For The Love of Travel

Chambord is the largest chateau in the Loire valley; it was built over 28 yrs to serve as a hunting lodge for Francis 1, who maintained his royal residences at Blois and Amboise, being completed in 1547. The design was influenced by various architects and ‘influencers’, including Leonardo Da Vinci when he was guest of the King (and staying near by).

Built in French renaissance-style, the internal layout is an early example of the French and Italian way of grouping rooms into self-contained suites, a departure from the medieval style of corridor rooms. The massive chateau is composed of a central keep, with immense bastion towers at the corners. As it was never intended to provide any form of defence from enemies, the walls, towers and partial moat are purely decorative.

The roofscape of Chambord has often been compared with the skyline of a town – 11 kinds of towers, 3 types of chimneys, without symmetry, framed at the corners by the massive towers.

One of the architectural highlights is the spectacular open double-helix staircase that is the centrepiece of the château. The 2 spirals ascend three floors without ever meeting, illuminated from above by a sort of light house at the highest point of the chateau. 274 steps! The use of coffered vaulted ceilings was employed for the first time in France.

The chateau is surrounded by a 53 sq kilometre wooded park and game reserve maintained with red deer, enclosed by a 31 kilomatre wall.

This tapestry depicts the arrival of Louis X1V and his court at Chambord around 1665.

Interesting to note, Francis 1 only spent 72 nights in the chateau his entire lifetime!

Love to see French dog owners taking their pooches on their adventures too!

The Royal Chateau first on our list today, is located high on its rocky perch, dominating the city skyline and the Loire river. Its four facades, each of a distinct style, offer a rapid overview of French architecture and the history of the Chateaux of the Loire. It’s the only one to have hosted 10 Queens and 7 Kings of France, including Louis X11 and Francis 1, his nephew and successor. The city was the favoured stronghold of France’s rulers for over 100 years. It has 564 rooms, including 100 bedrooms with a fireplace in each and 84 staircases. The Chateau has witnessed more than one notable historical event, including the stay of Joan of Arc (1412-1431); the murder of the Duke of Guise (1550-1588) by Henry 111 (1551-1589); the place of exile for Marie de Medici (1545-1642).

Eglise-St-Nicholas, located between the Chateau and the Loire, combines Romanesque and Gothic styles. We spent a few hours meandering over the 4 floors and Chateau’s terrace. 

Then onto Chateau de Chambord to capture some drone shots. Wow, those incredible 18thC gardens are splendid – they were a late addition to the grounds of the chateau as the soil was largely soft wetland and marsh. It was during the stay of Polish King, Stanislas Leszczynski, between 1725-1733 that the marshlands were drained and sanitised, with bridges, dykes, a canal built (eradicating the malaria-carrying mosquitoes previously present). In 1734 the plantations on the 6.5 hectares began. Fantastic to be able to fly droney to capture the planting design from the air. The gardens fell into disrepair after the Revolution, until only large flat lawns remained, but restored  again in 2016. Tomorrow, we are going to explore inside!

I got up early to see the Chateau de Sully-sur-Loire, first driving through Germigny-des-Pres. Very moody and misty. This village is home to one of France’s unique treasures, the Carolingian Oratory, dating back to 806, one of France’s oldest churches. It’s renowned for its exceptional mosaic, which adorns the semi-dome vault, comprising 130,000 pieces of gold, silver, glass and stone.

Fleury Abbey at Saint-Benoit-sur-Loire, founded in 640 is one of the most celebrated Benedictine monasteries of Western Europe, and possesses the relics of St Benoit, which are considered important objects of pilgrimage for believers.

Chateau de Sully-sur-Loire has a pointed-arch framework, a petit chateau and keep and an important character is attached to its history, Maximillen de Bethune, the Duke of Sully (the first Minister and good friend of Henry IV, who bought the castle in 1606). The building had 2 main functions – defence, with the presence of moats, drawbridges, rampart walk, arrow slits …protecting the river crossing on the Loire which allowed exchanges between Paris and the rest of the country. It also needed to ‘impress’/’make a statement’ – to demonstrate the lord’s power. Maximillen ordered the construction of the artillery tower to strengthen the ‘townside’ of the castle, and 3 passageways to connect the different parts of the site and filled the moats with water. Genius! 

When I got back to Orleans that morning, Terry, John and I walked a bit around Orleans. We loved Hotel Groslot with its delightful garden, which has housed the town council since the Revolution, but it was once the ‘King’s guesthouse’. Then past the Cathedral Sainte-Croix with the statue of a person carrying a sheep (a ‘nod’ to Joan of Arc, ex-shepherdess I thought), to the Musee des Beaux Arts – what a collection! 

Portraits of jaunty gents; a post modernist interpretation of the Battle for Orleans (above); ivory sculptures; porcelain plates; cherubs; still life of beautiful flowers; limbless Renaissance heroines going into battle …..so much to absorb.

Next to Beaugency, a quiet town located in the ‘valley of kings’, on the Loire river, between Orleans and Blois. The most important event in the turbulent history of the town was the battle of Beaugency , a series of battles led by Joan of Arc in 1429, in which the region was captured from the English. This was an important victory because at the time, the town controlled the only river crossing in the region. Allied forces blew up both sides of the town’s 13thC medieval bridge (26 stone arches) in WW2, to stop the Nazis crossing over. Originally, the town’s wealth developed around the bridge as the town charged a toll to those who crossed over, overseen by the Caesar Tower.

We arrived at our AirB&B in Cellettes in the early evening (cute cottage in the midst of farming country), having a late dinner and retiring well-tired.