TIO FRANCE: A TALE OF TWO CHATEAUX

09 Oct TIO FRANCE: A TALE OF TWO CHATEAUX

Azay-le-Rideau

Villandry. D’Usse. Chenonceau. Chaumont. Chambord.

The names roll off the tongue if your tastes run to noble pursuits and houses on steroids.

We had seen many of them on a trip to the Loire Valley 21 years ago, but not the Chateau de Langeais, and a review of  Azay-Le-Rideau seemed in order, easy stops en route from Tours to our next stop: Sainte-Jean-de-Luz in French Basque country.

Langeais is actually the site of two chateaux. Its first incarnation was built by Foulques Nerra, the notoriously nasty Comte d’Anjou, who seized the town in 994, erecting a large tower to serve as his residence and base of operation to attack Tour. The lofty skeleton of that tower looms over the second chateau’s courtyard. Climb its reconstructed medieval scaffolding for spectacular views of the chateau grounds and village below.

The second royal chateau, constructed in 1465 by order of King Louis XI, is a prime example of Late Medieval castle architecture, complete with drawbridge and a sentry walkway that allowed the right bank of the Loire to be kept under surveillance.
Today the chateau’s 15 rooms are richly furnished with more than 30 tapestries and elaborate furnishings to signal the end of the Dark Ages just preceding the Renaissance.

Built on the foundation of a medieval fortress in the heart of Touraine, Azay-Le Rideau is the creation of a wealthy financier of Francois 1, Gilles Berthelot. Located in the heart of a romantic park, the chateau is a masterpiece of Italian 16th-century (Renaissance) architecture. Its last owner, a marquise, financially ruined, was forced to sell the estate at the end of the 19th century, when it was acquired by the French State.

Check out Clint Viebrock’s video for a preview.