Islands and streams seem to be the dominant feature of our trip so far.
We left the Ile de Australie, transited on the Ile de Hong Kong and landed on Ile de Grande Bretenage. Our first stop in Europe was on Ile de Tros Roi – the island of the three kings, which sits in the Seine River beside the ancient village of Les Anderly in Upper Normandy. Our campsite was overlooked by the brooding ruins of the Chateau Gaillard, once home to Richard the Lionheart. Just along the towpath was the old riverside town with its charming narrow streets and docks. The prosperous cargoes of old have been replaced by the prosperous tourists disembarking from the regular river cruise tours. The old town is beautiful and we were lucky enough to see it without the day trippers although the grey skies, drizzling rain and barely above zero temperature gave it an eerie appearance and feel.
We headed up stream until we reached the River Oise, a tributary of the Seine, where we detoured to Auvers. It's just a fading outer suburb of Paris now but in the late 19th century it was rural countryside and home to a new school of art that would eventually be know as Impressionism. It was the home of Cézanne, Daubigny, Pissarro and its most tragic resident Vincent van Gogh. It provided the pastoral settings and environs for his last 70 paintings, which he produced in 70 days. Auvers sur Oise is the last resting place of Vincent.
A short trip across one of the Seine meanders brought us to the outskirts of Paris, the affluent suburb of Maisons Lafitte and our next stop on the Ile de la Commune. The island is half camping ground and half sporting complex. A ten minute walk to the station and a twenty minute train trip brought us to the heart of Paris. We only stayed two day as the weather was very cold and overcast. The temperature failed to reach double figures and the sky remained fifty shades of grey with pinprick rain and bitting winds. Spring is late again for the third year in a row.
Even in the gloom this place is beautiful.
The cold drove us south to another river, the Loire. We stayed in Samur on the Ile d'Offard nestling in the middle of the river. Across the ancient stone bridge to the South the Chateau de Samur, perched high on a rocky outcrop, dominated the view. The old town on one side the new just across the bridge to the North. We awoke to a glorious day with clear blue sky and the temperature climbing steadily and wandered around the old town. It was still cold in the shadowy narrow streets and laneway so we found a cafe in the sun on the main street and sat for a while warming our bones.
We left the next day for Tours and along the way stopped at Chateau Villandry. This is one of the jewels of the Loire with its beautiful formal gardens. We toured the chateau and were very surprised that unlike many of these stately castles this one had none of the garish décor or outlandish use of gold leaf. This was a home of wealth but one that felt lived in, very impressive. The gardens on the other hand are a work of art. They are compact yet well laid out with elegant design along with the practicality of incorporating a large vegetable garden and fruit bearing trees. With the surrounding forest suppling game and timber it was a sustainable lifestyle without a tree hugger in sight. Now that's my kinda green.
We stayed at St Avertin on the River Cher as Tours is at the confluence of it and the Loire. The tour of Tours was short and uninspiring. The place was quite a disappointment really even the old town was below par for this part of France. Most of it was being torn up with roadworks. The din of jackhammers and bobcats reverberating around the tiny streets was ear splitting. The weather was the only saving grace. We sat outside in brilliant sunshine in t-shirts and soaked up the warmth.
The Chateau de Chenonceau was our next stop. We came here back in the 70s but the memory of it has faded with time. This is a beautiful castle and almost unique in the world for being built on a bridge in the middle of the Cher. It is know more widely as the Chateau des Dames – the Castle of Women. Five famous women throughout its history nurtured it, expanded it, maintained and enhanced its gardens and even saved it from the ravages of the Revolution. Now that's real women's lib. This is one of the 'must see' Chateaus of the Loire Valley.
We left castle in the river and headed for Amboise, another place that brings back distant memories. We camped on the Ile d'Or, the Island of Gold in the middle of the Loire River. From here the Chateau Royal towers above the city. It was from here in 1516 that King Francis 1st invited Leonardo da Vinci to spent the last three years of his life. He crossed the Alps on a donkey with two companions and brought with him three of his most famous paintings, The Mona Lisa, John the Baptist and The Madonna & Child with St Anne. It is in the Chapel of St Huber, perched high on the battlements of the castle, that Leonardo's last resting place can be found. He died not far away in the Manior du Cloux (now called Clos Lucé) on the 2nd May 1519.
Clos Lucé was the home of da Vinci while he stayed in Amboise. Francis gave him the manor house, a generous stipend and the title of “first painter, engineer and king's architect”. He lived and worked at the manor, which is a short stroll from the Chateau Royal, until his death. The house can be visited including the basement which is now a museum of da Vinci's machines along with the manor's huge gardens that now hold many working model of Leonardo's inventions.
Our time in the Loire Valley is at an end for now. Tomorrow we head south to another river just as famous as the Loire and even more ancient. In fact the correct adjective would be prehistoric. Our next stop is the Dordogne and the home of stone age art, the caves of Lascaux.
