Tag: val de loire

  • Château des Arpentis, Saint–Règle

    This is the chateau we landed when the one we booked canceled our reservation. For the full story on how got here, see our earlier post here. On its web site, the history of Château des Arpentis is as follows: The first well-known lord was Christophe Thomas in 1313. Around 1410, the chateau became the…

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  • Finding Château des Arpentis, near Amboise

    Continuing with our journey in the Loire Valley …  after a few days in Saumur, we went up river to see the chateaux that made the area famous. In the countryside around the city of Tours, we visited several chateaux that are justifiably France’s national treasures and deservedly tourist magnets. We will share those pictures…

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  • Champignonerie at the Musée, Saumur

    Continuing with our journey into the caves of Saumur … People in the area did not just live in caves, they use it to store wine and to grow mushroom. See earlier post here about the museum. The caves provide an environment of high humidity and constant temperature that is perfect for growing mushroom. Many…

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  • Musée de Champignon, Saumur

    Continuing with our visit of the Val de Loire … People in the area did not just live in caves (see our hotel in caves here and here), they use it to store wine and to grow mushroom. Apparently, more than half of the mushrooms cultivated in France come from this area and Anjou (just…

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  • Demeure de la Vignole, Turquant, part 2

    Towards the end of May, we visited the Loire Valley and stayed at a hotel with rooms that are built into caves. Here are some more examples of cave dwellings which have been modernized.  We found these homes just a few minutes down the road from our hotel, between Turquant and Saumur. Here are some…

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  • Demeure de la Vignole, Turquant, part 1

    This is the first of a series of blog posts on our trip to the Loire Valley (Val de Loire). The main purpose of this trip was to attend our friend – VC’s birthday party (actually as surprise guests) at E’s place in Orleans, France. Rather than flying up to Paris, we decided to take the car. By…

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