In France there are about 40,000 castles in France and they become a feature of this country. If you have the chance to visit France, do not miss out on visiting the Loire Valley as one of the most popular tourist destinations in France outside of Paris. The Loire Valley (French: Val de Loire) is a tributary of the Loire River between the Center and the Loire, 280 km (170 mi) long, located in the middle of the Loire River, the administrative center of the Center-Val de Loire, central France. The Loire Valley area covers an area of 800 square kilometers (310 sq mi). It is called the Cradle of the French and the Garden of France due to the abundance of vineyards, orchards and vegetables including cherry, asparagus and artichoke along the river. In the Loire Valley About 42 castles, most of them built from the Middle Ages to the 15th century, when the center of power of France is located here. Many castles have typical Renaissance architecture. Today I would like to introduce you some of the most famous castles here:
1. Château du Clos Lucé
Just don't mention "The Da Vinci Code."
Source: elliott brown/flickr/CNN
First up, we suggest you skip the overrated Château d'Ambroise and go straight to the Château du Clos Lucé up the street. The Clos Lucé castle and its three hectare grounds were purchased by Louise de Savoie, King François I's mother, around the turn of the 16th century. But François didn't live there for very long and didn't really do anything notable himself while in residence. Instead, Clos Lucé is a must-see because of a well-known house guest he had.
When François went to Italy at the height of the Italian Renaissance, he met an aging artist and inventor by the name of Leonardo da Vinci, whom he brought back to live at Clos Lucé. Da Vinci was there for only three years before he died, but he developed many of his most visionary inventions at Clos Lucé.
Why it's a must-see
Clos Lucé houses a museum and park filled with prototypes of some of da Vinci's most imaginative creations, including the machine gun, helicopter and paddle boat. The museum's basement also features a display explaining on how tech giant IBM brought some of his inventions to life. Food for thought.
Château du Clos Lucé, 2 rue du Clos Lucé, 37400 Amboise. Contact: +33 (0) 2 4757 0073; www.vinci-closluce.com
2. Château de Chenonceau
Plenty of room to rearrange the furniture.
Source: GUILLAUME SOUVANT/AFP/Getty Images
The current Chenonceau castle was built during the 15th century after the original castle was destroyed during the Hundred Years' War.
When principal architect Thomas Bohier was called off to war while the castle was being constructed, his wife, Katherine Briçonnet, took over. After the state uncovered suspicious financial dealings, Chenonceau was confiscated in 1535, and Henri II gave it to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers, much to the chagrin of his wife, Catherine de Médicis. Nevertheless, the latter reclaimed the castle upon her husband's death and spousal justice was served.
Of note to architecture fans is that the competing styles of Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de Médicis are evident throughout the castle.
Later, when the government threatened to seize the castle during the French Revolution, Louise Dupin thwarted officials by using historical documents to prove the castle was privately owned, thus saving it from destruction.
Why it's a must-see
Château de Chenonceau, or the "Women's Castle," is the only castle built, decorated, inhabited and saved by women, making it a great place to understand the role of women during the Renaissance.
Château de Chenonceau, 37150 Chenonceau. Contact: +33 (0) 8 2020 9090; www.chenonceau.com
3. Château d'Ussé
Fairy tales can be relived at Château d'Ussé.
Source: flo21/flickr/CNN
Château d'Ussé is a privately owned castle that the family still occupies. While the ground floor of the building is open to the public and decorated with 16th-century wallpaper and furniture, the castle's charm comes from its attic.
Legend has it that Charles Perrault, the author of many French fairy tales, visited Château d'Ussé and was inspired to write the story of "Sleeping Beauty."
Why it's a must-see
The castle's attic has been set up with scenes of the somnolent 16th-century princess playing with her toys, watched over by the good fairies. The visit includes a tour through a mock fairytale attic, complete with cobwebs and antique toys and furniture. The grounds also house a vineyard and the castle produces its own bubbly white wine, which can be purchased after the tour.
