The following post covers my travels south of Paris through several departments on my way to San Sebastian in Spain.
The drive from Maincey (near Fontainbleu) to Le Mans was 211 km and I foolishly decided to take a route that went around the south of Paris hitting most of the early morning traffic before getting onto the toll road – €18.90 for about 190kms of nice 3-lane road.
CENTER / PAYS-de-LOIRE (Chartes, Le Mans, Angers, Loire)
CHARTES (pop 41,000).
Cathedral of Notre Dame. A UNESCO WHS, this 13th-century cathedral is an architectural achievement, France’s best-preserved medieval cathedral at 130m long. Its most famous relic is the Sainte Voile (Holy Veil) said to be worn by the Virgin Mary when she gave birth to Jesus that brought pilgrims here in 876 – a yellowish bolt of silk draped over support. The west entrance and 105m bell tower (€7.50 to climb) are the only things that survived the fire of 1194. The church is also known for its 176 dazzling, brilliant blue stained glass windows, most dating from the 13th century. The most famous for their tones known as Chartres blue is on the wall of the west entrance also predating the fire. The 110m crypt (€3) is tombless and the largest in France.
LE MANS
Museum of the 24 Hours of Le Mans – Circuit of Sarthe. As is typical, it has many cars, posters, and race records. €8 It is possible to drive the circuit (two 15-minute rides for €615; three 20-minute rides for €960 – both involving technique lessons, debriefing, and a diploma).
Le Mans Cathedral (Cathedral de Saint Julien). St Julien brought Christianity here in the 4th century. The original church was rebuilt in the 11th century and the magnificent apse with 13 chapels was added in the 14th century. The two highlights for me were the chapel with wonderful wood carvings describing much of the life of Jesus and the Ways of the Cross. The Virgin’s Chapel at the very back is beautifully painted with 47 angels. This made the church 129m long with the new apse 34m high. This church has tons of information: instructions on the 7 sacraments, details of most of the stained glass windows and construction details on both the Romanesque and Gothic vaults.
ANGERS (pop 146,000)
Angers had a Gallo-Roman wall and after 1232, a wall surrounded the entire old town.
Museum card (Billet jumelé). For €15, visited 6 museums for one year, a great deal but only a €7 saving for the 3 museums I visited.
Jean-Lurçat Museum. On the west side of the river, this contemporary tapestry museum is housed in a 12th-century hospital that looks much more like a church. Jean Lurçat (1892-1966) took four years after WWII to make the epic Chant du Monde tapestry depicting history from Charlemagne to nuclear holocaust and inspired by the Apocalypse Tapestry in the chateau. They have detailed stunning designs on a black background. €6
Angers Museum de Beaux Arts (M of Fine Arts). In the center of town, it showcases primarily Western French art from the Middle Ages to the present.
Chateau d’Angers. Looming above the river, this castle was built in 1232 with a 500m rampart, 2.5m thick walls, and 17 towers. Later the roofs of the tower were removed to hold cannon. In the chapel is the centrepiece, the Apocalypse Tapestry, a large medieval French set of tapestries commissioned by Louis I, the Duke of Anjou, and produced between 1377 and 1382. It depicts the story of the Apocalypse from the Book of Revelation by Saint John the Divine – the story of the final battle between good and evil – in colourful images using a lot of reds and yellows, spread over some sections that originally totalled 90 scenes. Despite being lost and mistreated in the late 18th century, the tapestry was recovered and restored in the 19th century. It is the oldest French medieval tapestry to have survived.
The moat never contained water – originally it held the king’s menagerie, then it was a garden and sheep pasture and since1912, a French-style garden (very nice). Just outside is a grand viewpoint down to the Maine River and the west side of Angers. €9
Angers Cathedral. This has no aisles but wonderful wood carving in the pulpit, choir stalls and the 4 statues holding up the organ.
LOIRE VALLEY
At the frontier between north and south France and a short distance from Paris, the strategically important Loire Valley was where kings and nobles came for a thousand years to build feudal castles and later, over-the-top pleasure palaces with crenellated towers, cupolas and banquet halls. The river between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes is a gigantic World Heritage Site also known for its cities of Angers, Saumur, Tours and Orléans. This post follows from the south of Angers to Orléans.
History. In Roman times the valley was an important transport artery. The earliest chateau dates from the 9th century built to ward off marauding Vikings and by the 11th century were fortresses with massive walls. In the Hundred Years War (1337-1453), it was one of the boundaries between the French and English. After Charles VII regained the crown with the help of Joan of Arc, it became the centre of French court life. Francois I (r. 1515-47) introduced ornate Renaissance palaces.
Brissac Chateau. In the small town of Brissac-Quince, this is another over-the-top chateau.
SAUMURE (pop 27,000). Chalky white cliffs line the Loire east and west of town and troglodyte homes dot the countryside. This is a very pretty town with cream houses and sidewalks.
