CHAPTER 10. FRANCE-LOIRE & BURGANDY

We come from Brittany and Nantes (#9); it is October 1, 1982 and we continue our first trip to France, driving up a secondary road near the Loire River towards Angers. We have a picnic lunch beside the road near Serrant Chateau, then go on to Angers where the chateau isn’t open until two, so we walk to the cathedral to see its excellent stained glass windows. Back at the chateau we have a tour by a slow speaking elderly French women thru the chapel and royal apartments where the Passion tapestry is very pretty. There is a deep moat around the Chateau containing deer and fancy gardens.

We drive on up the Loire to the Prieure Hotel near Saumur. This is one of our luxury stops that we reserved from the Quiberon tourist office; it sits high on the bluff overlooking the Loire River; our room is a cottage. We sit at a window table in the beautiful dining room seeing lights across the river; the food is delicious and attractively served. We have salmon with tomato sorbet, medallions of beef in red butter sauce, mixed vegetables in patty shell, cheese, and nougat glacé with red raspberry sauce. Elegant!

After breakfast looking over the Loire Valley, with fog rising from the river, we drive to Saumur. The downtown streets are filled with a market. Many of the stalls are vehicles, with sides and ends that open, so they can easily move the market from city to city. We buy apples, cheese, Cointreau, and the Herald Tribune. We drive towards Parnay where a very steep road takes us up to the deserted romanesque church at the top of the cliff. We eat our picnic lunch in front of the church, with a beautiful view of vineyards on the high ground and the Loire River far below.

We drive on to Chinon, passing a nuclear power plant where a second unit is under construction. Arriving before 2 PM when chateaux open, we drive across the river for a view, then walk some of the 12th to 14th century streets below the chateau. The chateau’s defensive walls are the principal parts remaining, along with ruins of buildings and towers. We return to Saumur and the Prieure driving along the north side of the Loire. Later that night we drive to see the floodlighted Saumur Chateau .

After breakfast we reluctantly check out of the Prieure Hotel, drive to the Saumur Chateau and take the tour, then continue on to Usse. We are there at 12 noon, time to close for lunch, so eat our picnic lunch and go on to Azay-le-Rideau Chateau. Here a large crowd awaits; one tour bus and many cars provide our group going thru the chateau. It is too dark inside to see much, but the ballroom is well lighted and has some very pretty tapestries.