We set out to see two of the big name chateaus/castles today, Chambord and Cheverny, but only managed the first one. Chambord is so huge it took much longer to see it than we'd figured. This is probably largely due to us deciding to walk around the large man-made pond after touring the chateau, a distance of about 5 km.
Chambord is at once both magnificent and strange from the outside. It's as if several different designers from different periods and places decided to add stuff on to the original design. Here are a few shots of it.
Here's Cindy looking up from the 3rd level terrace at some of the tower finishes such as that shown in the second picture.
Much of the stone used to make it is very soft and easy to inscribe, apparently. Lot's of inscribed graffiti in the walls, but not all of it is recent. Check this out.
We did find some bottles of Chambord liqueur in the gift shop, but I think it is actually produced at chateau near Cheverny (and we didn't buy any).
As we were tired, we decide to take a route back to our chateau via a few low on the radar screen chateaux at Talcy and Beaugency. Going into Talcy we found this old windmill, below. It is within eyesight of a nuclear power plant located on an island in the Loire River.
Culinary Discovery: Walnut Vinegar. Awesome on salad with olive oil, pepper and salt.
I like the blue sky behind the windmill.
ReplyDelete- Nancy