Wine & Châteaux - Loire Valley 🇫🇷

 

The Loire Valley - this region of France conjures such beautiful images of chateaus, wine, cheese, beautiful peaceful countryside, and uniquely French culture. We were looking forward to exploring the area outside of Amboise; there are, after all, over 300 chateaux and 7,000 independent wine producers in this storied region of France.

We watched the weather and found a stretch of three beautiful, sunny days in the forecast and rented a car so we could explore on our own. We both like tours, but none of them offered enough exploration for our liking. So we rented a car and picked it up this past Wednesday for three days of exploration on our own.

Our first day started out on a magical note. Annette found a local winery close to the first chateau we wanted to visit, so we just stopped by. We did not have an appointment, so we had to wait 10 minutes before we had a lovely tour and tasting of some wonderful wine from Vouvray AOC in the Loire Valley. Caves Cathelineau - Vin de Vouvray

After a beautiful drive through the French countryside, we made our way to Château de Villandry for a view of the beautiful manicured gardens. It was early spring, so there were plenty of early spring flowers and work by the staff preparing for the summer. Our time here was so relaxing, and we spent a few hours exploring the house and gardens of this beautiful country house.

Château de Langeais was next on our list, and this was more of a true Gothic-style castle and is one of the best-known examples of late medieval architecture. The gardens were beautiful, and we enjoyed our drive through the area.

Our last stop was Château de l’Lsette. We arrived at the end of the day and decided to go ahead and explore even though there was not that much time left before it closed. We both are so glad we did. As soon as we entered the ticket office, a kind young lady greeted us, and we struck up a conversation with her. Everywhere we visit, it is always asked where we come from (as a way to track who is visiting from which country), and when we told her Orlando, she was thrilled to tell us of her time she spent in the area visiting. She was so kind, and we came to find out that her parents own the chateau. We made a quick visit to the house, and it is evident that it is still lived in as the bathroom is updated as well as the kitchen. The garden and grounds are beautiful, and like Château Gaillard, we fell in love with this wonderful “livable” chateau and would want to return when we do come back to visit this area again.

Driving through the French countryside is truly magnificent, and the beauty this time of year is breathtaking. Trees growing their new pale green leaves, early spring flowers, and so many fields that are popping with the bright, beautiful yellow flowers of Rapeseed made for a drive that we both kept uttering “Wow”. We really need to work on our vocabulary for the moments that we are in such awe of the natural beauty that God had painted, but “Wow”works!

This truly was a magical day, we came back exhausted but excited about our next two days of exploring more of this area of France, more châteaux and beautiful drives.

Until Next Time…