Chateaus of the Loire Valley

Mark has decided that I need to do the commentary on the Château's, so here goes.

We started our tour of the Loire Valley at the Château of Villandry, which was finished around 1536 and was the last of the Renaissance period chateaus to be built on the banks of the Loire, it is best know for it's gardens. It is one of the few Château that is still privately owned.

The Vegie Garden from the top of the Keep, the Keep is the only original 12th century part of the building remaining

Looking back at the Château

Another view of the vegie garden

After only an hour a Villandry, which was not enough time at all, we headed of to Azay-le Rideau, according to the brochure it is "A Jewel of Renaissance architecture".  Construction started in 1510 with the original fortified castle being refurbished into a residence in the Italian style.  It was purchased by the State in 1905.

So leaving Asay-le Rideau we headed to Chenonceau or the "ladies castle", this is one of the most famous chateaus of the area but it is actually on the Cher River not the Loire, yet again it is constructed over an existing fortified castle, with the keep being one of the few remaining original features.

It was given to Diane de Poitiers by the then French King Henri II, she was his favourite mistress,she was responsible for the original bridge over the river, and the lager of the two gardens, upon the death of Henri II, Catherine de' Medici forced Diane to give the chateau to her, and she had the gallery built over the original bridge, as well as smaller garden.

During the First World War a hospital was set up using the entire Château and during the second World War the river Cher was the demarcation line, so the front of the Château was in the occupied zone while the door at the end of the gallery gave access to the left bank and made it possible for the Resistance to pass large numbers of people into the free zone.  Throughout the second world war there was a German artillary unit kept at the ready to destroy Chenonceau.

Our final stop for the day was Chambord, now this place is huge, it was the enterprise of Francis I when he was 25 it was designed as a "hunting lodge" and was only visitedby Francis I for 72 days, he ruled for 32 years.

One of the most outstanding features is the double spiral staircase that links the Château three floors.  The staircase comprises two concentric spiral flights of stairs that wind independently around a hollow central column, so if two people each take one flight of stairs they can see each other though the openings in the central column but they will never meet.  It is suggested that Leonardo da Vinci may have designed the staircase.

The park of the Château covers 5,440 hectares, and is surrounded by a wall 32km long with six gates.  It is the largest enclosed forest park in Europe.

From Chambond we headed back to Tours.  Here ends the history lesson.