[Lifestyle] Hemingway’s back garden into a French town

Balzac described the Loire River in this way: “We always want to live elsewhere, the ancient castle, the clear river, the beautiful valley scenery, time seems to have stopped here, and only the Loire River flows… Loire It’s a good other place.” So, I wanted to go to “somewhere else” to have a look.

When making travel plans, an old friend who has settled in France for many years told me: “If you have limited time and want to experience as much French style as possible, then go to Paris and the Loire Valley.” Needless to say, the beauty of Paris, Hemingway did Best summed up: “If you’re lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, she’ll be with you wherever you go for the rest of your life, for Paris is a moving feast.” And the Loire Valley embodies the sweetest Pure French style.

As the largest river in France, there are continuous hills on both sides of the Loire Valley. Rare wild plants grow freely on the embankment, and naughty little animals jump around in it. The Loire Valley, favored by nature, has also been favored by many French kings. Since the Middle Ages, thousands of castles have been built in the green trees on both sides of the valley. The houses are deep and mossy, adding a bit to the French back garden. Mystery. The annual leave is too short, I can only stay in the Loire Valley for 4 days, it is impossible to see so many castles at a glance. Sometimes, less is more, and I simply go to one or two castles a day to calmly feel the beauty and tranquility of the Loire Valley.

Day 1 Chambord

Starting from Paris, drive all the way south, and you will arrive at the famous Chambord (Chateau de Chambord) in about 2 hours. This most magnificent castle of the French Renaissance has been listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO since 1965 and is known as the gate of the Loire Valley.

After Francois I, the “Father of French Literature and Art” succeeded to the throne in 1515, he set out to conquer the province of Milan in Italy. In order to commemorate the victory of the Battle of Marignano, the ambitious Francois I ordered the construction of the hunting palace Chambord in 1519. . He was very envious of the Renaissance trend in Italy, and wanted to transplant the brilliant art and architectural style to France, so he specially invited Leonardo da Vinci from Italy to help build Chambord.

In Francois I’s vision, Chambord was to completely retain the appearance of a medieval fortress, including a main tower, accompanied by four large towers and two flanking buildings. The project was so vast that by the time of his death in 1547 he had completed only the main tower and a wing. After that, Chambord was finally completed in 1684 by Henry II and Louis XIV.

The rising Chambord Castle, built with local limestone in the Loire Valley, seems to be integrated with the surrounding natural scenery. It has many super records: 156 meters long, 56 meters high, 77 stairs, 282 chimneys and 426 rooms. It is a pity that Chambord has no real function such as military defense, coupled with its remote location and inconvenient exchange of supplies, the successive kings seldom come here to play.

However, this does not affect the influx of tourists 400 years later. The imposing exterior of the castle and the rich interior of the Italian Renaissance are worth exploring. The double spiral staircase designed by Leonardo da Vinci in the center of the main tower left a deep impression on me: two spiral staircases with different entrances surround the same hollow stone column, interlaced and intertwined. Looking across the central patio. It is said that such a design is to avoid disputes between the queen and the king’s mistress.

Day 2 Royal Castle of Blois

The city of Blois, just 16 kilometers from Chambord, is a must-stop for visiting the castles of the Loire Valley. The Blois Royal Castle (Chateau Royal de Blois), which is a masterpiece of French architecture, is located in the city center.

If you want to understand the architectural evolution and political struggles of the French court, the Royal Castle of Blois is the best place to go. During the nearly 400 years of the Middle Ages, 7 kings and 10 queens lived here in French history, creating four wings of the castle in different ages and styles, including Gothic, Renaissance and Neoclassical styles at a glance do.

Already in the 10th century, the Counts of Blois started building the castle, and today only the “Hall of the Sovereigns” remains, the best-preserved and largest Gothic secular hall building in France. In 1999, in the film “Joan of Arc” filmed by French director Luc Besson, the scene of Joan of Arc’s trial was shot in this hall.

On the right side of the “Hall of the Sovereign” is the Louis XII wing built with red bricks and stones. The pointed windows are typical early Gothic style. The second floor was transformed into an art gallery, which houses paintings and sculptures from the 14th to 16th centuries. On the left side of the “Sovereign Hall” is the Renaissance-style Francois I wing. The narrator told us: “This is a combination of Italian decorative style and French architectural style. A row of carved decorative shells under the eaves is At that time, French craftsmen imitated the shells in the famous Italian Renaissance painting “The Birth of Venus”. The height of the side windows of Francois I was also increased, making the interior extra bright. When the whole building was nearing completion, Francois Wa I specially built a spiral staircase in the center, he was nearly 1.90 meters tall, and when he received guests, he slowly descended the stairs, which was particularly dignified and majestic.”

The most famous of the political drama at the royal castle of Blois was the murder of the Duke of Guise. Henry III, who believed in Protestantism, had just ascended the throne. He was afraid that the Duke of Guise, who believed in Christianity and was popular with the public, would seize power, so on December 23, 1588, he pretended to invite the Duke of Guise to the Royal Castle of Blois to discuss matters of governance. The next morning, as soon as the Duke of Guise pushed open the door of the king’s bedroom, he was stabbed to death with random knives by 15 of the king’s bodyguards who rushed up immediately. The younger brother of the Duke of Guise was also arrested the next day, and their bodies were burned and thrown into the Loire River. Henry III did not have the last laugh, and was stabbed to death by a Christian believer two years later.

