Loire Valley roads…

Posted: June 29, 2006 at 10:46 pm by John

I gave a TON of details on the beautiful chateaux along the Loire and Cher Rivers in central France during our ONE, TWO, THREE days driving from site to site. So check out those entries for more specifics. This is the photo portion of our tour.

We begin our photo journal with our own tiny chateau–Le Manoir Les Minimes–situated in the cozy town of Amboise on the Loire River.

Above the town of Amboise is its very own Chateau Royal d’Amboise with flags-a-waving. The town of Amboise makes a perfect launching pad to the surrounding countryside.

Our second chateau was the majestic Chateau de Chenonceau, which actually straddles the Cher River and has beautiful formal gardens.

Next was Chateau de Chambord, an enormous 426-room “hunting lodge”.

Next visited Chateau de Cheverny with the 70+ hunting dogs (which made quite a smell).

Then is was the quaint Chaumont-sur-Loire, built in the 15th and 16th centuries with its classic pointed towers and a working draw bridge.

One of our favorites stops was Villandry, a Renaissance-style chateau with stunning terraced gardens, including a tranquil water garden with large pools and fountains, ornamental knot gardens of boxwood borders with flowering interiors, and the expansive ‘kitchen garden’ that uses flowers and herbs and vegetables to create colorful, intricate patterns. Oh, they also had a gallery with some freakish paintings!

4 Comments for Loire Valley roads…

JamesF

No one’s commented? Unbelievable! I really like the shot of the dogs. And the shots below that, especially the garden maze.

Buddy

I couldn’t make out the information plaque…what is the deal with that painting of the baby at the end of your post ???

—creepy

BullBunky

Thanks, James. I was really pleased with this series. 🙂

And Buddy…I don’t know the story of this picture. Can’t recall. The entire room was filled with these freakish art.

Sherie Jane

I did some of the chateau tours when I did the study abroad thing. I thought it was great that Diane de Villiers got a house for being a whore…Wait, was it Diane??? Jeff would know the answer.