After a very successful stay in Marseille, we moved on to Lyon for a few days. Lyon is a small city with less to do than Paris or Marseille. This brought a welcome slowdown in the pace of our travel. We used our extra time to relax, plan the next few weeks of our trip, and enjoy better restaurants than we’d found prior to Lyon.

From Lyon, we headed to the Loire Valley to check out some Chateaux(castles)! The Loire Valley packs 300 castles in only 800 square kilometers. If you want to see castles, this is the place to do it.

Why are there so many Chateaux in this valley? In the 16th century, France’s nobility relocated to the Loire Valley. Naturally, they had to build a bunch of castles to live in/massage their inflated egos.

Touring

Jallanges

The Loire Valley offers many options for staying in a Castle and we couldn’t pass up the opportunity. We booked 2 nights in Chateau de Jallanges, a castle of modest size built in the 1400s by King Louis XI.

Saying in a castle was very cool.

1. It’s a castle. That’s just inherently awesome.
2. Our suite was large yet cozy with a bedroom, “kids” room, and bathroom.
3. Jallanges has an indoor and outdoor pool. The indoor pool is built in an old cellar, has mood lighting, and is heated. Check it out below.
4. They served a very good, included breakfast that surprised us with the variety of options available. Also shown below.
5. It’s a castle!

Staying in a castle came with some quirks.

1. It’s old and not perfectly maintained. All things considered, this made it feel even more “castly” and just made the place more charming.
2. The plumbing is imperfect. Cold water barely trickled out of our sinks (hot water was full power).
3. The staff leaves around 6:30 PM at which point they close the pools and common areas. This didn’t really affect us as we swam during the day and were ready for bed by the time we returned after dinner but it would have been annoying if we’d stayed more than 2 nights.
4. Castles are too large for a single wifi router. The wifi barely extended out of the building entrance, which is the room we had to use to Skype Wyatt’s parents.

If you get the chance, definitely stay at a castle. It is a charming, unique experience that is perfect as a few nights get-away. Jallanges is a good, relatively inexpensive option (~160 Euros per night versus the typical 250+ that most places were charging).

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Chambord

Chambord is our favorite of the 4 castles we visited in the Loire. It’s the quintessential castle with large turrets, beautiful spires, a moat, a big courtyard, grand staircases, and large rooms. Chambord is even more grand than Versaille, though it’s less ornate and the gardens in Versaille are far more impressive.

You can wander Chambord virtually unimpeded. Most rooms are open for exploration and even the rooftop balcony is accessible. Many rooms are filled with furniture, décor, or relics with detailed accompanying descriptions. We skipped the audio guide and still spent over 3 hours walking, reading, taking pictures, and admiring the castle.

King François I initiated the construction of Chambord in the early 1500s. Wars and the death of kings delayed the completion of construction until well into the 1600s. Once completed, no King spent more than a few weeks in the grand but uncomfortable castle. Thanks to its location in a swampy woodland, the castle was mosquito-infested in the summer. The grandeur of its halls made it hard to heat, making it very cold in the winter. No wonder the first extended occupation of the castle didn’t start until 1725 when an exiled Polish king took up residence for 8 years.

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Chenonceau

Chenonceau is easily the prettiest castle we’ve seen. It elegantly spans the river Cher, all sweeping arches and white stone walls.

We used audio guides for our visit and we’re glad we did. The guide is nearly 2 hours but we happily listened to the entirety. Chenonceau is unusual in that it was owned and inhabited mostly by women. The guide discusses these women and their history along with that of the castle, providing a refreshing change from the constant litany of kings and their wars. Instead, you learn about the lives of noblewomen from the 16th through 19th centuries. Another beauty of the guide is that it forces you to spend more time in each room than you otherwise might which gives you the opportunity to notice small architectural details that you would have missed on a quick walk-through.

Of the various women that inhabited the castle, our favorite was Louise Dupin. She was ahead of her time in the 1700s, funding research aimed at proving the equality of the sexes and working to draft a Code of Women’s Rights.

In contrast, another of the inhabitants of Chenonceau spent 11 years in mourning after the death of her husband (see her room in the bottom left picture below). The one man who resided in the castle felt the need to decorate the castle with cannons to make it appear more masculine. #toxicmasculinity

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Clos Luce and Villandry

We also visited Clos Luce and Villandry.

Clos Luce is a very small castle but is where Da Vinci spent the final years of his life. Visiting is less about seeing the castle and more about visiting a museum dedicated to the Italian genius. The grounds are full of interactive, life-sized replicas of his inventions. It’s inspiring to see the things he invented. The best of them were impossible to build with the materials of the day but are functional when we build them using modern manufacturing techniques.

Villandry is another smaller castle with intricate gardens that are worth exploring.

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Observations

No Wonder the French Revolted

The source of the French Revolution becomes apparent once you see the grandeur of the castles common across France. Some estimates put the historic cost of running Versailles alone at a few percents of French government income. At the same time, the nobility was building castles as “second homes” with costs amounting to the equivalent of at least 100’s of millions of dollars. I’d revolt too.

On a related note, what percent of a town or cities resources went into building churches and cathedrals? We would find it hard to justify building the largest of these buildings today and we’re a wealthy society. We can’t imagine proposing these buildings at a time when most people were so poor. (My question is rhetorical: tithing makes me estimate is ~10% of resources went into church construction.)

Sleeping

If you’ve ever seen a bed from the middle ages, you might have wondered: why is the bed so small? It turns out, most people slept in a half seated position to “prevent their soul from escaping while they slept lying down”. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Driving

We rented a car as getting to Castles by bus is difficult. Wyatt doesn’t drive manual and the only automatic available was a mid-sized SUV. The roads in France are not made for mid-sized vehicles. Look at this tiny road! It’s supposed to be a 2 way! The middle of the city is even narrower.

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Now that Wyatt has driven in France, he can see why people are not car-centric. Taking the train is way better. There were times when we wondered if the French government intentionally makes driving such a pain to encourage more use of public transit. Check out the video below. What’s with that? Why can’t they put all the parking spaces on one side?!

Mediterranean Food

We love Mediterranean Food and France is full of really good Mediterranean restaurants. They have delicious hummus, falafel, etc but they all serve it with store-bought pita bread. What gives? You take a bite of this absolutely marvelous hummus and on the back end of the bite you have to chew this bland, slightly old pita bread. Just look at this delicious meal accompanied by bad pita. It’s tragic.

In better news, we had the best pita bread of our lives at Au Falafel in Marseille.

Speaking of hummus. How is it that a country with so many Mediterranean restaurants has so little hummus in grocery stores. Most grocery stores only have one hummus option and we’ve been to a few with no hummus whatsoever. (Yes, we really love hummus. Yes, this is important. We found tasty beet hummus recently and it made our day.)

Casino’s

France has a brand named “Casino”. We noticed them all over the place and thought French people must just really like gambling. Nope, that’s a grocery store. This partially explains why we couldn’t figure out where the grocery stores were in Paris.

Overall

The Loire Valley was awesome.

• Staying at a castle was a cool experience.
• Chambord and Chenonceau were both highlights of the trip.
• Castles are epic.
• Driving in France is terrible, don’t do it.

Lyon Bonus Pics

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