August 1, 2002

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      Châteaux en ville    et   châteaux à la campagne .


      La Touraine et la vallée de la Loire offrent une multitude de châteaux .à admirer . Après Paris ,c ' est le cœur de la France.. Les rois de France successifs du Moyen Age à la Renaissance construisirent la plupart de ces châteaux . Avec nos petits enfants nous ne pouvions pas aller dans les plus grands châteaux comme Chambord ou Chenonceaux . Mais la visite du Château de Langeais est très instructive .Il est meublé comme à l 'origine . C ' est dans ce château que le roi CharlesVIII se maria avec la duchesse Anne de Bretagne en 1491 réunissant ainsi ,dans l ' amour et non dans la guerre , la Bretagne au Royaume de France . .A Amboise dans le château construit du XV ème au XVI ème siècle le fameux roi François 1er fit venir Léonard de Vinci , le peintre de la Joconde .. Ces châteaux de la Renaissance ont été construits à partir d ' anciennes ..     


     Langeais ' Castle in the town ©Michel Fauquet                                       



     


     


     


     


     


     


     


     


     


     


     


                                                                                                                                     Amboise ' s Castle ©Michel Fauquet


    ....forteresses du Moyen Age et même gallo romaines qui gardaient le fleuve Loire .


      En revenant en pleine campagne parmi les champs nous avons rencontré les restes encore imposants du Château de Montpoupon . Ce château , seul , dans les champs est surprenant et il est riche à visiter . Et que dire de ce charmant hameau près d ' un ruisseau au pied du château .


      On ne se lasse pas de la Touraine qui a aussi bien d ' autres trésors .( Je n ' ai pas parlé du vin par exemple ) . Il est vrai qu 'on pourrait dire la même chose de bien des régions françaises .


    Castles in the towns and castles in the countryside .


       The Touraine and the Loire ' s valley give us a multitude of castles to admire .After Paris , it is the heart of France . The successive Kings of France from the Middle Age to the Renaissance built most of these castles .With our two grandchildren we could not visit the largest castles like Chambord or Chenonceaux . But the visit of the castle of Langeais is very instructive . It has its furnitures like at the origins . It is in this castle that the King Charles VIII married in 1491 the duchess Anne de Bretagne making in love and not in war the union between the kingdom of France and Brittany ( west area of France ) . In the town of Amboise in the castle built from the XVth to the XVI th century the famous King François the first invited Leonardo de Vinci the one who painted the Joconde ( Mona Lisa ) . These castles of the Renaissance have been built on the rests of ancient fortresses of the Middle Age and even gallo-roman which survey the river Loire .


       In coming back , totaly in the coutryside among the fields we met the imposing rests of the castle of Montpoupon . This castle alone in the fields is surprising and very interesting for visit . And what to say about this charming hamlet near a rivulet at the feet of the castle ?


       We are never tired to visit the Touraine that owns also other treasures ( I did not speak about wine for example ). It is true that we would say the same about other french areas .



    Montpoupon ' castle in the Touraine  countryside    ©Michel Fauquet



    hamlet of Montpoupon      © Michel Fauquet

Comments (71)

  • Oh, it looks like Disneyland!  What is that in the middle of the street that looks like blue carpet?

  • Charge!!!!!!!!!!

    Michel, have you ever visited Canadian Rockies? They are as breath-taking as the castles in your pictures.

  • Oh my goodness, Michel, the French in me is all aglow at seeing those wonderful pictures. It is through your eyes that I am able to visit where some of my ancesters may have strolled in their lives. There is French on both sides of my family.

  • Michel, I am new to your site(Pepsiluver advised me to see it) and I do love it so. Your description makes me feel as if I am there(and I do so wish that I was).

  • Michel, tes photos m'amenent des souvenirs de mon premier voyage en France.  En Octobre 1999 j'ai visité la ville d'Amboise et Chenonceau...  les chateaux sont vraiment quelque chose magnifique en France.

    Mike

  • oh, deux choses plus... j'ai visité aussi le Clos Lucé, ou Léo da Vinci habitait... et les Américains appellent la Joconde "the Mona Lisa"...  je ne sais pas pourquoi c'est comme ça...

    Mike

  • majestic looking

  • certainly no shortage of castles in the area, huh? 

    wonderful pictures, as always...

  • I will be there someday, I will be there someday So very beautiful!!

  • Il ressemble à une terre magique.

  • I love to see the pictures that you take!  Post more whenever you can!

  • I'm planning my next trip to France in late September and maybe will head a bit further south these days, to the Loire valley perhaps.  Lovely photographs.  Thanks for your comments on mine.  Tom

  • Such beautiful and interesting places to visit.  Perhaps someday I will be able to visit beautiful France and see these things in person.  In the mean time I visit France through your eyes.

    Your American friend

    Carol Suzanne

  • wonderful pictures!  I hope one day I can see these sites for myself!

