Please sign in to post.

France [mostly Loire] Trip Report

Warning: this will be a long report. The short version: We had a great time! I really appreciate all the help I got from this forum in planning our trip. This trip started with my 87yo mother and me; my sister and BIL joined us in the Loire valley after spending a few days on their own in Paris, Bayeux, and Mont St. Michel. Dates were Oct 1 – 13.

Day 1 – we arrived at CDG pretty tired and just took one day to recover. Stayed in the RS recommended Ibis budget Roissy CDG Paris Nord 2 hotel, and the name was bigger than our room – but that was fine as we didn’t need space. It reminded me of a cabin in a cruise ship. The shuttle from the airport was easy, check-in was easy, and there were two restaurants a short walk away. We ate at the Courtepaille Grill; not memorable but perfectly ok. We spent another night here at the end of our trip and dined at Hippopotamus which was extremely busy that night, but good food.

Day 2 – took the shuttle back to CDG and picked up our car from EuropCar, a comfortable Renault diesel. Drove to Hotel Les Grands Chenes outside St. Fargeau, for our next day’s visit to the Chantier de Guedelon. Hotel was very pleasant, with a good breakfast the next morning. If you go, take a moment to enjoy the collection of eggcups and teapots that decorate the breakfast room – quirky and fun! We ate dinner at La Medievale in St. Fargeau, about 5-10 minutes drive from the hotel; quite good, and easy to find on the main plaza.

Day 3 – spent the morning at Guedelon, which was fascinating. I just wish there had been some English signage, or a tour in English, but it was still fun to wander the site and watch the castle taking shape. For those unfamiliar with it, this is an effort to build a castle to plans drawn up in the 13th century, using 13th century materials and techniques. They’ve been working on it since 1997. Had lunch at the cafeteria onsite then headed towards the Loire. Slept in Azay-le-Rideau that night, at Hotel de Biencourt; I was a bit nervous about the free offsite parking, but it was very easy to use, and host Patrick was extremely helpful. The Biencourt is just a block or two from the Chateau and also very close to several nice restaurants. We ate dinner at La Credence – delicious! And lunch at RS-recommended Cote Cour [note that during the off season, they are open for lunch every day but for dinner only Weds and Sat].

Day 4 – toured Fontevraud Abbey and the fortress at Chinon. Our goal for the Loire was to see the sights in as close to chronological order as we could manage, inspired by Ina Caro’s book The Road to the Past. This worked well except that many castles cover several centuries/reigns, and my knowledge of the French royal succession is not as good as it should have been… They seemed to have a lot more kings than, say, England. But I know more now than I did before the trip! Chinon had a somewhat odd display in several rooms of films that were taking you through some of the Charles VII/Joan of Arc history, but the projectors were having trouble in a few spots. I had just finished a biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine which helped me enjoy both Fontevraud and Chinon.

to be continued...

Posted by
809 posts

Part 2.

Day 5 – broke down and visited Azay-le-Rideau chateau in the morning; it was out of chronological order but too close to skip. I particularly enjoyed seeing the attic, with amazing timber framing, and the movie in the royal bedroom showing how they had constructed the bed coverings, wall hangings, etc. Delicious lunch at Cote Cour. Then we headed to Langeais where we met up with sister and BIL. Langeais has a keep built by Foulques Nerra, very forbidding, as well as a later portion that was the site of the marriage of Anne of Brittany to Charles VIII, which united Brittany to France. Then we headed off to our home for the next 5 days, a rental cottage in La-Croix-en-Touraine, which I found through the Gites de France website. It was perfect for us; 3 bedrooms on 2 floors, 2 bathrooms, a well-equipped kitchen with sugar, spices, oil, dishwasher soap, etc. We really enjoyed being able to walk to the boulangerie in the morning to pick up fresh croissants and perhaps a quiche or two for dinner, then have a leisurely breakfast in our little home, and return for dinner each night. The gite was across the street from the Cher river and about half a mile from a Carrefour, where we got groceries for our stay. It was a great home base for us.

Day 6 – Mom stayed home to rest while the three of us visited Loches. This was a good decision on her part; we encountered lots of hills and steps. It rained fairly hard as we headed to the chateau but by the time we finished our tour the rain had stopped, so we explored the nice little garden.

Day 7 – Amboise today – we were glad to find an elevator to take us up to the chateau level, and Mom only did the ground and first floor of the castle. The view from the castle over the town and along the river was gorgeous. In the afternoon we visited da Vinci’s home, Clos Luce; it was nice to finally see some furnished rooms after the relatively austere chateaux we had seen. And the basement was full of models of his inventions; we probably spent an hour or more wandering around there. The garden also had models, but we were wearing down by then so headed home.

