Exploring back garden of France - Loire Valley
2023-08-16
The Loire Valley, located in central France, is cradle of French culture. Royal nobles of all ages built many magnificent castles here. The entire area is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Wilde said: "The Loire River is one of most wonderful rivers in world. 100 cities and 500 castles are reflected in water surface of entire river."
Balzac described Loire Valley as follows: “There is a valley that starts from town of Montbazon and extends to Loire River. The mountains are undulating on both sides, and castles on mountains are scattered. whole valley is like an emerald bowl... ... Come in spring to enjoy beautiful and chaste natural landscape, like a bride, or in late autumn, in silence and vicissitudes of landscape, satisfy your lonely sadness.
Literary giants used poetic language to describe Loire Valley in their minds. In China there is a saying "lake of a thousand islands". According to statistics, there are more than 200 castles in the Loire Valley.
Witnesses of history of Loire Valley are large and small castles, most of which were built in Middle Ages and Renaissance. During Hundred Years' War between Britain and France, French royal family fled to Loire Valley to seek refuge, which is why Loire Valley is also called "Valley of Kings". castle is even more mysterious rise.
Chambord, Chenonceau, Villandry, Sully, Azay-le-Rideau, Fontevero Monastery (Fontevraud) ... etc. are typical castle buildings in Loire Valley. Before going to France, Casey drove Chenonceaux to visit and closely came into contact with him. The life of French nobility.
Chenonceau
The most beautiful castle in Loire Valley is Chenonceau Castle. This water castle, built in 11th century, is located south of Amboise. Boats on Ball". The castle is reflected in clear water of lake, arches of bridge connect up and down, forming a full circle, and breeze blows, wrinkling water in pool.
When you enter castle, you will be greeted with a strong sense of history. The castle still retains traces of life of owners of past generations. The overall style is mostly rich yellow and red, which creates a feeling of luxury in palace. The color seems to return to luxurious court era hundreds of years ago. Paintings from different periods in castle make visitors feel like they are in an art gallery.
Portrait of Louis XIV
When Xiao He entered this bedroom, he was inspired by ancient sense of time. It's old, but it's not hard to see sophistication of this room: a large four-poster bed, a painted 15th-century Gothic-style wooden wardrobe, and a chest full of travel spikes. Among them is a renaissance fireplace, and a row of Flemish tapestries hang on wall, which show that owner of this room is unusual.
Bedroom with five queen beds
This bedroom was once inhabited by 5 queens, namely two daughters and three daughters-in-law of Queen Catherine de Medici. Queen Catherine de Medici was a famous dictator queen in French history, Chenonceau was her best stage to show her desire for power, she turned it into center of most luxurious communications and festive events of the time.
Queen Catherine de Medici
Accompanied by iron and blood rule of Queen Catherine de' Medici, there is also a charming affair with Diane de Poitiers, mistress of her husband Henry II.
Perhaps French are romantic by nature. Compared to bloody castles in England, castles in France have more charming legends. Chenonceau Castle is also known as "Chatea udes Dames" - castle of women, because it witnessed most violent harem dispute in history of France.
Coincidentally, another famous castle in Loire Valley, Chambord, also has a special design for romantic and passionate French - a double helix staircase designed by master painter Leonardo da Vinci. Independent stairs rotate around a common axis, intertwine with each other and spiral upwards, people going up and down two stairs can see each other, but not meet.
Is that Da Vinci's humor about French? Compared to Chenonceau, Chambord is more gorgeous and gorgeous, it's a renaissance boutique. Chambord was built by Francis I in 1519 as a weekend hunting lodge. Soon it grew like a snowball and became most ambitious architectural project of French kings. It took more than 30 years to build. The castle has 440 guest rooms, 365 fireplaces, 84 staircases, magnificent and exquisite interior decoration, an external minaret and a bell tower. tower Go straight to sky to show eternity.
Chambord
Chambord is built in an area where life of French aristocrats is strongest. Forests are everywhere, rich in wood and wine. The length and width of castle is more than 100 meters, and it is magnificent. In center is square main castle surrounded by six huge conical towers. Surrounded by city river, it is surrounded by a large forest and faces a large garden, giving people a great visual enjoyment. The castle is a symbol of royalty, which embodies magnificent and exaggerated style of royal garden and is perfect combination of imperial power and art.
Chambord and Chenonceau are known as king and queen of Loire Valley, they stood for a hundred years, witnessed luxurious and magnificent court era of France, and also witnessed ups and downs of revolutionary process. The era of extravagance will eventually pass, no matter how magnificent and refined it may be, it will be dusted with time, sad or sad, lively or powerful, none of them will be able to escape waves of history, and it will return to calm. a few years later colloquial material.
It was almost evening when we left castle. On way back to apartment, we passed a vineyard. A whole piece of low vines covered plain. We relaxed a little. Seduced by taste, we decided to stop by winery to taste sweetness of wine. The Loire Valley is known not only for its castles, but also for its wines.
Vineyards are located on both sides of Loire River, stretching for 800 kilometers horizontally, and they can be roughly divided into 4 sub-regions: Nantes, Anjou-Samur, Metropolitan Touraine and Center of Loire.
The Loire Valley has now become third largest wine region in France after Bordeaux and Rhone Valley, with over 4,000 wineries.
In Loire Valley, 12 grape varieties are allowed, but dominant ones are "3 whites and 1 red" - Chenin Blanc, Melon de Bourgogne, Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc.
Chenin Blanc
When entering winery, fresh aroma of wine remains in nose. The decoration of winery is simple and stylish. Wine racks and wine utensils are neatly arranged, and wine racks are lined with wines from different years. We chose a bottle of white wine on recommendation of owner of winery. A sip of white wine brewed by Chenin Blanc, sour and sweet, and fatigue of day is completely removed. Looking at brilliant sunset in sky, low creepers are in front of you, and breeze is slightly intoxicating. This is life you long for.
The meaning of travel lies in unknown: you don't know what kind of people you will meet, what landscapes you will see, where you will turn a corner, suddenly change direction, or that you will be hit by soft part in center. It is because of this adventure in unknown that we are encouraged to look for different scenery. Perhaps it is telepathy in dark, we came to same destination, we converged, and then we had all sorts of stories, and we finally met after a thousand voyages.