Welcome to the Loire Valley, land of the Chateau!  This blog is the second in a series of at least five posts looking back on our France adventures.  For most of the hotels/B & Bs, sights, and restaurants I attached a link so you can get more information.  The first blog in the series was about our time in Versailles; be sure to check it out.

Our home base in the Loire Valley was on the outskirts of Amboise in a small town called Nazelles.  We decided not to stay in the popular town of Amboise since we had the opportunity to stay at a chateau!  What a treat!  Our stay was between 6/30-7/2.

Saturday, 6/30/2018

Chateau de Nazelles

This beautiful chateau was built in 1518 and is listed as a historical landmark!  The grounds are beautiful and back up to a hillside.  Owners Veronique and Oliver Fructus offer six rooms for their guests to enjoy.  Three rooms are in the chateau itself and the other three are situated around the property and are cut into the hillside.  Breakfast was included with the room.  It consisted of delicious breads & croissants, homemade jams, cheeses, yogurt, eggs, and juice.

 

Our Room

We stayed in the Pavilion Marie-Louise.  This room was in the courtyard and backed into the hillside.  What was really interesting about this room was the shower was cut into the rock wall of the hillside.  We had a private little terrace where one of the resident kitties would entertain us.  Veronique was very accommodating and let us check in well before the allotted time.

 

Once we got situated and checked things out,  we decided to head into the town of Amboise.  The main street, Rue Nationale parallels the Loire River and is a relaxing scenic walk.  I just love the architecture here.

 

It was mid afternoon and we thought we might check out Chateau Amboise.  As you can see it’s a steep lengthy walk to get to the entrance.  This chateau was built in the 15th century and was home to Charles VIII.  A bit of trivia about Charles is that he accidentally killed himself by walking into a beam over hanging a doorway on his way to a tennis match!  Leonardo da Vinci also lived in the chateau and is buried here as well.

 

After our tour of the chateau we ended up at Bigot Chocolatier .  Not only do they make and sell chocolate, they have an amazing collection of cakes & pastries, and they sell ice cream.  What could possibly go wrong here?

 

Sunday, 7/1/2018   The next day we woke up to rain and thunder.  Thunder is uncommon in California where we live, so it was a big treat to listen to the booms.  The rain was forecasted to stop at around 11 am and it did.  Today we toured Chateau Chenonceau.  Getting to the entrance was half the fun since you walk about 10 minutes on a beautiful tree-canopied path.  This chateau dates back to the 16th century and was built over the Cher River.  There are beautiful gardens on either side of the chateau.

 

 

For dinner we continued on our quest for galettes (savory crepes).  We decided to have dinner at Creperie les 4 Saisons.  The menu was diverse and had a nice selection to choose from.  Gigantic galettes cooked to perfection.  Delicious!

We loved our experience of touring the chateaus and of course staying in one.  I hope you enjoyed reading and looking at the pictures we took.  If you have any questions about the Loire Valley please ask me.  Stay tuned for our next stop in Bretagne (Brittany) where we stay in Dinan.

XOXO   Wendy

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