The density of châteaux and all
their great Renaissance intrigues
and associations can prove quite
intimidating, but if you pick your
castles selectively, rid yourself of
a sense of duty to guided tours and
spend days on river banks with
supplies of cheese, fruit and white
Loire wines, the Loire can be one of
the most enjoyable of all French
regions.
The Loire's central region of Touraine
, known as "the heart of
France", has the best wines,
the most scented flowers and
delicious fruit, two of the best châteaux
in Chenonceau and Azay-le-Rideau
, and, it's argued, the purest
French accent in the land. It also
takes in three of the Loire's most
pleasurable tributaries: the Cher
, Indre and Vienne ,
each with its own individual
attractions. If you have just a week
to spare for the region, then these
are the parts to spend it in. The
most imposing palaces and hunting
lodges are upstream around Blois
- including the Renaissance turreted
fantasy of Chambord - with
the wild and watery region of the Sologne
to the east, good for long walks and
rides, while downstream around Saumur
are fascinating troglodyte dwellings
carved out of the rock-faces.
As well as the select handful of
châteaux, the region has a few
unexpected sights, most interesting
of which are the gardens at Villandry
, outside Tours; the Romanesque
abbey at St-Benoît-sur-Loire
; and the stunning tapestries in Angers
, capital of the ancient
wine-producing county of Anjou
. Of the cities, Tours and
Angers provide the best urban bases,
Orléans has charm, and Le
Mans , though some way north of
the Loire valley in the
topographically uninspiring département
of Sarthe , is the least
touristy and most authentically
lively, even outside race times.
Further upstream, and quite some
distance south of the Loire itself,
the marshy farming land of Berry
contains few sights, though the
magnificent cathedral and medieval
town of Bourges , lying
between the Loire and the Cher, is
worth visiting.
The lowest - and best - stretch
of the Loire flows through
Touraine, languidly floating by long
islands of reed and willows before
it reaches its estuary. But the
Loire is still the wild river of
whirlpools, quicksands, shifting
banks and channels, with vicious
currents and a propensity to flood.
Thanks to hard campaigning by
conservationists, plans to control
the water levels of the central
stretch with dams have been dropped,
despite strong interest from various
businesses, including the four
nuclear power stations that use the
river water for their cooling
systems. The longest river in
France, the Loire is for the most
part too unpredictable for swimming
or boating, and no goods are carried
along it.
In general, this is a prime
tourism region, where
air-conditioned cars and bus tours
are the norm, and train lines run
along the river towards Nantes and
Brittany and up through Tours to
Paris. However, if you're exploring
on your own, it's a good idea to
rent some means of transport
, at least for occasional forays,
because buses can be sparse, their
schedules not geared to outsiders,
and trains too limiting. Renting a
bike is a good option: this is
wonderful and easy cycling country,
best of all on the floodbanks, or levées
, of the river itself.
