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Citadelle Review

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Citadelle

Fodor's Review:

One of the spokes that reaches into the southern reaches of Touraine (six daily buses and a few trains link this town to Tours), Loches is a fascinating prelude to the main hub of châteaux that border the Loire. A "Cité Royale," it came to be adorned with a bevy of gorgeously picturesque medieval and Renaissance-era structures. Set on a rocky spur overlooking the Indre valley, it is easy to see why it became the 11th-century fief of Foulques Nerra, the warrior Comte d'Anjou. Today, Loches is still dominated by its famous Citadelle, one of the most complete medieval fortifications extant, bristling with portcullises, posterns, keeps, and crenellated ramparts. Unlike Chinon's, which stand in ruins, sections of these defensive walls are well preserved and function as part of the town.

By the 15th century, however, Loches had become a pleasure dome. Charles VII and his famous amour, Agnés Sorel, set up shop in the town château, the Logis Royaux, located on the north end of the citadel, and proceeded to set the style for much of courtly France with fairy-tale splendor, Italianate art, and the finest painter of France, Jean Fouquet. Great hostess that she was, Agnés might have cottoned to the château's son-et-lumière show, "Merlin the Magician," presented during July and August and featuring a goodly chunk of Loches's population in chivalric tableaux (note that the show's theme changes after several seasons). Elsewhere in town are other historic sights (some with separate admissions): the Donjon of Fouques Nerra; the Tour Ronde of Louis XI (with its horrifying dungeons and their fillettes, or cages); a medieval-style garden; the massive Romanesque church of Collegiale St-Ours (on Rue Thomas-Pactius); a magnificent Renaissance-period Hôtel de Ville, built for François I; and the Maison Lansyer, beautifully set into the town ramparts and fitted out with 19th-century salons filled with the works of painter Emmanuel Lansyer (1835-93).

Be sure to get a map of the town from the tourist office or the town's Web site (www.lochesentouraine.com) -- nearly every street will lead you to medieval drawbridges, ancient houses (the Maison d'Agnés Sorel is at 19 rue du Château), and towering ramparts.

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