Loire Valley - day one

The Loire Valley was one of Roman Gaul's main trade routes, followed by its share of medieval fortresses to keep off the attacking Vikings. Finally after the Hundred Year's War that ended in 1453 the royal courts turned to pleasure and the chateaux known today in the region began to emerge. We only saw a few of the big ones, but when driving through small towns and country roads we would come upon grand, private chateaux that would blow our socks off in America, but must have felt insecurely puny compared to the neighbors. Talk about keeping up with the Joneses!

Chateau de Chambord


Francois I kept 1800 workers and artisans busy here for 15 years; in the end he only stayed only 42 days. We didn't go in this chateau but decided to explore the grounds. Tennie got a bike and Geoff and I got a little cart with pedals with Adele and Ceci steering in front.

We didn't get far on the little contraption. Geoff and I realized how out of shape we are! We took it back and rented our own bikes.

There are wildlife preserves around the chateau with little lookout towers for animal spotting. We didn't see anything, but later on in the trip while driving we saw deer and a group of wild boar (and a fair share of good ol' French, country RATS!)

Cute little houses in the town of Chambourd

Chateau de Cheverny

Cheverny was lived in until the 1980s! A descendant and his family still live on the top floor.

Cheverny has hound dogs and we watched the feeding. While waiting for their food the hounds howled and howled. When the piles of raw meat were left on the floor the trainer had them wait...wait and then at the signal they ferociously (we now understand the term dog eat dog) fought for meat chunks. It was a little brutal as dogs bit each other and fought over the food. I guess that is how they keep them wanting those foxes!

The potage (kitchen garden)

...with flower borders

We went to Blois for dinner and walked around the town a little...we didn't dig too deep here. Just a very historic place to have dinner...