Chambord and Villandry Chateaux

On Monday, we started a big day, to visit two chateaux that were some distance away.  Accordingly, we got up at 7 AM, and got on the road at 8 AM.  (We checked, the plural of chateau can be either chateaux or chateaus.)

Our first stop was Villandry, whose formal garden impressed Cynthia when she saw them from a helicopter view of the Tour de France.  Villandry is perhaps the most impressive chateau in terms of its formal gardens.   The garden is so large and so well manicured that it is hard to get your head around it.  Even the vegetable garden looks more like a decorative garden than a vegetable garden, with trimmed hedges and trees.

Vegetable garden

In the children's garden

The Chateau at Villandry itself was somewhat less interesting, although it did contain quite a bit of art, mostly religious art.   The Chateau was bought by a Spanish-American couple in 1906, who restored the formal gardens.  The family still owns the Chateau today.

Chambord

We then headed out to Chateau Chambord, which is perhaps the most impressive of all the Chateaux.  It was started in 1519 at the direction of King Francois I.  The architect is not known, although some believe that Leonardo Da Vinci, who lived in the area, may have contributed.  At the center, it has a unique double spiral staircase.

Center of the circular staircase, looking up.

One of the towers

  It is a combination of Italian and French architectural styles.  While it is symmetrical in an overall sense, it is not symmetrical in terms of the details.

The Chateau is gigantic, and something of a maze of rooms, at multiple levels.  We found it confusing and overwhelming.  Cynthia at one point sat down to rest and people-watch, and reported that the people-watching was quite interesting.  Richard continued to higher floors, including displays of art, and the roof.

We also found the history confusing and overwhelming, with an army of characters,  related to each other.  We spoke to a Frenchwoman, who also reported it to be confusing to her, even though she had studied French history in school.  We came to France knowing little of French history, and have been playing catch up ever since.  Cynthia bought a small book of 110 key dates in French history, which has been helping us piece the history together.

By the time that we returned to Brissac, we had been gone 12 hours.  Richard, who had done the driving, was especially tired, if not exhausted.  But we had seen some amazing chateaux.