oh les chateaux!

This past weekend (and also Friday) I had the pleasure of visiting several châteaux in the Loire Valley. The Loire Valley is known for its castles because there are over 300 in the area. When the French kings began constructing castles (first for fortification and then for pleasure) the nobility followed suite. After the construction of Versailles, kings stopped building castles in the Loire Valley but many ministers and other members of the nobility continued to do so.

Though there are, as I mentioned, over 300 castles in the Loire Valley, we saw only five. The first was Sully-sur-Loire, chosen by Stephane because it represents the last of the castles built for fortification (your typical medieval castle) and the switch to castles of luxury. I find it hard to express my feelings on seeing castles simply because when walking past them and walking through them I often stop and think to myself "oh my god I'm in an actual castle". Perhaps it's different for Europeans but in the United States and especially in New Hampshire our greatest monuments (and my favorites) are natural ones. There aren't any real castles in the US and so to so casually walk up to a castle is a very strange experience for me, one I even now can't quite comprehend.

Sully-sur-Loire

For this reason I think it's also difficult to wrap my head around the idea of being disappointed by castles. Many of the castles in France remain in such good condition because of renovations and care of them but the fact that many of them have been standing for half a millenia is incredible particularly when so much that we make today can so easily fall apart. That said, there were some castles I found disappointing mostly due to the weather and time of year.

The guard tower in Sully-sur-Loire. This hallway was patrolled by guards
and directly underneath the stone and wood is the moat.

As for Château de Sully-sur-Loire, it certainly felt like a real castle (un chateau-fort) because it had a moat and looked strong enough to defend. Its purpose was to control one of the few places that the Loire River can be forded. The Loire in particular is the longest river in France but incredibly unpredictable and because of that was not as popular a mode of transport as river like the Seine. The castle itself was built by a Minister of Henri IV who was the duc of Sully.

After Sully-sur-Loire we made our way to Orleans. Orleans doesn't have a castle but it does have a magnificent cathedral and is also perhaps best known for Jeanne d'Arc. I won't give a history of Jeanne d'Arc or the 100 Year's War but I will say that Orleans was the site of a battle in which Jeanne d'Arc entered and liberated the city quite famously saving the city from the Plantagenets and also earning Jeanne d'Arc the name "la pucelle D'Orleans" (the maid of Orleans). We did not have much time in the city because there was a lot of difficulty finding a parking spot for the bus but we did see the exterior of the Cathedral though not the inside because apparently it's "unremarkable" and were able to eat a very quick lunch.

Chambord, the hunting lodge of Francois I

After our brief visit to Orleans we traveled to Chambord which was built as a hunting lodge for King Francois I. The castle is easily one of the most recognizable castles in the world but the fact that it was built as a hunting lodge will always continue to amaze me solely because it's a fact that highlights the huge disparity between royalty and everyone else. I would have loved to visit Chambord on a clear sunny day purely for photographic opportunities, but it was not our luck and instead we were greeted with a very gray sky. Even worse; however, was the discovery that in January of this year the castle changed their closing times (without really giving any notice) and as a result we had about half an hour to tour an immense castle.

A bridge by Chambord

The castle was very bare on the inside because it was not built as a residence but there were several remarkable parts of the castle. One of them are a set of stairs designed by Leonardo da Vinci (who when he became French changed his name to Leonard de Vinci, a fact I was completely unaware of). The stairs are a double helix and remarkable because they look like one set of stairs but are in fact two. Two people can be walking (one up and one down) and believe that they will meet in the middle but never actually pass each other on the stairs because they are on two separate staircases.

The Cathedral de Saint Gatien in Tours

When we were kicked out after our half hour we made our way to Tours which didn't have any castles but did have our hotel and was in the middle of all the castles that we would be visiting. We arrived at around 6:30 but it took about a half hour to check in and divy up rooms and by the time we were in our rooms most of us were famished. Stephane brought us from the hotel into the center of town to a street with the most restaurants. Dinner was a little difficult to find, mostly because instead of it being just four of us from UNH we were joined by two others and finding a table for six so late at night wasn't exactly a simple task.

This made choosing a restaurant more difficult than normal but we ended up choosing to eat Lebanese simply because the food sounded decent and there was a table of six just waiting for us. Despite being almost pigeon-holed into eating Lebanese it was delicious. I had also never eaten it before but was pleased to find the chicken, hummus, tabbouleh and pita bread was very good and quite filling and I was glad with our choice. Exhausted after the meal we returned to the hotel and quite exhausted I know that I slept quite soundly.

A porcupine carved into one of the walls of Blois. The porcupine was the
chosen symbol of Louis XII. The symbol of Francois I was a salamander.

The next morning after a very nice breakfast at our hotel we traveled to the Château de Blois where we had a guided Tour. The castle itself is a melange of several different architectural styles because it was built from the 13th to the 17th century. The oldest wing of the castle was built by Louis XII, the next by Francois I (the same king who had Chambord built for him as a hunting lodge) and the last by the brother of Louis XIII, Gaston duc d'Orleans. Gaston had actually planned to destroy the first two wings of the castle and build a castle in just one style but he was only able to construct a minor part and the plans were eventually abandoned. The abandonment was quite fortunate because it allowed us to see three very different architectural styles of France.