The king’s bedroom has been restored by 19th-century royal architect Felix Duban, and the clean floors are not a speck of blood in sight. The story of the castle, in the form of a music and light show, is still staged every summer. We seem to travel through time and space to understand the history of this great building and the celebrities who lived here.

Day 3 Chenonceau & Amboise Royal Castle

If Chambord is the “king” of the Loire Valley, then Chateau de Chenonceau is the well-deserved “queen”. According to official statistics, apart from Versailles in France, Chenonceau is the most visited castle by tourists, and it is also known as the “Women’s Castle”. What is the allusion to this? Chenonceau Castle was originally a gift from Henry II to the beautiful concubine Diane de Poitiers, and the subsequent owners were also women. After Diane Poitiers, the new mistress was her daughter-in-law, Louise de Lorraine, Henry III’s sad widow, and Gabriel, Henry IV’s favorite concubine, lived here Gabrielle d’Estrées. The castle also housed the young Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Madame Dupin, as did Madame Pelouze, who restored the castle beautifully a century ago. lived.

Chenonceau, the only castle built on water in the Loire Valley region, has become more elegant, delicate and even perfect in the hands of generations of hostesses. The femininity of women is revealed everywhere in the castle: chic water promenades, gardens created by gardeners with different themes according to seasons, and freshly picked flowers in the castle decoration…

The famous French writer Flaubert described Chenonceau Castle best: “It is quiet but not boring, it is melancholy but not painful.” The Royal Chateau of Amboise (Chateau Royald’Amboise) is only 13 kilometers away from Chenonceau Castle , 20 minutes by car, especially suitable for sightseeing on the same day.

The Royal Castle of Amboise, surrounded by mountains and rivers, was built in the 15th century with a mix of medieval Gothic and Renaissance styles. Compared with the neighboring Chenonceau Castle, although the Amboise Castle has the title of “Royal”, the interior is much “shabby” and even looks a bit empty. But it has a high historical status in France and even in the whole of Europe. Francois I was born and raised here.

More people came here to commemorate Da Vinci, the polymath of the European Renaissance. His greatest achievement was painting, but he was also an engineer, scientist, inventor and biologist. Leonardo da Vinci spent the last years of his life in Amboise, buried in the chapel of St. Hubert within the castle walls. As soon as I lowered my head, I saw the stele with Da Vinci’s name on it. I walked up to it gently and put a bouquet of flowers on it.

Day 4 Tours

On my last day in the Loire Valley, I left for Tours. It is the capital of the Indre-et-Loire department and is located in the center of the castle complex.

The city of Tours is small, with an area of ​​less than 35 square kilometers and narrow streets, but this does not affect its popularity among tourists. This “French Courtyard” has a long history. It began to build a city in the first century AD, became a military fortress in the Middle Ages, and became the capital of France in the early Renaissance. In the hearts of the French, Tours is a special existence. Because people in Tours can speak the purest French without any accent, and people in most French regions, including Paris, have some regional accents. Today, most of the public buildings in Tours were built in the 18th century, and the parks are everywhere, and the tranquility is like a paradise.

Benefiting from an active policy in the 1960s to rehabilitate the old quarters, Tours has a large protected area centered on Place Plumereau, surrounded by typical timber-framed houses and many stretches of Outdoor cafe area. A glimpse of the leisurely medieval life.

Built in the 12th century, La Cathédrale Saint Gatien (La Cathédrale Saint Gatien) is the most conspicuous building in Tours, with soaring double-sided towers, exquisite stone animal sculptures on the outer wall, atmospheric arches at the entrance, and Flying buttresses are amazing. The interior is no slouch either, with exquisite rose windows dating back to the 13th century. Out of personal preference, even though my stay in Tours was very short, I made time to visit the Museum of Fine Arts in Tours. Set in the courtyard of a 17th-century bishop’s palace, it holds more than 12,000 works, but only 1,000 are on display to the public, and the oil paintings are divided into rooms chronologically, including works by Delacroix, Monet and Degas. There are few people in the museum, and the old wooden floor creaks when stepped on. Looking at the bright sunshine outside the window and the thousand-year-old cedar in the middle of the courtyard, I began to miss the Loire Valley before I left it.

epilogue

From the upper Loire to the Atlantic coast, there are 4 wine-producing regions: Centre, Touraine, Anjou and Nantais. Winemaking in the Loire River originated in the upper reaches of Pouilly and Sancerre, where Sauvignon Blanc white wines and lighter Pinot Noir red wines are particularly famous. The wines produced in the Touraine region are very rich, and almost all the varieties of the Loire region can be found here, including various red wines, white wines, rose wines and champagnes, the most famous of which is the Vouvray and Montlouis. Going downstream along the castle complex, a large area of ​​wine plantations spread out in front of you. This is the largest wine production base in the Touraine region. The wines produced here are bright red and fresh in color. The most famous red wine is Chinon (Chinon) ), Bourgueil, St. Nicolas de Bourgueil.