Château d'Ussé, 37420 Rigny-Ussé. Contact: +33 (0) 2 4795 5405; chateaudusse.fr
4. Château de Chambord
Once home to a famous painting.
Source: guillame souvant/afp/getty images
Chambord Castle was built into its modern form in the early 16th century under the rule of François I and with the influence of Leonardo da Vinci.
Legend has it that François wanted to reroute the Loire river so that it would pass in front of the castle. He didn't quite get his wish, fortunately.
During the French Revolution, rebels pillaged the castle and hunted the animals in the surrounding forest to near extinction. What remained of its furnishings were auction off by the government in 1791. After the Revolution, the castle was owned privately and returned to the French state in 1930 on the death of its owner. During World War II, Chambord housed some of France's most valuable national treasures and works of art, including the Mona Lisa at one time. Bet you didn't see that coming.
Why it's a must-see
The castle isn't just a work of a Renaissance architectural genius, it's also an important historical center where French history unfolded. With more than 700,000 visitors a year, the Château de Chambord is the biggest and most visited castle in the Loire Valley.
Château de Chambord, 41250 Chambord, France. Contact: +33 (0) 2 5450 4000; chambord.org
5. Château d'Azay-le-Rideau
A gem on the Indre River.
Source: igor krivokon/flickr/CNN
Relatively small and out-of-the-way, Château d'Azay-le-Rideau on the Indre River is, nevertheless, one of the most celebrated castles in the Loire Valley, and Balzac even called it the "Diamond of the Indre."
With its gorgeous moat and Italian Renaissance interior, the chateau is known especially for the rare 16th and 17th century Flemish tapestries that depict life in Renaissance Europe. But don't go just for the wall hangings.
Why it's a must-see
Château d'Azay-le-Rideau's decorations span the castle's history and rooms are decorated in styles varying from the Renaissance era of François I through to 19th century excesses straight out of one of Victor Hugo's novels.
Château d'Azay-le-Rideau, 37190 Azay-le-Rideau, France. Contact: +33 (0) 2 4745 4204; azay-le-rideau.fr
6. Château de Blois
Source: by Pierre
Kings and queens were forever in and out of Blois, the Loire's finest in-town château. They all left their marks, so the four sides of the château chart the evolution of castle architecture, a fact which guides find unusually fascinating. And certainly François I's see-and-be-seen outside staircase - underlining power with display - is a cracker. Otherwise, though, I prefer the interior. It tells its story with heavy colours, hangings, a vast Gothic hall and good paintings. Most memorable is a portrait of the fabulously hairy-faced Tognina Gonsalvus, a victim of hypertrichosis ("were-wolf syndrome") kept round Henri II's court as a curiosity. This was a rich, lively, high res. lifestyle.
Catherine de Médicis exerted her influence from a Blois study of many secret panels, notably to resolve France's religious conflict. A key tactic was to send flying squads of beautiful women off to calm down warlords and glean pillow secrets. But extremism generally triumphed. Catherine's own son, Henri III, had hardline Catholic leader, the Duc-de-Guise stabbed in his Blois chambers in 1588. Lord knows why the duke, who knew of Henri's antipathy, went to meet the king alone and unarmed. The château has a summer son-et-lumière in the courtyard about which I'd tell you more, except that I fell asleep rather early on. And those stones are hard.
Contact: 00 33 2549 03333; chateaudeblois.fr
7. Château de Meung
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Meung castle, dominating the little town of the same name, entered written history with a bang as the 11th-century closed. Meung locals had rebelled. King Louis the Fat sent troops to sort them out. Rather then give in, 60 rebels threw themselves off the castle tower. "Transpierced by iron spears and arrows, they gasped their last breath and thus their criminal souls were sent painfully to hell," wrote a contemporary, with moving clarity.
Post-Orléans, the château was liberated from the English by Joan-of-Arc. A little later, its dungeons were gaol to François Villon, the most murderous French poet of the late middle ages. (He killed a priest, among others.) Now the château is privately owned and - here's the thing - run with more imagination than any other. Each room is not merely furnished; it also tells a historical tale - of hygiene, of medicine and herbalism, of cooking, of music, games, dining and laundry. Temporary exhibitions - recently on women's underwear through the ages - don't make things any less riveting. Enthusiasm suffuses the place.
