On 07/25 we drove which seemed like alllll day from Dordogne to the Loire valley. A long drive of about 5 hours with a stop in a village called Colonges la Rouge where all buildings are made with red brick/stone hence the name!

Loire looked different from Provence and Dordogne. I don’t wanna say less beautiful, but not as striking. We arrived to the Loire valley, specifically, to a small hamlet called Veigné, not too far from Tours. The Airbnb was amazing, with everything necessary, very modern, with soda machine (??), and a dryer that sings you a song when finished (???). Spectacular but completely unnecessary. I only booked this place due to its location.

Loire valley was the “see the castles” place for us (for me). However, I’ve read some stories of people being “castled out” so I decided to choose two castles to visit. One was Chambord – a blockbuster castle, the largest and the most famous castle in the valley. Another was more off the beaten path- Ussé castle, supposedly an inspiration for the “Sleeping Beauty” story. Both were great in their own way.

Before hitting any of the castles, we had an entire day to rest since the day before we drove all day. All we did on Saturday was go to get some groceries, and stayed at the house and yard all day. We just ate, and played, and watched TV, and did laundry, and ate again, and played, and watched TV. I read and wrote. We did end up going for an hour walk just around the neighborhood which was nice. Then back to vegging out.

Anywho. Back to castles.

Chambord was built by Francis I of France, then changed hands multiple times through the ages. Even Moliere lived there for a while with his theater troop!

We also saw an equestrian show at Chambord which told the story of the castle through the years and was very entertaining. It was entirely in French but they used visuals and I could pick up quite a bit. When we came back home I did take some time to read up on Chambord’s history to fill in the gaps.

Chambord was great but, because of its size, was also overwhelming. So many rooms, so many antiques, so much history. My head was spinning. People recommend a full day at the Chambord but I was done by 1pm. Plus it was a good hour drive back to our Airbnb.

Ussé always belonged to a private family, and still does till this day. Can you imagine owning a castle?…No big deal…

I liked a few things about the Ussé castle. It was only 40 minutes from our Airbnb, was much smaller than the Chambord, and you got a handout that described all of the rooms you were seeing. They also had the Sleeping Beauty story set up with mannequins that the kids enjoyed. Ussé had a vegetable garden that was small but beautiful.

We also hit up two playgrounds that we found on Google maps. Playgrounds are great because they are usually located in a residential area. About 10 minutes from Chambord there is a “aire de jeux” in a village called Saint-Dyé-sur-Loire. The kids played, we had a picnic lunch, I could rest for a bit.

The second playground happened on the day we visited Ussé castle and still had some time to kill before going home. It was located in a “mall” and was more crowded. I also had a citron pastry at a coffee shop next dore that made me feel heavy and bloated.

Below are a few pics of the Loire towns/villages. They are quite different from the other two regions:

On the front: a sunflower field somewhere between Lot and Loire.