Loire Valley-Amboise, Blois and Chambord

Today's travels took us northeast along the Loire River to visit several towns and their respective chateaux. Our first stop was Le Clos Luce, where Leonardo da Vinci spent the final years of his life at the invitation of Francis I. Both the home and the grounds were lovely.

Next stop was the town of Amboise and the chateau of the same name. Amboise has a colorful history. It was originally a Gallo-Roman camp, became a feudal fortress and then was home to many, many kings of France including Louis XI, Charles VIII, Louis XII, Francis I to name a few! There were numerous grand balls, masquerades, festivals and tournaments held here, but it was also here in 1560, in the Amboise Conspiracy, that a group of Protestant reformers were mercilessly tortured, murdered and hung out on the castle's battlements for all to see. This event cast a dark shadow over Amboise and pretty much marked the end of the era for the Loire Castles. Soon after this, when Louis XIV came to power, Versailles became the chic place to be and Amboise was a mere place of exile for noteworthy prisoners.

En route to Blois, we stopped along the river to view Chaumont, of which we'd heard so much about yesterday while at Chenonceau. Even though Diane de Poitiers didn't feel it was up to the quality of Chenonceau, we thought it looked like a pretty nice place to hang your hat!

When we arrived in Blois our stomachs were growling so we got some sandwiches to eat in the nearby park. We also went into Eglise St. Nicholas which was just behind our park bench.

This gorgeous garden in full bloom and statue were the center piece of the park...

After lunch, we wandered up to look at the chateau. Walking around it, you can see the combination of many architectural styles. It was added to time and time again during its colorful past beginning in the 9th to the 16th centuries It has had many inhabitants; Charles of Orleans, Louis XII, Francis I and Queen Claude, Catherine de Medici, Henry III and Gaston of Orleans to name a few.


This chateau has a colorful past filled with storied of love, intrigue and politicking.
Joan of Arc came here with her in 1429. They celebrated communion together at the church of Saint-Saveur before leaving for Orleans.





Blois is probably most famous for being the scene of the murder of the Duke of Guise. The shortest version of this juicy tale is in 1588, the Duke called an important meeting here with the intention of deposing Henry III and making himself king but Henry found out about the plot and killed the Duke instead.

Inherited from his grandfather, the porcupine(symbolizing invincibility) was Louis XII's emblem...

Statue of Louis XII on horseback...

With the warm sun still high in the sky, we drove on to Chambord, Francis I's Renaissance castle. Situated on a grassy expanse in the midst of acres of forest, this enormous palace was built between 1518-1543. It is really a 440 room, 80 staircase hunting lodge. Despite his love for the sport, Francis spent only 40 days at his huge home. Now owned by the State, it didn't appear to be in very good condition and was under repair outside and as we had heard there is not much furniture left inside, we just took it in from the grounds. Truly amazing! Nick would have liked to have come to a hunting party here!

Exhausted, we headed back to Blere and passed more yellow fields on the way...

As you can see, up close this stuff is pretty tall!

We had a relaxing evening and ate dinner outside at the little neighborhood bar/cafe, Le Chalet, right next to the hotel.