Contact: 00 332384 43647; chateau-de-meung.com
8. Château de Amboise
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Stand on the terrace of the Amboise château and you dominate the tight, oat-meal town below, the wide idling River Loire and the grey-green landscape beyond (including, in the mid-distance, Mick Jagger's La Fourchette domain). You will feel a manifest destiny to rule France. It's inescapable. It's also traditional. A couple of Louis, a brace of Charles and two François spent much time at the place, both as children and as kings.
Charles VIII, though having six toes-per-foot, being prone to convulsions and "of startling ugliness", brought the Renaissance back with him from Italian campaigns, much embellishing the château. He created the great towers whose ramps could, car park-like, swirl horses and carriages up to château level. Tragically, he did nothing about enlarging château doors. Her died after cracking his head on a lintel.
A great many more deaths followed after the 1560 Tumult of Amboise. Protestants aimed to kidnap Louis XII, to subtract him from Catholic influence. They failed. Hundreds were hung from the château railings. Others were chucked in the Loire. Louis and his queen, Mary Stuart, weren't unduly moved: they went off for a party at Chenonceau soon afterwards. Amboise was much-plundered for stone in post-revolutionary years. But what's left demands to be seen - not least St Hubert's chapel, where Leonardo da Vinci is buried (see below).
Contact: 00 33 2475 70098; chateau-amboise.com
9. Château de Villandry
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There are many lovely gardens in the Loire Valley which, by and large, I'm happy to leave to the green-fingered. But Villandry, by the River Cher, is something else. The gardens are vast, terraced and laid out with geometric formality, as if created with set-squares and compasses rather than spades. The lines, the swirls, the colours, the designs, the precision leave almost all the senses exalted. Seen from the château above, the gardens resemble a gigantic puzzle-page, brilliantly filled in. The French have always felt that, left to God, nature was a little wayward. At Villandry, they impose order, and nature responds in stimulating fashion.
This being a Renaissance garden there are, of course, layers of symbolism - love, sex, corruption (apparently a quality of cabbages, which will surprise no-one). Meanwhile, the chateau itself falls under Spanish influence (see the fabulous Mudejar ceiling) , thanks to Spanish doctor Joaquim Carvallo who bought and restored building and gardens early last century. The place remains in family hands, salons alive with family mementoes. In one, there's a photo of our own Queen Mother.
Contact: 00 33 2475 00209; chateauvillandry.fr
10. Château de Valençay
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Among the things you may not know about Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord - Napoleon's foreign minister - is that his chef invented the vol-au-vent, and that the old devil himself had a club foot. Both facts are revealed at the formidably Renaissance Valençay château. Unlike other Loire region châteaux, Valençay's halcyon days came not in the 15th and 16th-centuries but in the early nineteenth. In 1803, Napoleon insisted Talleyrand buy the place, to host important visitors and, if possible, subvert them. (Talleyrand had form: when Bishop of Autun, he'd impregnated his niece.)
Crucial to the scheme was Antonin Carème, France's greatest 19th-century chef (also the first to be called "chef", and to wear a big white hat). His skills, and renown, flattered Talleyrand's guests into indiscretion. And I'm happy to report that his kitchens remain intact. Indeed, the whole château is furnished with sumptuous Empire and Louis XVI stuff, so you can project yourself back to its heyday as you can't at other châteaux. The grounds are a wizz, too - and, unusually, they cater for kids. With woods, a deer park, petting farm, labyrinth and play-area, Valençay keeps tantrums to a minimum.
Contact: 00 33 25450 01066; chateau-valencay.fr
Here are some of the castles in Loire Valley, France I would like to share, if you know any interesting information about it please share with me and everyone. Thank you for reading.
Content source: Allison Lounes, CNN, Anthony Peregrine, Telegraph