  • Totally stunning!  What beauty...it makes one long to travel.  Thank you for the sharing

  • Totally Awesome places!!  Very nice Michel and I TY!!

  • I love this hamlet.  How fastastic to visit!  I too would not grow tired of it.  Please tell more stories when you have time!

    J'aime ce hamlet. Comment fastastic pour visiter! Je ne grandirais pas fatigue aussi de cela. S'il vous plaît dire plus d'histoires quand vous avez le temps!

  • tres magnifique... i need to learn more french.

  • will you be ready when i visit next year?

  • will you be ready when i visit next year?

  • That's one of the reasons I dislike Oz. I cannot see any Castles or even really large mansions, and when they do have something getting a bit old ,it being such a new Country, they pull it down. When we did our Grande Tour (Swanking) One of the best things was visiting all the Castles and Fortresses and large houses. except that scenery came first. I envy you living amongsy such beauty. I know I should not envy, as I chose to stay here and unless I win the lottery pretty damn quick, this is where I shall stay. Thanks for the pictures though almost as good as being there. Cheers Marjie

  • Once again I am in awe.  Such beautiful pictures.  I am so thrilled you share these with us.  I have always had an infatuation with castles.  Oh and you are really helping it.  Thank you sooo much for sharing!  I also thank you for all your wonderfully sweet comments on my site.  If there is ever anything I can do for you, please let me know.  Have a great day and a better tomorrow.  Love and hugs! ! ! !   Valerie

  • vous m'inspirez, michel. vos mots... vos images... merci tellment. :)

  • Les photos sont belle.  Je voudrais visiter le Loire bientôt. 

  • Les chateaux de la Loire c'est un  endroit que je dois encore visiter. Une bonne bouteille de pouilly fumé .....

  • ...a very charming post. The castle in town is very mush part of the town activity. Looks like there may be apartments with curtains on the windows. The maintenance on these castle must be costly and time intensive. Such interesting history. MuSe

  • Here, we have no real castles.....I'm sad that I didn't get to see tour any castles when I visited Europe. They are a favorite of mine.....I can only imagine how beautiful they are in person.

  • You have some great Castle in your country .

    Yes Laura and Ian phoned last night to say they were fine and it was very hot

  • I must see this in person someday soon!

  • Like the others I love the pictures. I wish I could paint, because they certainly would be an inspiration!

    It's nice to know some history too....brings it more alive.

    Thanks!

  • Beautiful pictures!

  • You struck the right chord on two of my favorite topics, medieval castles and medieval history... thanks

  • I wanted to thank you for stopping by to wish me a happy 25th. What a kind and thoughtful thing to do. I love your site. I have never been able to speak much French but I will be back to your site again. It's wonderful and has so many beautiful pictures. I won't even try my French on you. Hopefully your English is better than my French! Thank you for your kindness.

  • tehehehe at cheri's "it looks like disneyland"! more to the point: disneyland tried to look like that! wow! lovely!

  • I admire everything about this.. being there is just like history come alive. to one who is from such a young nation, this is, at least, dazzling!

  • oh! bEAUTIFUL!  i REMEMBER WHEN i WAS SIXTEEN TRAVELING THROUGH fRANCE!  i STILL HAVE BEAUTIFUL MEMORIES! fRANCE IS TRUELY A PLACE OF bEAUTY AND HISTORY!  @-}-}--

  • Cette images sont magnifique Michel!

    It is amazing to see a castle appear in the middle of the street. Wow!

  • they don't have any fortress, castles here. in a way i feel like i'm missing something. however, these buildings are creppy at night. aren't they michel? with so much history behind those walls...

  • !!!  *in bliss*

    chenonceaux was my FAVOURITE castle that we visited.  I loved the room painted all over with skulls and as we camped in the forest of Chambord, I read the English translations of various books and texts about the castles and the history of their various occupants feverishly.  I love the way Chenonceaux arches over the river and how it was used during WWII as an escape route for French soldiers.  ahhhhh.....

    Thankyou so much for doing a blog on it!

    While on the subject (please indulge me!), I loved CHambord but it was just before the new year when we visited, so it was freezing cold.  It was also too large.  I love Francois le Premier and his visions and grand plans, and the fact that he gave Leonardo that manor...(i remember visitng it and looking speculatively into teh secret passageway that was supposed to lead to the castle at Amboise) - called Chateau Cho..CLo something?  loved it too....but sorry, I'm getting off-topic.  And I find it fascinating that Francois was so into the arts but yet had all those grandiose plans with the rest of Europe.  Who could forget the FIeld of the Cloth of GOld where he met with Henry VIII?  or said Henry's 2nd of 6 wives, Anne Boleyn, growing up in the court of Francois, serving his sister Margeurite? 

    You're right -- perhaps even more than Paris, the Loire Valley will always be the heart of France for me.  TO look up at the majestic trees and dream of the royal hunts.  ahhhh...living in Australia is SO PROSAIC!! 

