Today we again went west to find a few more of the Loire Valley chateaux. Well to be specific they are chateaux near the Cher River which also runs east west and is a bit further south of the Loire River. We found one magnificent place and two okay places.
So first up the magnificent Château de Chenonceau. Majestic grounds and chateau itself as the following pictures will demonstrate.
The chateau actually straddles the Cher River and is one of the homes of Louis XIV and other royalty. There are gardens from both Diane de Poitier, one of King Henri II favourite ladies, and Catherine de Medici, widow of Henri II who booted Diane out of the chateau.
Catherine's garden.
Diane's garden.
During World War II the chateau also straddled the demarcation line between the occupied zone and the "free" zone. It became a popular spot for the Resistance to smuggle people into the free zone.
Catherine de Medici not smiling. This could be from when she found out about Diane.
Just one of the ornate bedrooms and many tapestries and paintings.
Next up was La Cité Royal de Loches. We didn't go inside but got a few shots of the outside of the structure.
From Loches we travelled to Montrésor. The original structure started as a fortress in the XIth century then became residental a few hundred years later . It was a Polish noble who brought it to it's current glory in the 19th century.
The picture below is the main salon. A lot like our living room but no big screen TV.
Some great views of the town from the chateau.
A lot of driving today, mostly on D roads through picturesque villages and rolling fields of sunflowers, corn, and of course grape vines. Tired and weary we got back to our apt. and immediately opened a bottle of wine. Tough life I know.
Tomorrow we leave Bourges and head for an overnight in Lyon as we make our way south to Provence.
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