June 16-18, 2022
“Man it’s hot. It’s like Africa hot. Tarzan couldn’t take this kind of hot.”
- Neil Simon
We are experiencing an anomaly here in central France. All of central Europe, but particularly here in France, is experiencing an unusual heat wave. The high today is 106 degrees which is really hot for a country that shares a longitude with Canada, especially for this time of year.
So, it makes touring sites a challenge as we battle other travelers for spots in the shade. The sky is bleach white and being out in the open for any length of time just sucks the life out of you.
None the less, we will soldier on and try to see what we can before we have to retreat to the coolness of our Bed and Breakfast.
We are in the Loire Valley in central France. We are staying in Amboise in a charming BnB owned by a local art gallery director. She speaks English well and it is fun over breakfast listening to her go on about French politics. They are having their elections for their legislature on Sunday.
Her father was the cinematographer or photographer for many movies and she showed us old photos. He photographed legends like Sophia Loren, Bridget Bardot, Peter O’Toole, Audrey Heparin, and even a photo of John Wayne playing chess between shots for The Longest Day.
The Loire River runs East to West across France essentially dividing France in two. It is as far as the Moors made it North during their invasion from Morocco. You can learn more about them from an earlier post.
It is France’s last wild river in that it has no dams or other diversions of its natural course. At one time their were over 1000 castles along its banks attributing to the military importance of the area and the region passed back and forth in control during the 100 Years War, 1350-1450.
The area is rich in good agriculture making the region much sought after and over time, as the government settled into some stability, the valley became the destination for the rich and powerful to have summer homes. Even today, Mick Jagger has a home here.
Kings and various nobles would build palaces or Chateaus for pleasure with little to no defensive purposes. They would form retreats from the intrigues of Paris.
We start our journey into the Loire at Chateau de Villandry. It was a stop on the drive to Amboise from Dinan. Villandry is considered an “average” Loire palace built by the wealthy finance minister to Francois I. It was finished in 1536.
Although the Chateau it self may be thought of as “average”, the gardens most certainly are not.
The gardens have long been considered the finest in the valley and perhaps in all of France. Inspired by Italian design they cover 10 acres and are full of symbolism. Even the herb and vegetable gardens are used in a decorative manner. The earliest gardens were tended by monks and grown for practical purposes. However, later owners added geometric patterns along with fountains and ponds to build the fantasia you see today.
There are 85,000 plants here, most grown in the family greenhouse and maintained by 10 full time gardeners.
We traveled on to Amboise. This ancient town straddles a scenic stretch of the Loire river and will serve as our home for these past three days. It has its own hilltop Chateau built from an older medieval castle.
Francois I governed from here for a time and the legendary Leonardo Da Vinci came here in his retirement and lived in a small Chateau near the King. The old genius would spend the last three years of his life here. He even brought along several of his famous paintings with him, including the Mona Lisa. He died on May 2, 1519.
The historic heap of Chateau Royal d’Amboise dominates the town and was the favored royal residence of Charles VIII until he died.
This is true, Charles died walking into a door lintel here on his way to a tennis match. Other royal residents were more more careful and Francois I famously brought the Renaissance here in the personage of Da Vinci.
Before the heat crashed into us we tried to take on two Chateaus in one day.
Our next stop was Cheverny.
Cheverny is a palace dedicated to hunting. It was completed in 1634 by the Huralt family whose descendants still live here today. They occupy the 3rd floor of the residence while the public can tour the other parts of the house. The chest you see in the collage was owned by Henry IV! The Mona Lisa, among other works was hidden here during WWII.
It is well furnished and on lovely grounds.
The highlight is a visit to their famous dog kennels. Over 100 hunting dogs live here and they hunt twice a week on the family grounds with the owner.
The dogs are a cross between English Foxhounds and French Poitou (Pointer). They are large, loud, graceful animals who are very approachable.
They used to be fed publicly and it was quite a sight — Please see the film.
However, due to Covid, they are no longer offering public viewings of the feedings. I am not sure how that is related to Covid, but we were compliant.
Our next stop was Chateau de Chambord
Here was our first disappointment, well, a minor one but still no what we hoped.
Chambord was billed as the biggest of them all. It was started in 1518 by Francois I, who was an absolute ruler in France for over 30 years. During that time, he never called the legislature into session and he built this huge structure as a demonstration of his power.
The actual architect is unknown but it is suspected DaVinci may have had a hand in its design. There is symmetry, balance and classical proportions that reflect a harmonious Renaissance design. Rooms came off the spiral staircase like a coptic cross.
Guests like Charles V - The Holy Roman Emperor and the most powerful man of his age were invited to the pleasure palace.
However, in what has to be the ultimately display of power, Francois himself only rarely used the palace. He built it, “Because he could” and that about says it all.
The rooms are spare mostly recreated, and the grounds are so immense, it was a challenge to get a feel for the place.
The rooftop was the best with its collage of spectacular chimneys and towers.
So why was it a disappointment? The heat began to climb that afternoon and was touching the high 90’s when we arrived. You felt baked out on the grounds.
It was Africa hot.
And, we didn’t know, the palace has been undergoing major renovations for several months and much of the towers were covered in scaffolding.
Still, it was impressive for its sheer size.
We saved the best one for last. We watched the weather reports and wanted to get out in the morning before it got too hot. And…we also need to do laundry.
So this morning we visited Chateau de Chenonceau.
This palace lives up to its billing as the Queen of the Chateaus.
This is a 16th century palace that arches gracefully over the Cher, “If I Could turn back time,,” River. Thought the years it has been impeccably maintained. (Just like Cher)
It has been nicknamed “The Chateau of the ladies” due to the fact that it was run and designed by King Henry II’s mistress and, after he died, his wife.
The grounds are lovely and as the sun rose over the river, you could see the palace reflect in the water.
During WWI it served as a field hospital and by some miracle escaped being destroyed in WWII. The Cher River marked the border between occupied France and the collaborationist Vichy government.
Walking the grounds is a transformative experience and takes you back to a much more gilded age.
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