Saturday, April 19, 2014

Loire Valley, April 2014

Stayed with Keith & Sue at their holiday home in Onzain. Great weather, blue sky all the way but with a cool wind at times. The Loire Valley is much flatter than I had expected it to be but the countryside is beautiful nonetheless. Enjoyed the towns, chateaux and French food.

Blois
Every hour on the hour, the unassuming facade of a villa across from the imposing Chateau de Blois transforms into an enormous mechanical clock.
Against a backdrop of clanging bells and eerie music, six golden dragon heads emerge out of windows, snapping their jaws and a serpentine tail twirls from the attic window.

The installation was created in 1998 by French artists Michell and Jean-Pierre Hartmann, and is an homage to the legendary magician and illusionist Jean Robert-Houdin.
Hundreds of bikers appeared in the centre of Blois in the middle of a Saturday afternoon. No idea why.

 All quiet after the bikers had gone!

Chambord
The Chateau Chambord is in Europe's largest enclosed wooded park and enclosed by a 20 mile-long wall. Chambord, is the largest château in the Loire Valley.
In 1516, François I, king of France since 1515, came back from Italy with Leonardo da Vinci with a desire to create a large structure in the Italian Renaissance style. 
The size of Chambord is astounding, with its 156 metre façade, 426 rooms, 77 staircases, including the famous ‘double’, 282 fireplaces and 800 sculpted capitals.

We had a picnic before going in but forgot the spoons for the yogurt. This fine spoon pictured was made from a twig and silver foil.




Loches
Loches is a very picturesque town with its chateau, castle, the Church of St Ours and beautiful riverside gardens.
We ventured into the old Vignemont stone quarry, now a 750-metre underground attraction It used to be a troglodyte dwelling, a mushroom farm and a refuge for the townsfolk in violent times. We had the place to ourselves and the sculptures with sound effects by Will Menter made the experience spookily impressive.




Tours
Took the train from Ozain to Tours. Impressed by Saint-Gatiens Cathedral, a daredevil cat, the trams and the lunch!



Amboise
Our visit ended with a visit to Amboise where Trish finally did some shopping (clothes and a handbag. The lunch was superb!







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