We
spent the night in a very nice small hotel. The rooms were
quaint, but modern with the hotel having been renovated
recently. We had a great (albeit expensive) meal at the
hotel restaurant and next morning headed out for Chateau
Chenonceau.
The photos below are what we saw.
Michele
and Kathleen talk about the day's agenda before we head off on
foot to the chateau. The hotel Le Bon Laboureur was very
nice and the food was great.
Our room
was in the area through the gate on the right.
Right
next to the hotel were vineyards and "country" homes.
The
entrance to the Chateau Chenonceau property was only about 200 meters
away, but the driveway to the main chateau was perhaps 1
km. There were side paths that went through the
trees. The chateau started life around 1547 with the
property being a gift to his favorite lady Diane de
Pointiers. She was responsible for the construction of the
buildings and grounds.
Like any
great chateau, you have to have a turret with gargoyles.
This one was quite well preserved.
Inside
the main building, there were interesting artifacts. This
crest belonged to one of the long line of royal owners of
Chenonceau.
One of
the entry areas was covered with Italian style hand painted tile
laid during the initial construction of the chateau. Only
the tile around the border of the room remains. Note the
damage on this piece.
This
piece was against the wall and despite being hard to get to was
still damaged due to foot traffic.
The
chapel had two entrances: one for the commoners on the ground
floor and another on the upper floor so the royals did not have
to mix with the commoners. Or another interpretation is
that they would not be in danger of assassination by the commoners.
This
painting is of Catherine de Medici the second owner of the
chateau. The painting dates to about 1550. Catherine
was Henry II's widow and forced Diane from ownership of the
chateau.
One of
the royal bedrooms complete with replica bed.
The main
hall of Chenonceau was built across the River Cher.
The
River Cher as seen from Chateau Chenonceau.
Kathleen
checks out the kitchen at Chenonceau. Note the nice
cleavers.
This was
labeled as the "servant's quarters" but was still a reasonably
nice place.
The
other side of the kitchen had big cast iron stoves and
ovens. Note the sliding door to the oven on the left of
the photo above.
Every
proper chateau needs paintings of naked young women.
I found
this coat of arms interesting in that the symbol of the
salamander breathing fire was the same symbol we saw on old cannons
at the Army Museum in Paris.
Another
bed chamber at the chateau.
An
intricate wooden carving on one of the walls at the chateau.
This
scene is on a porcelain platter. It depicts a party at
Chenonceau.
One of
the gardens at the chateau as seen from the portion of the
building that spans the River Cher.
The
gardens were large and very well kept. Most of the photos
of the garden did not make it into this web page.
An
outside view of part of Chenonceau.
A small
part of one of the gardens and the initial tower at Chenonceau.
This is
the main portion of Chenonceau that spans the River Cher.
The main living quarters and the chapel are on the left and the
great hall spans the river.
To make
Chenonceau self-sufficient it needed a significant farm. This
structure was part of that farm.
Every
respectable chateau has to have a wine production facility and
this is the grape press.
An older
Bentley that was a recent addition to the chateau.
The
gardens had many types of flowers and food stuffs. This is
a sunflower.
Some of
the plants in the garden were not edible, but were there for
color only.
This is
a turban squash.
This is
some kind of odd gourd.
We had
lunch at the restaurant at the chateau. Lunch was a
multi-course meal that had chateau-grown vegetables and an
excellent presentation. Note the odd kind of cauliflower
(green) as well as the pork cheek with brown sauce. It was
as good as it looked.
Jim took
our photo after we finished eating.
A
parting shot of Chenonceau with both the tower and the main
chateau in the photo.
From
Chenonceau we headed back toward our hotel. Along the way
we passed the local church so we decided to check it out.
The
stained glass inside the church was pretty good but not of the
same caliber as Le Mans.
Previous Adventure | ||
Trip Home Page |
Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2013,
all rights reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.