drove up the main street and saw the castle, we had to stop for a coffee and soak up the view (as well as fortify ourselves for the forthcoming wine tasting)! We only went into the courtyard area of the chateau as we did not have the time to do a full tour - it was just a coffee stop after all, but it was enough to see that it was a lovely looking chateau. Also the whole village was pretty with floral decorations and the old water mill pond opposite the chateau making a picturesque backdrop.
Lavardin
Lavardin was a very small village about 8kms from our cottage at Prunay. Its chateau was a ruin, but all the same quite fascinating. There was a painting of the chateau as it was in its prime and it was a magnificent structure, predominantly 11-12th century fortress, but later converted to pleasure as well. Within the ruins there was still clear evidence of the architectural features, carved stone ceilings, fireplaces, and a few of the windows and stairwells. There were also various passageways and underground rooms. You could wander freely over most of the site and it felt like I was transported back to one of those children’s adventure books set in the ruins of a castle or something – you could really understand how ruins like this inspired adventure stories. It was also a nice change from the sumptuousness of the other chateau, and nowhere near as crowded!
This last photo is a view from the castle overlooking the small village of Lavardin.
Cheverny
Cheverny is probably the smallest and least spectacular of the famous chateaux we visited and is mostly famous as a hunting palace and therefore has rooms dedicated to the hunt. I am not a supporter of this “sport” but it is amazing to see the reverence to which it is held.There were rooms of antlers and “trophies” all beautifully arranged on the ceilings and walls and all labelled. Cheverny has also kept a hunting pack which is fed twice a day. There are around 100 dogs in the pack. It is amazing to see a professional hunting pack, and the animal behaviour involved, but it is also quite horrible in a way. The feeding area is a concrete enclosure like in an old fashioned zoo, and the animals are truly pack animals and quite savage in a way. I am sure they are well cared for both because they are still used as a hunting pack and because they are a tourist attraction!!, but it did not really appeal to either of us, so we did not spend long in that part of the chateau.
The inside of the chateau is very sumptuous, full of rich furnishings, gold and decorated ceilings, fireplaces, walls, etc and lots of museum pieces, such as kids toys from the 18th & 19th centuries, old travelling trunks, etc. Cheverny is still owned by a French family and along with all the priceless heirlooms, it is full of modern day photos of the family and weddings that have taken place there, etc – a homely touch you might say!
In the last tapestry above, note the musician and the peasants dancing in what we would call a bush dance!
Chambord
This had been written up as one of the largest and most spectacular chateau, and in building terms it is certainly spectacular. The roof is pure flights of fancy and you can spend hours looking at the decoration, sculpture and overall look of the place. A roof top terrace enables you to get an intimate look at it all. Even from the car park which is a good half kilometre from the chateau itself, you can see the spires and domes of the roof soaring above the trees. The most amazing thing about this chateau however, was the fact that it was built progressively over several decades for different kings, (as the previous ones died), originally just as a hunting lodge, and in all it was only used 27 times in 300 years!!! As I said in an earlier email - what an abuse of money & power - to build such a magnificent building and then rarely use it! The other interesting fact is that it was built at the height of the Italian renaissance and so there was a lot of influence from Italian building design and styles, and in fact, Leonardo da Vinci, who was living in France at the time, had an influence on the design! In my earlier email (from late Sept) on the chateaux, I said Chambord had the same effect on us as Carcassonne in the south of France - a bit like entering a living Disneyland! Look at the photos and judge for yourself.
The inside photos show a few examples of the rooms full of mounted antlers - after all it was a hunting lodge; some of the old tapestries from the 15th or 16th century showing the allegorical links between the mythical Queen ??? and Catherine di Medici who married Henry 2nd of France and gave birth to 3 French Kings who built Chambord, esp Francois 1st. I have since seen more of these tapestries in an exhibition in Florence, because of course Catherine di Medici came from Florence. Many of the original tapestries in this series were hung at Chambord, hence they are slowly being returned there and hung in the central hall. Other photos of the inside show the famous double helix staircase, some of the furniture, the ornately carved ceilings and doors, esp those done in the reign of Francois 1, where like in Blois above, he had his initials and salamander emblem carved all over the place. Finally I have included some photos of the original porcelain heating system from the 17th century. The porcelain tiles, all hand done, were lovely.
Villandry
This particular chateau is famous for its gardens - and it is well deserved! Nothing Alan & I can say can do them justice. Suffice to say we spent about 4 hours wandering around all the gardens and loved it all. For gardeners this was paradise! First off there was a companion planted vegetable garden, with espaliered fruit trees. These gardens alone took up about 20 average Melb house blocks if not more! and they were in perfect condition - beautiful veges, no weeds, perfect fruit. And of course they were designed in French parterre fashion with hedge edges, formal patterns and fabulous colour schemes. From there you walked via a pathway covered in fruiting grape vines (not yet ripe - we picked some) to a herb garden, specifically designed so that you could walk past all the bushes and rub your hands over the leaves to get all the different scents. Each plant was named, so it was really helpful in identifying the herbs we didn't know. As you can imagine, we enjoyed that enormously. Next was just a quiet garden retreat with the house cat just sitting in the sun and getting petted by every child and half the adults who ventured in there - not a bad life for a cat!!! From there we wondered through a small hedge maze - more for kids than adults and then into one of the themed parterre gardens all done up in lavender and various green hedges with the occasional section of white roses. From there you walked into the real parterre garden grown on the theme of the different stages of love - true love, infidelity, broken hearts, and I've forgotten the other and the paperwork is buried so if you really want to know - look it up on the net or ask me and I will search for it! This garden was all in red & pink with deep green hedges and was stunning whether viewed from ground level or the terraces above. From here we walked along a raised pathway past the water channels which ran through the gardens to irrigate them, and into18th century water garden, a very formal lawn area with a big pond, fountain, its own gazebo off to the side and not much else. It was the least colourful and floral of all the gardens but had this lovely order and design to it and was very peaceful. Lots of people just sat around the waters edge or on the lawns enjoying the calmness and peace of the garden. From there you took a gentle climb past a stone fence with the most gorgeous floral bed along its length and then through a small wood up to the terraces to the side of the actual chateau. These terraces actually overlooked all the gardens and gave a wonderful aerial view. From the terrace you could go visit the castle itself or just enter the courtyard area and then leave. We chose the latter, but the gardens will remain with us for a long time to come. They were better than anything I saw at Versaille when I went there years ago. They were truly worth a visit and I highly recommend them to anyone visiting this area of France. The brochure that is buried in my paper collection did say how many gardeners worked there - something like 300, and it took them several weeks to weed just one area! All the fruit and veges grown are used for formal functions held at the chateau and I am not sure what else - I am sure they don't go to waste. Enjoy the photos and I look forward to hearing comments about the gardens.
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