Castle of Saumure. Built by Louis XI in the 13th century, cross two moats and a drawbridge to enter this heavily fortified, fairy tale castle. The local museum has a good collection of vintage equestrian gear. €7
Doue-la-Fontaine. I didn’t visit this zoo SW of Saumure.
Fontevraud Abbey. 15 km SE of Saumure, this 12th-century abbey is surrounded by an immense white wall. The large but simple church is noted for its soaring pillars and the stone tombs of 4 Plantagenets: Henry II of England (r. 1154-89), his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, their son Richard the Lionheart, and his brother King John’s wife Isabelle of Angouleme. In 1804, Napoleon turned it into a notoriously harsh prison (ended in 1963). €11
I then drove along the Loire Valley passing some of the following chateaus and castles in order from west to east. There are several Chateau Passes each combining 3 separate chateaus (~€40 each)
Chateau d’Ussé, Rigny-Ussé. Creamy white with a steep black slate roof, it has great views of the Loire Valley. It is most known for its association with Sleeping Beauty.
Chateau d’Azay–le-Rideau. Built in the 1500s on an island in the middle of the Indre River, it is known for its turrets, windows, and fine stonework. €8.50
Château de Langeais. Built in the 1460s, it remains the most authentically medieval chateau with crenelated towers ramparts, and massive towers – the side facing the town is nearly windowless. €9
Château de Villandry. It is known for its six acres of gardens spread over 6 hectares. It is 16km SW of Blois and 11kms NE of Azay-le-Rideau. €10.50
TOURS (pop 135,000). It is known for its medieval quarter and university with 25,000 students.
Château d’Amboise. On a rocky escarpment above the town (where Leonardo da Vinci died), it was favoured by all of the Valois and Bourbon kings. Little of the original remains – only the flamboyant Gothic chapel and hunting lodge are original. €11.20
Château de Chenonceau. Built by a series of powerful women, this elegant chateau has rare furnishings, a fabulous art collection, and gardens with a yew maze. €13
Chateau de Chaumont, Chaumont-sur-Loire. Constructed between 1468 and 1566 and thoroughly renovated in 1875, its highlights are the tapestries, English garden and horse stables. Read about its bloody history. It is 19kms SW of Blois.
BLOIS (pop 47,500).
Château de Blois. Built in four stages (four wings) from the 13th to the 17th centuries, 7 French kings lived in Blois. Highlights are the loggia staircase, Queens and Kings bedchamber and fine arts museum. €1
Château de Cheverny. Built in the early 1600s by the Huralt family, an attendee of Louis XII (and lived in continuously since), it represents the zenith of French classical architecture with perfect symmetry, geometry, and aesthetics. Highlights are the dining room, a child’s playroom, art collection, orangery, dog kennels with 100 dogs, and gardens. €10.50
Chateau de Chambord. Began in 1519 by Francois I (r 1515-47) as a weekend hunting lodge, it quickly grew into the largest, grandest, and most visited chateau in the Loire Valley. With 440 rooms, 365 fireplaces, and 84 staircases, it is also the most ambitious and expensive architectural project attempted by a French monarch. After taking 30 years to build, he found it too draughty and preferred to stay in Amboise and Blois and only stayed here 42 days.
The highlights inside are the king’s and queen’s bedrooms, the famous double-helix staircase that ascends to the lantern tower, and the rooftop to see the skyline of cupolas, turrets, domes, chimneys, and lightning rods. There are equestrian shows in the summer.
The 54 sq. km hunting reserve around the chateau is the largest walled enclosure in France. 10 sq. km is open to the public and bikes, pedal carts, golf carts, and Land Rover Safari tours are available to hire. The game can be spotted from special observation towers.
Chambord is 16kms of Blois, 42kms SW of Orleans and 18kms NE of Cheverny. €11, parking €5
ORLÉANS (pop 115,000)
100 km south of Paris, it is famous for Joan of Arc rallying the armies of Charles VII, a key turning point in the 100 Years War. Joan has at least 6 statues around town. It is the northeast gateway to the Loire Valley. The Cathedral Ste-Croix towers above the town.
Between Orleans and Sully-sur-Loire are several pretty towns and north is the Forest of Orleans.
Fleury Abbey, Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire.
Château de Sully-sur-Loire.
One can then loop south and west to see several chateaus well south and off the river. Château de Meillant is a long way south and not seen.
Château de Valençay
Castle Montrésor
Chateau de Loches
POITOU-CHARENTES (Poitiers, La Rochelle, Niort)
POITIERS (pop 88,000)
The former capital of Poitou, it is famous for, in 732, the Muslim forces of Abd ar-Rahman, governor of Cordoba were defeated. It is now known as the town of 100 bell towers for its several Romanesque churches.
Cathedral St Pierre. The west façade with many biblical scenes was sculpted between 1115-1130. The plain nave contrasts with the altar area and its treasures gleaned from other churches and monasteries from the city, including the nice 12th-century choir stalls and the huge carved wood Altar of the Virgin.
