Chambord

The château de Chambord is in the middle of a walled park. The wall encloses 5440 hectares (over 13,000 acres or 21 square miles). That’s some wall! Not only is the park huge, the château is the largest in the Loire valley. And not only is it big, it’s incredibly elaborate. Inside, the Christmas theme […]

Château d’Azay-le-Rideau

We visited Azay-le-Rideau right after seeing the Christmas extravaganza at Villandry (they’re only 15 minutes apart). Bad idea. It’s a perfectly nice château, but really, there’s no comparison. We (even M, the photo maniac) took only a fraction of the pictures we’ve taken at the other châteaus. So, this post is a short one. The […]

Chaumont-sur-Loire

Looking for beautiful old buildings? Contemporary art? Water views? Specimen trees? Find them all at the château de Chaumont-sur-Loire. First, there’s the château itself, straight out of a fairy tale: Inside, you find both rooms with historical furnishings (and Christmas decor at this time of year) and spaces devoted to contemporary art. Some of the […]

Le Château de Beynac

The first time we visited the Dordogne, in 2004, we were surprised to learn that the English had spent a lot of time fighting the French here in southwestern France – not just during the Hundred Years war but for several hundred years. The English King Richard I was actually imprisoned in a tower in […]