Situated on the banks of the Loire river in-between the cities of Tours and Orleans, is a charming renaissance city by the name of Blois.
The capital of the Loire-et-Cher department of France, the city is actually one of the more interesting places to visit in the Loire valley.
An 18th century bridge, a very unique staircase, a large cathedral and a renaissance castle are just some of what makes this city such a great place to explore.
For this tour I'll start with the staircase, since it is one of the first things you see when crossing over the bridge.
The Denis Papin Staircase
One of the most iconic attractions in the city is the Denis Papin staircase. It is just a short distance away from the city's cathedral and is directly in line with the old stone bridge. It consists of 120 steps and four distinct landings and is a major thoroughfare that links the upper and lower parts of the city.
Denis Papin, a famous inventor from Blois, lends his name to the staircase and adjoining street. A 19th century bronze statue of the man can be seen standing tall on the third platform of the staircase.
The statue itself is somewhat dwarfed though by the staircases more modern focal point, the large scale artwork that is painted on each of the stairs risers.
Each year, starting in the year 2013 a new scene has been painted on the staircase as a way of bringing art and discussion to the cities some 46 thousand residents. The scenes vary each year but typically try to maintain some sort of relevance to what is going on in the city or the country as a whole. For instance, in 2019 a giant Mona Lisa was painted on the stairs risers to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the renaissance era. I myself have no idea about the significance of Mickey mouse and friends but am interested to find out if anyone else knows anything about it. Please feel free to let me know in the comments.
The staircase is worth the climb, not just to see the artwork at a new angle. The top of the stairs also offers a splendid panoramic view of the town. On a clear day it is said that individuals can see up to 10 km in the distance.
It also allows you a more close up view of the the statue from a few different angles.
Below is the staircase seen from the stone bridge that was featured at the beginning of the article. When I first saw the giant painting I had no idea that it was a set of stairs. At first I thought that it was a billboard which really messed with my mind when I realized that people were climbing up what appeared to be a vertical wall.
Chateau Blois
Chateau Blois is another one of the towns main features. It is a 13th-17th century castle that is located in the center of the city and is famous for being the residence of multiple French kings as well as the spot where Joan of Arc went to be blessed by the Archbishop of Reims in 1429 before she went on to liberate the city or Orleans.
Apart from its history, one thing that is unique about chateau is its architectural design. The overall building is made up of four distinctly different structures, each of which were built during a different century and by a different owner. For instance, the castle began as a 13th century medieval fortress but later a gothic wing was added followed by a renaissance wing and a classical wing.
The photo above demonstrates this effect nicely. Here you can see how the renaissance wing butts up against the classical wing at the back, both of which appear to be built on the foundation of the old medieval keep.
Beside the castle is a small green space park that has a massive redwood tree directly at its center. A walking path travels through the park that eventually makes its way to some gardens built upon a medieval wall-like structure.
Around back, behind the park is a small church and more raised gardens.
Climb a few sets of stairs in the gardens and you get another great view of the city. there you can see the cathedral off in the distance flanked by the large redwood from the park on the left and the castle on the right. Its a really neat spot overall.
Turning back to the left and you can see the small church from a new angle. It peeks up above a long row of nicely trimmed hedges.
Moving to the right towards the river takes you to the back portion of the chateau. Here you can see the classical wing along with remnants of the old medieval wall.
I think this picture (below) is kind of cool with the cathedral in the distance. The chateau and the church are the tallest buildings on the horizon and are in direct site of each other. From the upper floor of the castle the king could look over at the church and imagine the bishop or priest (or whoever is over there) looking back at him.
It reminds me of two friends waving at each other from their bedrooms across the street or maybe two feuding neighbors giving each other the stink eye from their terraces.
I found this castle to be quite unique in terms of its location. Most castles I have seen are either a stand alone building out in the country or they are high up on a hill overlooking a town below. It's not very often that you see a castle in such a large city and right in the heart of it at that.
We didn't go inside that day because we had already visited one castle already (Chateau Chambord) and felt like one castle was enough for this time around. The outside of chateau Blois was interesting enough to keep us satisfied anyway, so we didn't feel the need to spend more money on another self guided tour.
We did enter the main gate though which brought us to a large wrought iron fence that blocked the inner courtyard. Though we couldn't actually go in, we were able to get a glimpse of the area inside.
Chateau Blois has an inner/outer spiral staircase that is very similar to the ones at Chateau Chambord. I guess that makes sense though, considering both castles belonged to the same guy, Francois I.
One last thing that was interesting about Chateau Blois are the many porcupine sigils that can be see in a around the building. Apparently the crowned porcupine was the official symbol of King Louis XII. There was a funny saying that went along with the symbol as well that I got a kick out of which went like this:
"Qui s’y frotte s’y pique," which translates to "Rub against him and you'll get pricked." I found that somewhat clever and somewhat funny.
The Town
There were quite a few locations scattered throughout the upper portion of the city that offered some a pretty outstanding views of the town below, as well as its rooftops.
One thing that stood out for me was the way the red brick chimneys popped out against the white stone and yellow paint of the main buildings. I also liked the old tv Arial antennas, which are quite common to see in most French cities.
Rising above the buildings over near the castle was Saint Nicholas church. I don't have much to say about it other than its kind of cool just how much taller it is compared to the buildings around it. That's not surprising though. 100's of years ago it was common for churches to be the tallest buildings in a given city.
On the opposite end of town, a short distance away from the Denis Papin staircase was the main cathedral, the "Basilica of Notre Dame."
It was large and impressive and sat on top of a hill over looking the Loire river and the lower part of Blois. Unfortunately, we weren't able to go into it that day because of a wedding that was taking place. Not a huge deal though considering most churches are quite similar inside. It was kind of neat seeing the large crown gathered around the side of the building anyway, and the blaring music and cheers of the people. It sounded like quite the wedding celebration.
Unlike most large cities in France, Blois didn't seem to have one medieval center. Instead the entire city sort of had that old timey French feel about it.
It also seemed as though every street was on an angle in town, either a ramp or a staircase. I don't think that there was a single flat section in the entire city.
That's an exaggeration of course, but there were definitely a lot of hilly, winding roads.
By late afternoon it was time to head back over the bridge to our car and begin our drive back home which means that this tour has come to an end.
