Around the World With the ArvaMonts

Loire Valley

England Wales Russia Finland Estonia France Switzerland Germany Austria Hungary Slovakia Czech Republic The Netherlands Italy Spain Gibraltar Morocco Sudan Kenya Tanzania UnitedArabEmerites Egypt Turkey Greece Jordan India Thailand Cambodia Vietnam Japan China Hong Kong Indonesia Australia NewZealand FrenchPolynesia RapaNui Chile Peru Bolivia Ecuador

[Home]
[Up]

We stayed in a nice, though enormous, gîte in the town of Pocé-sur-Cisse, which is just north of Amboise.

Our front door.

From here we explored the area. There must be 30 chateaux in the area, most of which have been turned into museums. We were quickly reaching our limit on castle-watching, so we picked just 2 to explore, though we wandered around the outside of a few others. As expected based on our experiences throughout France, the gardens here are amazing. They also produce a little wine. (This is an understatement for those not familiar with the area.)

And while there are a few animals about, the only one we saw was a cute, though injured, hedgehog.

There was a note in the gîte advising against feeding any of the animals, including the sheep and the chickens. We saw none of these!

We lived just across the Loire from the chateau, but we were out in the country. Most of the land was covered in vines, but there were patches of sunflowers thrown in for color!

Amboise

Chateau Royal

The first, and most prominent chateau in our area was Chateau Royal, which is in Amboise. This was apparently the home of Francios I during Leonardo Da Vinci's time. We did not wander through, but did admire it from afar. Interestingly, we ate dinner at the base of the chateau on our first evening in Amboise, and we did not even know there was a chateau there! We thought they were walls to the city, or something. The next morning we approached Amboise from a different direction - imagine our surprise!

Clos Luce

This was a chateau given by François I to Leonardo DaVinci. The latter died here after three happy years. He and the king were fast friends, there is even a secret passageway from here to Chateau Royal! The inside of this chateau was like all the rest until you came to the basement, where many of his great inventions were built in miniature!

The children completing their scavenger hunt.

By far the best part of the visit was the grounds, however!

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.

Blois

Okay, you will all laugh at us when we tell you why we went to Blois, which is the next bigger town after Amboise, just up the river. We needed a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows! We ordered a copy from The Red Wheelbarrow in Paris, and we knew that it was sent on Saturday, but when it hadn't arrived by Tuesday, we were a little nervous. Our address in Poce-sur-Cisse was a little odd, and we were worried that we had gotten it wrong. What we found was a beautiful town, but no 'Arry Pottre!

Chateau Chenonceaux

This chateau was half in occupied France, half in Vichy, France during the war!

The mistress' garden

The Anika fountain!

in addition to the formal gardens there were large grounds, including this labyrinth.

Chateau Chaumont-sur-Loire

In the gardens of this chateau there is a festival of gardens. This year's theme was movement. I expected here to be many mobiles blowing in the wind. The artist took movement in many different senses. The migrations of people, the difficulty in movement of those in wheel chairs, traveling, and more!