Château de Villandry is worth the visit for the gardens alone (as seen in the images below). Most of the Loire Valley chateaus are in quite good condition. Of course some restoration work has had to be done over time, but still, it's easy to see where original stone still exists today. The cost of keeping these buildings in tiptop condition costs a fortune, hence the high entry fee we all have to pay.
Here is the history of this chateau if you are interested.
Château de Villandry - Panasonic Tz101
Château de Villandry - Olympus E-M1 - Olympus 12-100 f4 Pro
17th image. As we were coming out a stream of old timers drove up and parked in the forecourt. Lovely cars.
Château de Villandry - Olympus E-M5 MkII - Panasonic 7-14 f4
3rd image. Some aof the furniture and paintings are so valuable, they are kept behind glass, like in this image above.
Next on our list was Chateau d'Usse. This is called the Cinderella Castle as the book is based on this chateau. This one is not quite up to the standard of Chateau Villandry but it did suffer during the French Revolution. It has quite a few points of interest such as the caves where the stone was quarried to build the chateau. Stone is still quarried here for restoration work which is ongoing. It also has some small but pretty gardens. Well worth the visit.
Château d'Ussé - Olympus E-M1 - Olympus 12-100 f4 Pro
2nd image. There is even a church on the grounds. You can tell that the chateau suffered during the French Revolution. Churches were not welcome.
3rd image. The old stable buildings were converted into a carriage museum.
Château d'Ussé - Olympus E-M5 MkII - Panasonic 7-14 f4
7th image. Wonderful craftsmanship.
12th image. The old timers followed us from Villandry to d'Usse.
As we still had some time to spare we drove to one of France's "Beautiful French Villages", namely Candes-St-Martin. It lies on the north bank of the Loire River and what is more important, this is the confluence of the Loire and Vienne rivers. It was quite a large port in earlier times. What I have noticed during our trip to the Loire Valley is it doesn't matter how large or small a town or village is, you will always find an enormous church or two in every one of them. I really don't know who fills them on Sundays these days. A must do here are the walks along the Loire and Vienne rivers. An absolute joy. Very beautiful and extremely peaceful.
As you can see on the above map, Candes St Martin is not all that big.
Very small village that has an enormous church in the town center. However, the location is very nice indeed situated at the confluence of the rivers Vienne and Loire. The Loire continues on its way to the Atlantic Ocean.
Candes St Martin - Olympus E-M1 - Olympus 12-100 f4 Pro
2nd image. And this is St. Martin. For those who don't know who he was (I must admit I didn't either), he lived in the 4th Century A.D. One stormy, cold night he came upon a begger who begged for food. St. Martin didn't have any to share so he tore his cloak in half and gave it to the beggar to keep warm. And that depicted in the image above.
3rd image. The confluence.
8th image. Enjoying an evening boat ride.
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