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Welcome to the Loire Valley!
Château (plural châteaux; French pronunciation: [ʃɑto] for both the singular and the plural) or chateau
is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of nobility or gentry,
with or without fortifications, originally—and still most frequently—in French-speaking regions.
The word château is also used for castles in French, so where clarification is needed,
the term château fort is used to describe a castle. (Wikipedia)
Our modest Chateau hotel in Saumur.
Charming place indeed, great chilling area.
Did the Irish hosts bring the Irish rainy weather with them?
First chateau visit: Aize-le-Rideau.
Loire Valley is also famous for biking tourism.
Our Saumur Chateau seen through the car window.
Earned our first Loire wine.
Time for some serious wine tasting!
Langais chateau seen from outside.
Our "chateau" for three nites in Chenonceaux.
And here the famous "ladies' castle" Chenonceau.
With quite a nice garden.
Amboise chateau.
But the real garden castle is the Villandry!
Formal gardens even for the vegetables!
Medieval kind of thing: Fougere-sur-Bievre.
Cheverny, where the family Hurault still lives.
Lucky us, had even a couple of hours of sunshine!
Orangerie with a coffee house.
Big, bigger, biggest. 400 something rooms
in the masterpiece of French Renaissance: Chambord.
Salamander
"A symbol of both fire and cold, the salamander was a mythical animal
that could live in fire without harm, and also extinguish it at will with the coldness of its body.
In medieval iconography, the salamander represents
"the righteous one who never loses the peace in his soul
or his confidence in God in the midst of tribulations."
Chateau de Sully-sur-Loire.
As seen in the evening.
Chateaux of modern times in the Loire Valley.
Not to forget: shopping in Gien!
And then driving a further to Sancerre!
Even the basic pubs have royal sounding names!
My souvenirs.
KIPPIS!
More details still to follow.