Musée Ste Croix. The local museum has artifacts from prehistory, the Romans, the Middle Ages, and art from the 14th to the 20th centuries. The showcase is precast concrete sculptures by Camille Claudel (1864-1943). €4.50
Abbey Church of St. Savin on Gartempe. The abbey originated in the 9th century, and has a 17th-century residence and 19th-century tower, but is known for its famous 11th-century frescoes, the reason it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The abbey church has faux pas-painted marble columns and bricks.
It was then a lovely 90km drive through French countryside – no roundabouts or traffic, only 3 villages with 50km/hr speed limits and mostly sheep.
Oradour-Sur-Glane (ghost village). One of the greatest atrocities of WWII occurred here. On June 10, 1944, the German army blocked the exits to the town then bombed and set it on fire, killing 642 French citizens. This was in retaliation for the killing of two Nazi officers by the resistance the day before. The burned-out shells of houses sit in a park next to the new town and across the highway to a memorial to the martyrs.
LIMOUSIN
This little-visited area is known for its rolling pastures and beautiful villages.
LIMOGES (pop 140,000). For more than 200 years, this city has thrived as the top producer of excellent hard-paste porcelain (china) in France. Several factories continue to make ‘Limoges’ and stunning examples fill the museums and galleries. The city is in a strategic position on the River Vienne, the site of the 10BC Roman city of Augustoritum.
Musée National Adrien-Dubouché – Cité de la céramique. This museum, founded in 1845, has one of France’s two outstanding collections of ceramics illustrating the evolution from earthenware to porcelain including 12,000 pieces of Limoges as well as Meissen, Royal Doulton, and others. €7
It was another 90km drive to Perigueux, but much more interrupted by 50km/hr villages.
DORDOGNE
This area is famous as a great French vacation area. I had walked through the entire region when I did the Via Podenses (one of the three routes through France of the Camino de Santiago from Le Puy to St-Jean-Pied-de-Port in 2010. It has many bastides (fortified towns) and fortresses.
PÉRIGUEUX (pop 31,500). Founded by Gallic tribes and later developed into the important Roman city of Vesunna, it remains the biggest and busiest town. The cathedral is surrounded by cobbled streets and medieval houses.
Cathedral St Front. This unusual square cathedral has five huge domes in a Greek cross – four surrounding the large central dome, each with great chandeliers. On the outside, 12 small turrets surround the domes giving it a fairytale look. The two huge, carved wood altars, the tomb of Mic Jacet, and the oil painting Ways of the Cross are wonderful. Vesunna – Musée Gallo-Roman de Périgueux. This sleek museum encompasses a 1st-century Roman villa uncovered in 1959 with its central fountain, pillars, underfloor hypocaust system, and original mosaic floors. €5
Just as I was starting my day on January 31, I was backing up with enough clearance to avoid a large semi-trailer parked behind me. The tiny female driver opened her door and I backed into it shattering the rear window. The part was only available in Paris and deliveries had been delayed because of snow in north France and could not be delivered for 4 days!!! The dealership in Perigueux was able to place a piece of plastic over the window so that I could continue and possibly get it fixed in Madrid.
I wake up every morning and go to sleep every night praying that I don’t have an accident.
Chateau de Hautemont. 27 km east of Perigueux on winding country roads, this residence sits on top of a hill surrounded by a huge defensive wall. The chateau has a medieval town in its south.
NM sites I did not see in the area were the Abbey of Abauzine, the village of Collange-la-Rouge, the church at Rocamadour, and the villages of Domme and Sarlat-la-Canèda. This drive surrounded the famous prehistoric caves at Lascaux.
National Museum of Prehistory, Les Eyzies de Tayac.
I then drove ~450kms vis, Bordeaux, to Bayonne France, almost on the Spanish border. I had the choice of a more direct route on secondary roads via Agen, but it is much safer and faster to take the expressways, even though they are tolled (péage). My initial plan was to loop directly south via Issigeac (village), Agen (Musee de Beaux Art), St Bertrand de Comminges (village), Lourdes (famous church), and Pau on the Spanish border.
It was an ugly day with heavy rain, but warm. I had just missed the snow in the north of France. Tolls were €10.90 to Bordeaux and €11.70 to Bayonne. The Bayonne dealership found someone who spoke English (but nobody spoke Spanish!), they did not have the window, but the dealer in Madrid did give me an appointment on February 5. The back of the van is littered with glass and has jammed the rear window blind.
Drivers in Europe have a habit I find odd – they are obsessed with driving in the right-hand lanes on the large 3-lane expressways, even with no traffic. One guy went berserk when I stayed in the middle lane – flashed lights, drove beside me pointing to the right – instead of simply passing me on the left. They often then get trapped behind big trucks.
February 1 dawned as the first sunny day in weeks – warm (8°) and no rain. It was the first day I did not use the auxiliary heater in the van. Things were looking up.