The bed of Catherine de Medici in Château de Blois.

We had lunch time free in the city of Blois and due to the cold and overcast weather we quickly tried to find a place to eat. We were successful and I had pasta but it also meant that when we were done with eating we had a lot of free time to wander around a city that like many in France shuts down during lunch time.

After lunch we headed off to Villandry. The chateau de Villandry is quite unremarkable and it is instead the gardens that are special, unfortunately because it's not quite spring nothing was in bloom. This was quite the pity because many pictures showed hedges growing in intricate patterns with flowers in between them and also extensive vegetable gardens. We could see the hedges but without the brightly colored flowers or the unique vegetable gardens, Villandry was honestly disappointing. Perhaps one day I'll make it back there to see the gardens as they're meant to be seen but for now I'll have to rely on pictures in books and because I didn't take very many photos at Villandry here's some visual guidance for how it is supposed to look: the official site of Villandry.

Our bus was tagged our last night in Tours.

Done with Villandry we traveled back to Tours for dinner and the night. We went to a restaurant that served traditional and regional meals off a recommendation from Stephane and an other student and were not disappointed. The food was absolutely delicious. I chose to have duck cooked with figs and was quite happy about my decision after my first bite. I believe I've only eaten duck once before and that was when Mom and Dad tried to cook it at home. I don't remember much of how it tasted (fine I'm assuming) but I do remember that cutting the meat off the bone felt a bit like slaughtering the duck all over again. This time the duck was painless!

Chairs in Chenonceau

Our last Château was Chenonceau the next day. Of all the castles we visited, Chenonceau was probably my favorite. The castle is built over the river Cher and while it was iconic the day also treated us with clear skies. The castle is often called the Château des Femmes (women) because of the long history of the women who lived (at least for part of the time) in the castle. The first woman of the castle was Diane de Poitiers, mistress of Henri II but after the death of Henri, Diane was expelled by his widow and regent Catherine de Medici. After Catherine's death the castle passed on to her daughter in law Louise de Lorraine. It was in Chenonceau that Louise was told of the death of her husband, Henri III. After her death she pledged her life to mourning her husband and spent the rest of her life wandering the castle in mourning clothes surrounded by black curtains.

One of the many flower arrangements in Chenonceau

Apart from the women of Chenonceau there are many incredible bouquets of flowers spread throughout the castle. Each of them is different from one another and each month they are all changed. Stephane noted that in all of the times he's come to Chenonceau, he's never seen a bouquet of lowers that was the same.

From left to right: Amy, Michelle and Sean in the kitchens of Chenonceau.

The historical information throughout all of our tours was constricted to the French monarchy but in Chenonceau I found some interesting facts in relation to World War II. Just as in many grand manors in England, the castles were often used as military headquarters or in the case of Chenonceau, as hospitals. Chenonceau was particularly unique, at least for me, because the river Cher which it sits on was used as a line of demarcation between occupied France and Vichy France. Due to this fact the entrance of the castle was on occupied territory while the long gallery lead to "free" French territory and was therefore used as a means of escape from the Nazis!

A brick oven in Chenonceau. The kitchens as a whole were quite
expansive.

In Chenonceau I also had the opportunity to go into a maze. After our tour of the castle we had 30 minutes to explore the grounds. I spent the first part trying to get at least one picture of the castle and the last inside of a maze. Had we more time I'm sure others would have joined me but seeing as how we were pressed I was the only one to go in. I'm sure that if the maze had been any bigger I might not have made it to the center so quickly but I was fortunate and I was able to both reach the center and also exit the maze relatively quickly with time to spare.

A look out the windows of Chenonceau at the gallery which sits over
the river Cher.

After Chenonceau we stopped for lunch in Amboise which does have a castle but not one that we visited. Apparently students in the past have visited but found three days of castles to be quite exhausting and suggested seeing the exterior but not spending time touring it. I have to agree with this decision because while each castle is certainly unique, too much can ruin the entire experience. Apart from the castle Amboise was also home to Leonardo da Vinci and his final resting place.

The bedroom of Louise de Lorraine.

In lieu of the tour we had lunch free to ourselves. Before arriving in Amboise we were told that it had a very famous pastry shop and that we ought to stop there and buy some chocolate as a treat. Incidentally we ended up eating in the shop for lunch without realizing that it was famous. Upon leaving we noted the many delectable treats but bought nothing because we were saving for "the famous shop" only to discover after exiting that we had just been inside of it! Once we realized our mistake we decided to come back to it after walking around mostly to save ourselves from too much embarrassment. When we finally did go back all of us bought chocolate and having tasted a few of the treats I bought, I know that the reputation is justified!

Chenonceau castle which you can see is undergoing some restorations.

With our chocolates we piled back on to the bus and headed back to Dijon. All in all despite the weather and visiting Villandry in the wrong season, our trip was a very good one and I'm glad to have gone on it.