Loire Valley and Chenonceaux

Day 7: Exploring the Loire Valley - Chenonceaux

Honestly, maybe this is jaded, but every hotel or Airbnb we were in kept being pretty nice, and every day kept being really fun, so I was kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop.  And I was kind of regretting having to head to the Loire Valley anyway — was second guessing why I had come to the land of cheese, wine and chocolate to run a marathon, and also I had to leave the beach, what!?  (I had no expectations of this trip being a beach vacation but when the temperatures ended up being perfect for it, I really didn’t want it to end). 

But the thing is, no shoe dropped.  The Loire Valley was as gorgeous as the tour books had promised and we easily found ways to make it so we weren’t spending our days drowning in chateau history.

On Thursday, we lived out mom’s dream of bicycling through France downhill with the wind in her hair. 

After breakfast at Chateau de Pray - (sidenote: not sure what the croissant like things with chocolate inside are called, but they’re delicious), we drove to Amboise to rent bikes.

Mom’s limited knowledge of French was enough to get us two heavy bikes with a panier and lock (but no helmet, because the French don’t need those). 

We couldn’t completely comprehend the bike shop owner’s directions, so after getting our favorite picnic items from the grocery store (bread, laughing cow cheese, ham, chocolate, apples), we stopped in at the local tourism office to figure out the route.

They gave me a map (route 47: the King’s highway) and we rode primarily on a bike path until we finally reached Chateau Chenonceau which is located on the Cher river. 

Along the way, we noticed that French acorns were different than our acorns (a bit longer and skinner), mom discovered some wild raspberries that to her chagrin weren’t ripe, and we visited with some donkeys.

Once at Chenonceau, we had our quick picnic and then headed in.  Due to a ticket snafu, we didn’t end up with audio guides but we were actually glad not to have them.  The provided leaflet was more than enough for us to discover the chateau and some of its history.  Chenonceau is one of the most popular chateaus in the region to visit, due to its location on the river, and archways over the water, so it was packed but it was well worth it. 

With its marvelous views of the River Cher, impressive architecture, pairings by famous artists and tapestries, coupled with a somewhat contentious history (after Henry II died, his wife, Catherine de Medici made his mistress, Diane de Poitiers give her Chenonceau in exchange for Chaumont) 

I see why Chenonceau is one of the most visited in the region, and it had the ticket lines and crowds to prove it!  

Since we still had another ~22 kilometers to bike and a 7 o’clock dinner reservation at our chateau, we had to bypass the labyrinth (which looked awesome - apparently every castle needs its own labyrinth garden maze), but we were very pleased with our first Loire Valley castle experience.

  

We like to think we’re masterful bicycle riders.  I’ve done century bike rides at least four times and we biked across Iowa six times when I was a teenager, so essentially we figured thirty miles would be pretty easy peasy, but the bikes were heavy and we haven’t done a long bike trip since 2014, so we had our work cut out for us, and our legs definitely felt it afterwards!

We made it back in the nick of time for our dinner reservation at the chateau.

The food was great, but decidedly not our style.

Sea snails - ick!

Hazelnut fois gras - yum!

I’m not sure if we’re just not foodies, or if we are just foodies of a different type, but each course dragged on and on and by the time dessert came, we were ready for bed. The tiny appetizers were tasty, the sea snails tasted like rubber bands (one French delicacy I still can’t figure out), the hazelnut fois gras was phenomenal, and the beef tartare was well, raw, but beautifully presented and I found it pretty good.  Mom could have done without it.  By the time we were presented with a cheese board of a dozen options, we were both stuffed, but I tried a few specialties before dessert - a mousse combined with sorbet with a topping of raspberries.  Probably the only dessert of the whole week I could have done without. Completely exhausted, we went back to our room and slept soundly.

How much would it cost to make my bed
look like this?

I'm starting to think the ceilings at my place
are a little lame after seeing this!