PalQ

I'm especially familiar with the Loire Valley, having lived there off an on for several years. I've driven, biked and trained thru it many times and i intend to highlight things besides the obvious. For one thing i don't care about hotels, though the valley has great hotels with fine restaurants in many of its lesser chateaus - i actually have stayed in dozens of Loire camps, with my young French son. And such hotels have been covered in depth in Fodors many times. So here goes, and please feel free to add comments and your ideas!
NOT THE BEST COUNTRYSIDE - Though the Loire is as famous as any French region it doesn't hold a candle to places like Burgundy, Provence or anywhere in southern France really in terms of great beauty. The word valley here means a gently sloping barely perceptible (unless you're on a bike!) valley sloping up from the lazy often nearly dry Loire River, the only major river in France that is not navigable and turned into a canal - the Loire is wild and that is its lure - like at Amboise where it is most picturesque with usually only rivulets of water running thru a large expanse of sand. Yet in winter and spring it may be in flood stage. The Loire once was navigable for most of its length - to wit the now high and dry ports in cities like Blois, Amboise and Orleans. Today the Loire is only navigable near the sea, from Angers and Nantes on. So though we have a pretty river the countryside bordering it is plain old farms - nothing especially - few forests but mainly fields of corn, wheat or sunflowers ('tournesols', which don't really turn their heads towards the sun as their French name would imply) and, surprisingly, many large fields of industrial hemp - cannabis, though not cannabis sativa or indica and thus lacking any potency but being used to make fabric or oil.
THE CASTLES
But the Loire is at the very center of French history - many local residents claim their families have been here not for decades or centuries but millennia. Orleans was settle by Aurelia (sp?), under the Romans. Jeanne d'Arc fought the British along its banks and is a local saint here (and a French national saint as well). But it is the French royals who put the Loire on the map as they built pleasure domes here surrounded by fenced in hunting forests - thus the castles were built not for defense but to be pretty - Azay-le-Rideau's impressive moats were not designed to keep the English at bay but to look swell. Francois I brought the Renaissance here literally when he enticed an aging Leonardo da Vinci to move to Amboise under his protection - da Vinci's house with his inventions re-created in it is now a major Amboise sight. The notorious Diane de Poitiers and other royal consorts left their marks on places like Chenonceaux. Not that all was fun and games and blood still spatters the Blois and Amboise castles. One castle still has a replica of one sadistic king Louis' notorious cages, where enemies of the king were literally hung out to dry for years swinging in the dark dungeons. Some castle are medieval fortresses; these are known for their oubliettes, from the French word to forget as in these dungeons unlucky folks were thrown in and literally forgotton - the fact that the oubliettes also served as the castle toilet dump with human wastes cascading down from above made their miserable last few days even worse! So beautiful castles steeped in history along with the quintessential cute lost-in-time French villages is the Loire's lure, along with its fantastic castle hotels and renown gastronomy. Gargantuan's stomping grounds was in Tours but the Loire is more a gourmet's delight as French cuisine shines here. The area also speaks what is professed to be the finest spoken French in France - with Tours as its epicenter. (Much like us US midwesterners deluding ourselves into thinking we speak American English with no accent - an idea propogated in our schools.
TO BE CONTINUED
YOUR LOIRE COMMENTS?

Michael

You're right about the Loire and I would not want to boat on it because it is so low against its banks. But the Indre and Cher have some very pretty areas. I also do not think that is is that flat, and my recollection of getting to Chaumont from Bourges is that there was some serious hillsides just before reaching Chaumont.

bettyo70

PalQ: Thanks for taking the time to write about the Loire Valley. I was in the region in 1988, and am returning this coming June with my husband. He has never been to the area, and I know he will fall in love with the Chenonceau castle!
We are hoping to manage a daytrip from Paris (renting a car). If time permits after the castle, we would like to visit a wine cave (sparkling Vouvray?)...AND...end the day with a fresh-fish dinner at LA PENICHE, which is situated on a barge right on the river...watching the sun go down...
IS THIS TOO PACKED FOR ONE DAY, PalQ??
P.S. What are your thoughts on the "son et lumiere" shows? (tacky? corny?)
Your Loire expertise is GREATLY APPRECIATED!
Cheers,
Betty

indytravel

I loved the son et lumière show at the Blois chateau. I saw it in 2001. I wasn't there to see it on an English night so I saw it in French. Though hardly understanding the commentary it I found it fascinating.

