This morning a place
that prides itself as being among the prettiest villages in France – Montsoreau. A popular place for Parisian holiday homes,
it’s also the site of another magnificent chateau with views over the
confluence of the Loire and Vienne rivers, and situated at the meeting point of
three provinces (Anjou, Touraine and Poitou).
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| On our way to Montsoreau |
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| Chateau de Montsoreau |
Mark
recommended the chateau as somewhere a little bit different and not your
standard castle interior with tapestries and furniture. Instead we found a very innovative use of
audio-visual displays, music, dioramas and exhibits giving a unique snapshot of
life in the region over time. This
ranged from the castle’s history and life and trade along the river, to the
fiction of Alexandre Dumas and The Lady
of Montsoreau.
The reward for
climbing the stairs to the towers were stunning views of the river(s) and
surrounding landscape. These included
three white steam plumes on the horizon (slightly visible in the photo below)
from the region’s nuclear power station.
Bit of an anomaly in a World Heritage area perhaps but apparently close
to being decommissioned for a bigger/better model. The views over the village also highlighted
some troglodyte houses cut into the rock.
The soft light coloured tufo
limestone that the area is renowned for has been quarried for centuries to
build the area’s chateaux and grand buildings.
In contrast the remaining pockmarked and hollowed out hillsides often
served as dwellings for the poor serfs who did all the hard labour.
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| Meeting point of the Loire and Vienne rivers |
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| Village of Montsoreau including some troglodyte houses in the hillside |
Various uses for the subterranean network have evolved over time. The cool interior temperatures (12-13
degrees) and constant humidity have made the caves perfect for mushroom growing
and (as we soon observed for ourselves) wine storage.
Next stop was
Veuve Amiot and a guided tour of the underground tunnels by our own maestro, Mark. We were given a
tutorial on the production of sparkling wine from first fermentation to
bottling, packaging and shipping. We
were shown a little of the cool/dark underground network of tunnels that are
now used to store bottles for ageing. Back into the light and Ross got to sample
some more fine sparkling wines.
In nearby
Saumur we grabbed some lunch before a quick photo op near the chateau.
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| Chateau de Saumur |
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| Me and the maestro |
I really
must say here that Mark’s knowledge of the local area, its geography, wines,
history and businesses (restaurateurs, winery and chateau staff among others)
is absolutely astounding. He really is a
maestro. We were taken on another
Mark-tour around the outside of Chateau de Breze, which has the distinction of
having the deepest dry moat of any castle in France. And deep it is – plunging to 18m, it has
reputedly never been breached. The moat
even boasted its own inbuilt bakery/cold room to help the castle occupants withstand
lengthy sieges.
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| Chateau de Breze |
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| Looking down at the dry moat |
Our last stop
was Fontevraud Abbey – really an extensive monastic complex comprising a number of
separate buildings. Its fame during
medieval times no doubt boosted when it became the resting place of two English
Kings - King Henry II and his son Richard the Lionheart, their equally infamous
wife/mother, Eleanor of Aquitane and her daughter-in-law, Isabelle of
Angouleme.
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| Reclining figures of Plantagenet royalty - Fontevraud Abbey |
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| Fontevraud Abbey |
Fontevraud has achieved further notoriety since Napoleonic times following its conversion to
a state penitentiary and its resident miseries of hunger, maltreatment, even torture. The site served as a prison until the 1960s
with the last prisoners only leaving as recently as 1985. Needless to say extensive renovations have
been conducted and still continue to this day to return the abbey to its former glory.
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| Fontevraud Abbey - restored |
To close
another fabulous day, Mark organised a table for us at La Rose de Pindare, another local restaurant in St Nicolas de Bourgueil and the Mark-Debbie tag team kindly delivered us there and back. The set menu was absolutely exquisite.
We enjoyed the fine evening by sitting outside on the restaurant terrace
indulging in pan fried salmon with courgette mousse and red wine sauce, and
beautifully presented fresh strawberries for dessert. Without a doubt, it was the finest meal we have
enjoyed on our entire trip and a fitting almost-end to our holiday.
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| The strawberry dessert |
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