Day 8 – Blois was the farthest commute – it took close to an hour each way from our gite. But it was a pleasant drive along the river. I enjoyed the historical range shown in the chateau there, from the medieval hall, through Flamboyant Gothic and Renaissance, to the classical wing, and several of the rooms are beautifully restored.

Day 9 – Chenonceau today, just as wonderful as I remembered and as everyone says. The rooms are well furnished, and the kitchens were particularly interesting with lots of pans and utensils and an amazing range in the more modern part. And it’s small enough to be graspable! Weather was gray and chilly so we didn’t wander the gardens but did get a tasty lunch at the onsite café.

Day 10 – We had planned to see the gardens at Chaumont today but were starting to wear down, and the garden theme this year was the seven deadly sins, which didn’t sound too appealing to us. So on to Chambord. We lunched in a little café between the parking lot and the castle; easy and fairly good. Then, fortified, we headed to the castle. It’s so big, it’s really hard to take it all in, and I didn’t find the signage or the maps as helpful as I needed. We completely missed the carriage room on the 2d floor, but did get up to the roof to admire the range of chimneys, and the view. Spent the next two nights at Chambres La Flanerie, in Cour-Cheverny, which was great. Nice rooms, a lovely garden, and very good breakfasts from our host and hostess. Dinner options in the area were a bit limited; we ate both nights at St-Hubert. The first night was a bit of a disappointment [the amuse-bouche was a foie gras crème brulee, which just didn’t work], but we made better choices the second night.

to be continued ... only one more post...

Posted by
809 posts

Part 3.

Day 10 – I had great memories of Cheverny from our previous trip and was glad to see it again, even though it was Sunday so no “souper des chiens”. But the rooms are lovely and beautifully furnished, and I like seeing the family items mixed in with the historical stuff – like the dress from the 1994 wedding of the count and countess. Lunch at the onsite café, again easy and quite tasty.

Day 11 – up in the morning and off to CDG for our flight to Scotland [visiting friends there]. It was an easy drive with much less traffic around Paris than when we arrived. Plenty of time for lunch at the Hippopotamus in the airport and a relaxed departure.

Overall thoughts – my new Garmin GPS was extremely helpful [except once, on the way to Fontevraud, when it sent us through some amazing winding, narrow farm roads that probably saved half a kilometer – but at least they were paved]. I had GPS coordinates or addresses for our lodgings, and entered them before the trip. Each day, I just entered the sight we were heading for and the GPS took us right there. On our last day, it even found the EuropCar rental return in terminal 2D, which required some serious looping around, but I just followed the voice and it worked like a charm. This was my first trip renting a car for more than a day, and it was fine. I still like trains, but they would not have worked for this trip.

We had brought a special cane for my mother that converts to a seat, but we found we didn’t need it. There were no lines to get in any of the chateaux, and once inside many rooms had some place to sit. We were also able to use her US handicapped hangtag to park in handicapped spots, and at many chateaux she got in free as a handicapped person. Sometimes I got in free as her assistant, which was a big surprise.

By now, all those chateaux have somewhat run together in my mind, but I never tired of visiting them while we were there. We did get some rain, no surprise in October, but it was great being able to avoid the summer crowds. Because France is so far west in the time zone, sunrise was around 8 and sunset at 7 or 7.15, which worked well for us; I prefer not to drive at night especially on unfamiliar roads.

At times the planning for this trip was almost overwhelming, but thanks to a lot of advice from forum folks the trip turned out very well and we all had a wonderful time. It was my BIL’s first visit to the continent [he spent 10 days in Scotland last fall with my sister], and I think we’ve got him hooked!

Posted by
1315 posts

Great report, Kathleen. Thanks for posting.

Posted by
6429 posts

Thanks for this. We saw many of the same Loire sites, found Loches particularly interesting and evocative. For me, one souper des chiens at Cheverny was enough for one lifetime. I'd like to see Guedelon under construction, but I guess no risk that it will be finished in my lifetime. :-) You did some pretty serious driving, especially from the Loire to CDG for a same-day flight. Not sure I'd have tried that. And kudos to your mom, I hope I'm still up to that kind of travel at her age.

Happy memories and don't wait too long for the next trip!

Posted by
809 posts

Dick, our flight was at 5.15 pm but I made Mom leave by 10 am just to be safe. This drive was part of the reason we moved to Cour-Cheverny for our last 2 nights; CDG was only 2.5 hours away according to Via Michelin. With one stop for gas and the restroom we made it in about 3 hours. Car return was super easy so we had time for a very relaxed lunch before our EasyJet flight.