I guess I had low expectations and thought it would be a few spotlights and a couple of colored bulbs. They had lots of projectors and threw dozens of patterns onto the chateau walls. I thought it was beautiful how they would light a stone facade to accent the carved intricacies.

Bettyo I think you're planning an awfully long day. The sun sets in the area around 9:45pm in June. The show will be after that. Getting out of the show around 11:00pm will make a long drive back to Paris after a long day.

bettyo70

IndyTravel,

Well, I could cut out the "son et lumiere" show but woud still love to keep the rest of the itin:

1) Morning at Chenonceau;
2) Vouvray wine cave or possibly Chinon (only if it is a closer drive) in the late afternoon;
3) Evening dinner at La Peniche in Blois;
4) Drive back to Paris at night.
Is that okay?
Thanks,
Betty

PalQ

bettyo70: Do Vouvray wine rather than Chinon. Though Chinon is in my opinion the nicest town in the Tourraine, as this part of the Loire is called, it's a rugged drive from Chenonceaux and Chenonceau castle (the castle for some reason doesn't have an x on it like the town does). The drive is quite a few miles on busy two-lane roads so as you already have packed a lot in one day this would be stretching it. Vouvray wine is very close to Chenonceaux and except during the usual two-hour pause for lunch it need not take long. Vouvray is a nice old village, small and several prestigious wine houses with tours and samplings of this efferescent white wine, along with Sancerre the most touted of the Loire i believe. (I don't profess to be a wine expert either.) Several years ago when the highspeed TTV rail line Paris-Tours was being planned it called for a long tunnel right under the Vouvray wine caves, hewn out of the limestone cliffs along the Loire here. Vinters were outraged but their complaints loss out and the tunnel is there today, with special designs so that it won't shake the curing wines as the vignerons feared. Otherwise i think your day is doable - could consider training to St Pierre des Corps, main railhead for this part of Loire and rent car there to expand day. Train goes up to 185 mph and takes one hour. Gas and autoroute fees, both outrageous between Paris and Tours will make this less expensive than thought - especially if reserve thru www.sncf French rail site for their deeply discounted advance purchase fares. Full fare however is rather pricey. Getting out of Paris area in rush hour, practically anytime Mon-Fri can eat up part of your day. Chenonceau - certainly as beautiful as any Loire castle.

TuckH

Betty, please make it a TWO-day trip, okay?

PalQ

Efficacy of railing rather than driving: about 140 miles each way Chenonceau-Paris - 280 miles of gas and autoroute tolls that are literally highway robbery. If you take train to Blois, you can rent car there at station. Check out SNCF's Train + Auto plan combining rail fare with AVIS car rental. AVIS is inside many French stations as they have the concession from the SNCF apparently. Taking the train to Blois is much cheaper than railing to St Pierre des Corps via TGV (Paris-St P-d-Corps about $50 each way 2nd class; Paris-Blois about $25 each way; but takes longer - about 1.5 hrs vs 1 hr via TGV. The Paris-Austerlitz station - Blois line is not high speed, it's the old line but if going to Blois is just as quick as TGV to St Pierre des Corps then connecting train to Blois as well as much cheaper. Plus no reservations are needed on this line (TGVs reservations obligatory). So even without a discounted ticket, the $25 each way on this line means you need just board any train - first class is just $35 each way. Anyway almost as cheap as driving considering 280 miles of gas and tolls and time saving. Anyway just a thought.

bettyo70

PalQ: Thanks for all the extensive info! Someone else had suggested Paris to TOURS by train. (It sounded rather quick by TGV, and I can still save on tolls and gas.) What do you think?

TuckH: Thanks for your concern! I'm a hyperactive New Yorkers; thus the desire to see all I can in one day. We'll see how it goes on that day...maybe I'll slow down and cut out part of the itin. But definitely want to see Chenonceau and eat outside somewhere beautiful, enjoying the Loire and the sunlight....

--Betty

ckenb

Do you have an address for the restaurant called La Péniche? I live 25 miles south of Blois. I don't know that restaurant and can't find any information about it. Thanks.

Count on three hours on the autoroute for the drive from Paris to Blois or Amboise, with Paris traffic being an unpredictable factor. The toll on the autoroute is about 15 euros each way.

The train from Austerlitz to Blois is a good way to travel -- it takes less than 2 hours each way. But I don't know if there are late night trains...

