Loire Valley, France - Day 3 - Château de Chenonceau

We headed south west in the direction of Chenonceaux which is the village that gives it’s name to Château Chenonceau. Aptly named as the “Palace of Women” because over the ages only women have owned and lived in the château. Originally built in 1512 by Catherine Briconnet it was Diane de Poitiers who would build the bridge that spans the Cher river. Catherine de Medici then added the galleries over the bridge.

Chenonceau is not as pompous as Chambord and is a pleasanter château in general. The gardens were laid down to either side of the entrance. One by Diane of Poitiers and the other by Catherine de Medici. I think this is one of the more impressive châteaus in the whole of the Loire Valley. It certainly is one of the better known.

Again, I took the same equipment as yesterday with me namely the Olympus E-M1 mounting the Olympus 12-100 f4 and the Olympus E-M5 II mounting the Panasonic 7-14 f4. The 7-14 f4 was indispensable for interior shots (and outside) to get the whole palace with gardens. I also used the Panasonic TZ101 for some longer shots and it has earned a place in my camera bag (for now).

I must admit I am taken with the Olympus 12-100 f4 on the E-M1. It’s like it was made for this camera. I just don’t want to go down that road, imagining an upgrade to my E-M1. Not going to happen presently. The Panasonic 7-14 f4 fits the Olympus E-M5 II perfectly. The weight and size is perfect for this type of camera. Anything heavier (thinking of the Olympus 7-14 f2.8) would unbalance the camera and the whole rig would be front heavy. I’m only speculating about the Olympus f2.8 lens because I haven’t tried it on the E-M5 II but it is a heavier lens.

All I can say is all cameras and lenses are performing flawlessly. Any bad images here are purely my fault.

Chenonceau - Olympus E-M1 - Olympus 12-100 f4 Pro

2nd image. The stables now converted into a coffee house.

5th image. This is all that remains of the original château that stood here before being pulled down to make way for the Chenonceau we know today.

10th image. Very impressive.

Chenonceau - Olympus E-M5 MkII - Panasonic 7-14 f4 lens

1st image. All ceilings were decorated. A few remain in excellent condition. I attempted to take a few which will be posted throughout these posts.

3rg image. The Gallery, put in by Catherine de Medici. Catherine was a very able and powerful woman. She led a very interesting life and is well worth a read.

4th and 5th images. The kitchens. As usual the kitchens were situated deep in the cellars.

8th image. The Gallery. Just goes to show how good the builders were at that time. They really knew their business.

9th image. First floor corridor to the bedrooms. Everything was decorated from the floors to the ceilings.

10th image. Taken at 12mm

11th image. Taken at 7mm

12th image. This image looks pretty wide but it was actually taken at 11mm. My lens is at it's widest at 7mm so I could

have gone a lot wider.

To show how important every millimetre is at the wide end, compare images 10 and 11. The first taken at 12mm and the second at 7mm. This is why some photographers strive to find the widest lens possible. At the long end of the lens, this isn't all that important. You really won't see much difference at the long end even if one lens is 20mm or even 30mm longer than the other.

Chenonceau - Panasonic TZ101

Compare the following images with similar ones taken with other cameras above. Although there is a large difference between sensor sizes you will be hard put to distinguish between the images at this size. Print these at larger sizes, then you would start to see a difference. Just proves that if you want a carmera just web posting/viewing, almost any camera you purchase today will do the job.

Since the crowds start arriving in droves towards late morning, we got there early and finished our tour by the time the buses started to arrive. It was time to head out. We only do one of these better known chateaus per day because you have to really take your time to explore the details within, and secondly we’re here to enjoy these places. More than one a day would be extremely taxing, but you do get a bus or two of Asians doing two or even three chateau visits per day. Crazy!

We headed further south to a village/town called Loches (in this part of France you will find large tows few and far between. Mostly they are largish villages), and it became a Royal City at some point. It has an interesting history concerning Richard the Lionheart and Joan of Arc (burnt at the stake in 1431 by the English). Please look that up for more information, it would be just too much for this blog post. Anyway, Loches was well worth the visit. A pleasant town.

Map showing position of Loches and Montrésor.

(Our next visit after Loches). Chenonceau is situated

top center. Not too far away, but you still have to drive

on country roads here. Takes longer than you think.

Loches - Olympus E-M1 - Olympus 12-100 f4 Pro

5th image. This is the Bishops residence. I'm always amazed at how humble and poor church leaders were (and still are of course).

Loches - Olympus E-M5 MkII - Panasonic 7-14 f4

1st image. Lovely architecture.

3rd image. The Four Headed Horseman.

4th image. Something I really like but don't see today are these inner courtyards (space is at a premium).

5th image. This is all that remains of this castle, the keep. If you're wondering why it is that the keep is the last to fall, just take a look at how thick the walls are.

6th image. You can't get away from churches in this part of the world. I took a lot more images of them on this trip because the Panasonic 7-14 f4 gives you a different perspective on things.

Loches - Panasonic TZ101

Again, good light allows this camera to take decent images. Compare with the images taken with my "main" cameras above.

1st image. One of the remaining towers in front of the massive keep.

With plenty of time to spare we headed south east in search of a little town called Montresor (see map at the top of this post), a small village of a few hundred people. Again a town with very interesting and colourful history. When these chateaus were in their prime and whoever lived there was all powerfull the people and the chateaus were intertwined. One depended on the other, and neither could exist without the other.

All images here were taken with the Panasonic TZ101. I just took that along in my jacket pocket because I’d been carrying my bag throughout the day. I felt like a little rest from it.

Montrésor - Panasonic TZ101

2nd image. A typical mediaeval town. Every building was built beneath the castle for protection.

8th image. This door had me intrigued. Really high but not as wide as a normal door. Since people used to be smaller in that period, why so tall?

12th image. Hunting was/is a big thing in this region (but especially in the 19th Century).

15th image. Furniture used to be more massive too. I wonder how many trees it took to build this piece?

20th image. This was taken at full zoom. I could see something in the distance but couldn't make out what is was with the naked eye. As you can see it's another church. Image quality isn't too bad actually.

Back at base we decided to go for an evening stroll to explore some more of Blois. I mounted the 75 f1.8 on the E-M1 and the 12 f2 on the E-M5 II. The Panasonic TZ101 will always find a little niche to fit into. What surprised me most was the difficulty I was having finding motifs for my 75 f1.8. Normally I’m a longish lens kind of guy but here within the confines of the town, a wide angle really does make more sense. Even close-ups or detailed shots (read minimalistic) were difficult to find.