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FRANCE TOURISM GUIDE (VAL DE LOIRE & WESTERN LOIRE)

Val de Loire

One of France’s most famous regions is the Loire Valley, the former playground of the French monarchs, whose traces and grand palaces attract visitors today. The ‘center’ of France from Chartres to Châteauroux and from Tours to Bourges includes the départements of Eure-et-Loir, Loiret, Loir-et-Cher, Indre, Indre-et-Loire and Cher.

The Central Loire includes the famous Châteaux country, perhaps the region most visited by foreign tourists to France. Through it flows a part of the Loire River, the longest river in France, and considered to be its most capricious, often reducing to a mere trickle of water in a bed of sand. It has been called a ‘useless’ great river, because it drives no turbines or mill wheels and offers few navigable waterways. It could be said that the Loire serves only beauty and each of its tributaries has its own character.

The Cher is a quiet, slow-moving river, flowing calmly through grassy meadows and mature forests. The château of Chenonceaux stands quite literally on the river; a working mill in the early medieval period when the Cher flowed more vigorously, it was transformed into perhaps the most graceful of all French châteaux, its court rooms running clear from one bank to the other on a row of delicate arches. Chenonceaux’s development owed much to a succession of beautiful and powerful noblewomen, and its charm is of an undeniably feminine nature.

The Indre is a river of calm reflections. Lilies abound and weeping willows sway on its banks. The château at Azay-le-Rideau was designed to make full use of these qualities and stands beside several small manmade lakes, each reflecting a different aspect of the building. Water is moved to and from the river and between the lakes through a series of gurgling channels. The water gardens and its reflections of the intricately carved exterior more than compensate for the rather dull interior.

The Vienne is essentially a broad stream. It glides gracefully beneath the weathered walls of old Chinon, where several important chapters in French history were acted out. The château of Blois, which is - architecturally speaking - one of the finest, is certainly the most interesting in terms of history. It stands in the center of the ancient town of the same name, towering over the battered stone houses clustered beneath its walls.

Chambord, several miles south of the Loire, is the most substantial of the great châteaux. Standing in a moat in the center of a vast lawn bordered by forests, the body of the building possesses a majestic symmetry. In contrast, the roofscape is a mad jumble of eccentric chimneys and apartments. Some have attributed the bizarre double-helix staircase to Leonardo da Vinci.

The five châteaux described above are generally ranked highest amongst the Loire châteaux and form the core of most organized tours. There are, of course, dozens more that can be visited and it is even possible to stay overnight in several of them.

The Loire Valley is very warm and crowded with tourists in summer. Besides châteaux, there is much else of interest in the Loire Valley and surrounding districts. There are magnificent 13th-century cathedrals in Chartres and Tours, as well as abbeys and mansions and charming riverside towns and villages. Other places of outstanding interest include Orléans, famous for its associations with Jeanne d’Arc, with a beautiful cathedral, the Musée des Beaux Arts and 16th-century Hôtel de Ville; and Bourges, a 15th-century town complete with old houses, museums and the Cathedral of St-Étienne.

The charming little town of Loches, southeast of Tours, has a fine château and an interesting walled medieval quarter. It was in the heartland of the Touraine that the true cuisine of France developed (Touraine was given the name ‘the garden of France’).

Western Loire

The region of the Western Loire comprises the départements of Loire-Atlantique, Maine et Loire, Mayenne, Sarthe and the Vendée. The Vendée and the Loire-Atlantique share a beautiful and wild coastline with Brittany. There are 305km (190 miles) of sandy beaches. Inland, the mild climate makes for beautiful mature pastures, often made more attractive by clumps of wild camelias and roses.

In the Western Loire, La Baule, a summer resort with a fine, seemingly endless beach, is a pleasant town with winding streets and giant pines, excellent hotels, restaurants and a casino. It has an unusually mild microclimate and is exceptionally warm for the region. Le Mans, famous for its racetrack, is an historic old town built on a hill overlooking the west bank of the Sarthe. The 12th-century choir in the Cathedral of Saint-Julian is one of the most remarkable in France. The magnificent 13th- and 14th-century stained glass is also impressive.

Most of the Sarthe Valley consists of beautifully wooded hills, divided by the thick hedges that are seasonally draped with wild roses, honeysuckle, or large juicy blackberries. In May or early June, the apple and pear blossoms blend with the hawthorn; the orchards are in bloom and the fields and forests are rich and green. These two months are most attractive and the weather at that time is usually favorable; the autumn is less dry but usually remains pleasant through October.

Nantes, on the coast of the Loire-Atlantique, is a thriving commercial and industrial center. There is a medieval castle, which also houses the Musée d’Art Populaire, a display of Breton costumes; a 15th-century cathedral; and a naval museum. St-Nazaire, along the coast from Nantes, boasts the Escal Atlantic, a replica of an ocean liner containing interactive exhibits evoking the golden age of ocean travel.

Upstream from Nantes, the town of Angers contains some spectacular tapestries. In the castle can be seen St John’s Vision of the Apocalypse (14th century) and in the Hôpital St-Jean, Jean Lurcat’s Chant du Monde (20th century). The Hôpital itself is very beautiful and there are several museums and art galleries in the town worth a visit, as well as the magnificent castle/fortress and the cathedral.

The regional cuisine has the advantages of excellent vineyards, an abundance and variety of fish from the Loire and its tributaries, plentiful butter and cheese, fruits and vegetables and easily available game from the forests. In general, the wines of the Loire all have a clean refreshing taste that makes them ideal for light lunches or as an apéritif.