Chenonceaux is probably 30 miles southwest of Blois, and Vouvray is 10 miles of so north of Chenonceaux. Do you have a wine cave or producer in Vouvray that you like? I always end up going to J-P Aubert in the Vallée Coquette but it is not at all charming. The wine is very good though -- I go to buy, not to taste on site.

bettyo70

ckenb: cigalechanta was nice enough to provide this info on one of my recent posts:

La Peniche, a restaurant that is literally a barge on the Loire (telephone 54.74.37.23). The sea bass baked in salt is terrific.

Besides the fact that it is in some part of Blois (??!!), this is all the info I could get. If you call them, please let me know if you find out any more.

Thanks,
Betty

PalQ

Train to Tours? No. Not if going to Chenonceau - train to St-Pierre-des-Corps, the Tours' suburban station 2 miles from Tours station - most TGVs Paris-southwestern France, like Bordeaux stop only at St.Pierre-des-Corps and don't go into Tours. A few do and terminate there. St-Pierre-des-Corps, where you can rent AVIS and other cars at the station is also out of the Tours conurbation, which has surprisingly awful traffic snarls for a community of about 200,000 folks so St Pierre station is out of Tours and right on the road to Chenonceau or Vouvray (if doing Vouvray you may want to drive there first and then to Chenonceau - more on the road to Blois this way.

Christina

I don't know if that restaurant on a barge is still open, but there is a "La Peniche" listed in the Loire tourism restaurant pages, on ave Renaulme with a different phone number.

http://www.loire-france.com/services...ir-et-cher.htm

bettyo70

But PalQ, how late does the train back to Paris from St-Pierre-des-Corps run?
(If we're dining in Blois, we may not make it back in time for the last St-Pierre train.)

Another possiblity: drop the car off in Blois and take the train back from there?

ckenb

I just checked www.sncf.com. The last train from Blois to Paris is at 9:20 p.m. The last train from Saint-Pierre-des-Corps is at 10:17 p.m.

I'll call La Peniche tomorrow and ask for directions. When I try to map that address, I don't get anything. If Mimi recommends it, I'm sure it's good!

bettyo70

Thanks, ckenb!

Well, I guess we can always hitckhike back to Paris (ha,ha...just kidding!)

PalQ

To complicate rail selections even further you could also drive from Blois to the Vendone-Villiers TGV station, which is about twice as close as St Pierre des Corps and all country driving and hop the TGV from there to Paris - train would be a bit cheaper and you'll drive less. but check schedules as this station, in the country outside Vendome, has less service - i currently see 20:07 train Mon-Thu as last train; Sun 21:22, Fri 18:57 Sat 17:52 - but these schedules may have changed in Dec. don't know about car rentals there but every TGV station i've been in has them - check SNCF Train + Auto program. Chenonceau quicker drive from St Pierre-d-c so this option would be ideal only if you could pick up car at St Pierre and drop it off at Vendome - then it would be perfect.

PalQ

LOIRE DRIVING TIPS
Get a Michelin area map, widely available in petrol stations, cafe newsstands, tourist offices, etc. and stick to the roads coloured in yellow, or better yet white roads and eschew whenever possible roads in red. Red roads are often two-lane thoroughfares filled with trucks and slow-moving vehicles, like, in summer a parade of Italian camper vans driven by Italians (sic!) - the Loire's many campgrounds are a magnet for Italians. Unfortunately the roads along the Loire itself are often busy 'red' roads. Red roads are often 'route nationale' or national roads; yellow roads are often D roads, department roads and generally, unless near large cities, have very little traffic and are well paved. (You're hard pressed to find any dirt roads in France save those in national forests; even the tiniest lanes seem paved.) Yellow roads go by farms and thru innumeralbe quintessential lost-in-time French villages whose presence can be seen for miles ahead, announced by their soaring parish church steeples. Yellow roads are often twisting and hillier than red roads but oh so much nicer. So seek out the yellow, or white roads that are even less trafficked by not always so smoothly paved, and experience the tranquility of the Torraine countryside. Finding your way in France is a snap with a map and just about every intersection has directional signs on it pointing the way to nearby towns - you have to be an idiot to get lost here. If traffic is bad on red roads keep in mind that between 12 and 2 - still a traditional lunch period in France, roads are noticeably less crowded and thus a better experience. Of and for scenic roads seek those highlighted in green on the Michelin map - green for scenic.

jean253

PalO, what were the camps like that you & your son stayed at ? do they have chalets / bugalows for rent ? do you have a website for them . thanks for all the other info

bettyo70

CKENB: Any luck reaching LA PENICHE? P.S. How are you so lucky to live near Blois?