"Loire Valley" a Centre Travel Page by Helga67

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Jeanne d'Arc, Beaugency

How to spend five days in this region?

Day 1:
We drove from Antwerp to the Loire Valley near Orleans in about 5 hours (500 km) and arrived in Beaugency at noon. We had a nice stroll through town and afterwards a great lunch at 'Le Patio', an Italian restaurant in 'Place du Petit Marché'.
We crossed the Loire river and continued our way along the river to our hotel, well castle actualy: Chateau de Colliers near Chambord. This was really a very nice place to sleep and Monsieur et Madame de Gelis are very kind.
After unpacking and looking around the chateau, we went to Chambord, only 5 min drive from the hotel. This was our first castle in the Loire and we were impressed! Such a big castle with all those beautiful towers. It took us about 1,5 h to visit the place. In the evening, we had a nice French dinner in 'Auberge Du Bon Terroir', an address given by the hotel and only 1 km away, nice to walk when the weather permits.

Day 2:
After a nice breakfast in the beautiful dining room of the castle, we said good-bye and left for our next chateau. Cheverny, I recognized the castle at once. It was Herge's model for Moulinsart (Herge is the Belgian 'Tintin' comics writer). We spent 1,5 h visiting the beautiful interieur. From Cheverny our road continued towards Blois. Blois is an interesting little city with a chateau, cathedral and old part. Not knowing where to start our journey, we took our guide 'Eyewitness Travel Guide' and did the walk described in the book. It led us to the most beautiful parts of the city, the castle and the cathedral. It took us about half a day to enjoy the beauties of this city. In the evening we drove from Blois to Amboise (about 35 km) where we stayed at the Manoir les Minimes for 2 nights. This beautiful mansion was ideally situated near the Loire river and close to the city center.

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Tours

Day 3:
On this day, the weather was not so good, so we decided to have a late breakfast. After enjoying the French breakfast, this means croissants and jam, we walked into the town of Amboise. It was 'Ascension day', and all kinds of festivities were going on. We visited Chateau d'Amboise and Chateau du Clos Luce, the house where Leonardo Da Vinci spent his last years. It was an interesting place to visit. We had our lunch in one of the many restaurants around chateau d'Amboise and left around 3 o'clock for Tours, 25 km from Amboise. Tours is a big city with a beautiful old part. Especially Place Plumereau with its old buildings and many cafés is a must. To stroll around the city we used our Eyewitness Travel Guide for a walk of about 1,5 hours.

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Day 4:
After another good sleep and breakfast in Manoir les Minimes our journey continued towards Villandry, 45 km from Amboise. This castle is famous for its beautiful garden. We were very lucky, it was a sunny and warm day and we enjoyed the garden very much. You can easily spend 1,5 to 2 hours in the garden. For the castle about 45 min is enough.
15 km to the south is Azay-le-Rideau, a cosy little castle on an island in the Indre. We had lunch first in the little village. It has a square with a couple of restaurants and the castle is only 20 m around the corner. By 5 o'clock we drove to Francueil, a little village near Chenonceau for our last night. We stayed in Le Moulin Francueil, a renovated watermill, and a wonderful Bed and Breakfast address. In the evening we had an outstanding dinner in 'Le Bon Laboureur' in Chenonceau.

Day 5
Unfortunately already our last day. On this day, one more castle was on our program: Chenonceau, one of the most romantic and beautiful castles overlooking the Cher, a river in the Loire Valley. It has a beautiful interieur with a corridor over the river and 2 nice gardens. After spending 1 hour in the castle and strolling through the garden it was time for our last journey, 600 km back to Antwerp. :-(