This morning we woke up early for our much anticipated trip to the Loire Valley, a magical place about two hours south of Paris.
Since the year 1000 A.D., French royalty has built castles and mansions along the Loire Valley for their summer homes, hunting lodges, not unlike wealthy Manhattanites’ summer homes in the Hamptons.
We are staying in the medieval town of Blois for the next two nights, and plan to visit the Chateau Chambord among other castles in the region. Today, we managed to visit four castles on our way to Blois: Azay- le-Rideau, Chateau D’Usse, Langeais, and last but not least, Chaumont Sur Loire.
Chateau Azay-le-Rideau was built in 1515, surrounded by a lake and verdant greenery. King Louis XIII used to stay here when he visited and his bedchamber was decorated with a beautiful canopy bed and a series of colorfully woven tapestries.
Chateau D’Usse, also known as the “Sleeping Beauty Castle,” was our next stop and our jaws dropped when we first caught sight of the gorgeous, awe-inspiring castle. It looks like stuff that fairytales are made of, with its many turrets and towers, and its gardens designed by the same gardener that designed Versailles’ gardens. Legend has it that writer Charles Perrault was inspired by the romantic ambiance of the castle and wrote the tale of “Sleeping Beauty” during his stay at the Chateau D’Usse.
After taking hundreds of pictures at Usse, we headed off to Langeais to visit its chateau, one of the few remaining in the world to still have its original drawbridge.
The Chateau de Langeais was originally built as a fortress in the 10th century, however, the original structure was destroyed in the Hundred Years War and it was later rebuilt by King Louis X in the 15th century to take its place in history as one of the best known examples of late medieval architecture. The great hall of the chateau was the setting for the marriage between Anne of Brittany and King Charles VIII in 1491, which permanently united Brittany and France.
After Langeais, we visited the Chaumont sur Loire, originally built in the 10th century by the Count of Blois to serve as a fortress. The castle was later burned to the ground by orders of King Louis X and was rebuilt by Charles D’Amboise in the 15th century.
We, unfortunately, arrived after the castle had closed; we were only able to see the outside of the chateau, which also has a drawbridge intact. We were, however, lucky enough to catch the annual Garden Festival, which occupied the chateau’s gardens.
Each year, 20 gardens are selected by judges from nearly 300 proposals from around the world. We were blown away by the variety of color palettes and the diversity of the plants and flowers in each of these gardens. The castle as a backdrop only made this experience all the more memorable and dazzling to the senses!
