Loire Valley Regional Info

History | Geography | Food / Drink

"We could not be more pleased, we will continue to sing your praises to anyone interested in visiting France, and should we return we will contact you first!" - S. Shed, Loire Tour

History

It is there in the Loire Valley that the king Francois Ier (1515-1547) and his court chose to build castles for leading a life style inspired by the new humanist values of the Renaissance and by the cults of the beauty, of the luxury and the refinement. These elegant chateaux with their gardens celebrated the pleasure of life. The castles of the Renaissance were not built to defend against enemies. They were built for decorating the landscape and to illustrate the new prosperity of France.

For centuries, the Loire river was linking up with important tributaries such as the Indre and Cher. The Loire river was a highway between the Atlantic and the heart of France.

Geography

The Loire river marks the symbolic division between the north and the south of France. This quiet river, the longest of France ( 1012 km), crosses the beautiful regions of Touraine and Anjou, in which these harmonious landscapes invite the "douceur de vivre", meaning the "sweetness of life".

L'Anjou and the Touraine: The valleys of Anjou (region close by Angers city)and Touraine (region close by Tours city) are covered of prairies with savory and fruited vineyards. It is the land of the rose wine and where the roofs of houses are made of slate.

The Sologne: At the south of the Loire River, in the loop formed by the river, the landscape changes. The Sologne is planted with pines and is a region of fishing and hunting.

What about the castles...?
The biggest castle of the Renaissance, the royal Chateau of Chambord, was built by Francois Ier from 1519 to 1544. It is located in the middle of a big forest where the king and his court could hunt. It took 1800 workers to build this magnificent chateau which counts 440 rooms, 365 chimneys, and 63 stairways! Chambord had to be "a residence of the dimensions of glory", marking the period.

More typical of the new sophisticated life style of the Renaissance, are the little chateaux of Azay-le-Rideau (1524-1527) and of Chenonceaux (1515-1581). Both of them use the reflection of the water of the river on which they are built to create a charming and harmonious ambiences.

The gardens played an important role in the life style of this époque as well. The gardens of the last big chateau built on the border of the Loire river, the chateau of Villandry, are the best example of the geometric organization adopted at the Renaissance for the formal gardens, called " a la francaise", or in the French style.

• Chateau de Jallanges: Between the famous vineyards of Vouvray and the
  woodland nearby stands this magnificent Renaissance castle
• château de Cheverny, built entirely between 1604 and 1634 by the Count
  Hurault de Cheverny, Hergé, father of the cartoon character Tintin, was
  inspired by the castle to draw the Château de Moulinsart, the famous
  residence of Captain Haddock!
• Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire, built by the Counts de Blois beginning in
  the 10th century it was dismantled by Louis XI in 1465. Reconstruction
  began that same year and continued until 1510. The château partly lost its
  military aspect in the 18th century.
• château de Chambord, one of the most recognizable châteaux in the world
  because of its very distinct French Renaissance architecture that blends
  traditional medieval forms with classical Italian structures. It is the largest
  castle in the Loire Valley, but was built to serve only as a hunting lodge for
  King François I. The original design of the Château de Chambord was by
  Domenico da Cortona, but was altered considerably during the twenty
  years of its construction (1519-1547). Leonardo da Vinci, a guest of King
  François at Clos Lucé near Amboise, is believed to have been involved in
  the original design.
• Château de Chenonceau: The High Constable of Montmorency took
  possession of the château in the name of François I during the 16th
  century. In 1563, Catherine de Medici transformed the gardens of
  Chenonceau in accordance with the plan devised by Bernard Palissy in his
  Drawing of a Delectable Garden. After her death, she bequeathed the
  château to Louise of Lorraine, the Queen and the wife of her son Henri III.
  The extensive transformations undertaken in 1576 were not yet finished.
  That same year, Henri was murdered in Saint-Cloud. Overcome with grief,
  Louise gave way to melancholy and never recovered. Soon called « the
  White Queen » by the villagers, she turned Chenonceau into a place of
  meditation and solitude. Symbolically, she stored all the velvet and satin
  dresses for the feasts in a large chest in the gallery.
• Château d'Azay le Rideau: built during the creative period of the beginning
  of Francois the 1st reign by Gilles Berthelot, a rich middle class financier
  man from Touraine area who was interested in the Renaissance Italian
  cultural wave. This building belongs to the first pleasance residencies that
  mix French château charm with majesties Italian palaces.
• Chateau and gardens of Villandry: Villandry was completed toward 1536
  and was the last of the large châteaux built on the banks of the Loire
  during the Renaissance. Jean le Breton, one of François I Finance
  Ministers, built it.
• Château d'Usse, whose impressive bulk and fortified towers contrast
  sharply with the white stone and the myriad roofs, turrets, dormers and
  chimneys rising against a green background. Tradition has it that when
  Charles Perrault, the famous French writer of fairy-tales, was looking for a
  setting for Sleeping beauty, he chose Ussé as his model.

What to do in Amboise:

• The Royal castle in Amboise: Built in the 15th and 16th centuries, this
  truly royal castle introduced Italian style and taste into the Loire Valley.
• Le Clos Lucé: Le Clos Lucé, its park and the Eiffel-style hall contain an
  unusual display giving some idea of the many facets of Leonardo da Vinci's
  genius in fields as different as art, civil and military engineering,
  architecture and town planning, anatomy, botany, stage direction etc
• Collégiale Saint Denis, a 12th Century church
• Parc Mini Châteaux, a 2 ha parc with the most significant châteaux of the
  Loire on a 1/25 scale

Food / Drink

What good "stuff' can you eat?
Tourte soufflé au Crottin de Chavignol (cheese pie) Fricassee d'escargots au Sancerre (snails cooked in wine) Mousse de Rhubarb au coulis de framboise (Rhubarb mousse with raspberry sauce) Warm fresh goat cheese on a bed of greens...Just delicious!
Cheese specialty: the Crottin de Chavignol and the Valancay. Both are very good goat cheese. They are also probably the best-known. It is not a joke... Crottin means a horse-dropping!!

What about a drink?
Well, the Loire Valley is a wine country. But you probably know that already!

Muscadet ( dry white) Rose d'Anjou ( dry or semi-dry) Saumur (bubbly white and light red) the Bourgueil and the Chinon( red): good wines with cheese!. Vouvray ( both dry and sweet) Sancerre ( dry white and also rose) Pouilly Fume (dry white Sauvignon).