  • Answer to jadoremondieu ; the castle where Leonardo da Vinci ,invited by François 1er King of France , lived from 1516 to 1519 is the Clos-Lucé 's castle nearby Amboise .
    About the field of Cloth of Gold ( camp du Drap d 'or in French ) where François 1er met Henry VIII king of England , I can say it is situated about 16 km from my birthplace near Calais .

  • These castles are absolutely exquisite!  I would love to visit these in person one day.  And you as a tour guide would be the icing on the cake!

  • Magnificent pictures from another century!!!

  • WOW!!  your birthplace is so close to that historic field?!  Can i come visit please please please?  (what Melsworld said ).  Thank you so much for replying to my comment...and for letting me know that you replied, or I would have missed out coming back here.

  • what a breathtaking place...How lovely...I love the countryside...

    thanks for sharing these pictures of beautiful places..I love it...

    Happy days,

    rubymoon

  • Je m'excuse auprès de vous, Michel. Je suis pas Quebecoise, mais j'ai commencé le Bel anneau de Province pour les rencontrer. Je traite un livre qui a un caractère du Québec et j'ai voulu l'aide d'authentique local. Je suis aussi désolé pour mon usage de langage. Mes français sont pas grands, mais vous êtes exact. Je dois la pratique.

    Vous remercier pour votre souhait de chance.

    Je devrais dire aussi que j'aime les châteaux aussi. Votre journal de voyage est merveilleux pour visiter.

  • Thanks you for your comment I totally understand what you are trying to say. And I will definately work on leaving it alone. I know I think tooo much THANKS

  • My football wine is merlot!!  I am a big fan of it and to be honest, it's not just my football wine! lol! 

  • I noticed the *blue carpet* too!  Ha, looks like a good putting green, I mean, blue.

  • answeer to Cheri Herald and notfortprohet : the" blue carpet " is a kind of stripe in blue asphalt that contrasts with the grey pavement .

  • These are beautiful Michel.. I think Im daydreaming now.

  • My goodness!! What beautiful architecture !! They look absolutely magnificent! British castles are not usually so grand or in such good condition, I have to confess, which is rather sad. Ah, alas, you have made me want to visit France & see these magnificent buildings!!
    No wonder you're proud to be French with such wonderful history... they truly are amazing!
    All the best & Thank you for sharing such wonderful photos with us! A.

  • Anne de Bretagne was forced by the French to annul her marriage toMaximilian and was quickly married to Charles VIII. It was agreed that if Charles died before Anne without issue, she was to marry his successor.

  • It is true  barbll . You are well documented . Bravo

  • Stopped back to look at the castles.

  • The castles are so beautiful!!!  I wish to visit them one day!!!

  • ces châteaux me fascineront toujours... malheureusement je n'ai jamais eu l'occasion de les visiter

    ils sont vraiment magnifiques! sublimes! idylliques!

    (un rêve de petite fille d'y habiter...)

    amitié marie

  • Your photographs bring a smile to my face, my friend.

  • Those are some breath taking pictures, I would like to visit these castles myself one day!

  • Fantastic photos, Michel!  Looks like I will have to return to France someday to visit these beautiful treasures.

  • Michel,

    Yes I do know of La dame a la licorne but only from art books I am afraid. I remember that it was created around circa 1500 and in the Loire Valley that you have commented upon in your blog.  I remember hearing that the original was at the musee de cluny. Is it still there or has it been moved. I know from my whole 2 trips to Paris I had never seen it in any of the museums. Have a wonderful Monday, Michel. You are always a joy to read.

  • yet another GREAT post, michel! I have been to many castles in Europe, when I was younger and lived there. I haven't seen them in a while and I dont have too many vivid memories of them but I have many pictures!

  • Michel?  the answer to your question, "what is le 'uni'?"  c'est court pour "l' 'universite'"  (je suis desolee mais j'ai pas les accents sur ce clavier anglais).

  • hum encore moi...; en fait "hack" en anglais signifie aussi le piratage informatique... et je ne dirais pas non si j avais accès aux mails d une ecrtaine personne.. non non pas vous vous inquiétez pas

    sinon.... je rêve de vos châteaux.... quand je serai grande j en achèterai un

  • I would love to be able to see a real castle.

  • I am grateful for your English translations. You have taken some fantastic photographs.

  • I love castles..!!

  • What a beautiful country that you live in Michel! Thanks for taking me on a tour of the magnificent castles, I could almost imagine being there.

  • Those photos are fantastic ~ formidable!!  When I was still living in Brisbane I missed the heritage I have access to here in the UK. 

    I think a lot of British castles are well maintained, but unfortunately some of them are turned into rather touristy attractions ~ a prime example is Warwick Castle, now owned by the same bunch who bring us Madame Tussaud's.  It's so contrived now ~ not to mention exorbitantly priced to enter ~ that I refuse to go back.

  • They are beautiful pictures, thank you for showing them!

  • My wife, Dorothy and I love your photos, the castle are wonderful.

    Martin

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