{"id":15075,"date":"2015-04-14T20:15:46","date_gmt":"2015-04-15T02:15:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/?p=15075"},"modified":"2016-02-22T20:45:23","modified_gmt":"2016-02-23T03:45:23","slug":"loire-princess-day-5-bouchemaine-to-the-chateaux-of-the-loire-valle-to-ancenis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/2015\/04\/loire-princess-day-5-bouchemaine-to-the-chateaux-of-the-loire-valle-to-ancenis\/","title":{"rendered":"Loire Princesse: Day 5, Visiting The Beautiful Ch\u00e2teaux of the Loire Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Morning mist on the Loire. \u00a9 2015 Ralph Grizzle<\/p><\/div>\n

Today, the motorcoach’s engine was revving at 8:30 a.m., and with all seated comfortably, we pulled away from Loire Princesse to begin a full-day excursion to visit some of the most beautiful ch\u00e2teaux\u00a0in the Loire region.\u00a0Unlike the other excursions on our cruise, which ranged from \u20ac37 per person to \u20ac71 per person, the Ch\u00e2teaux of the Loire Valley excursion was included for all guests sailing on Loire Princesse.<\/p>\n

Of course, the cost of excursions can add up. If a couple did all the excursions on our Loire itinerary, they would pay an additional \u20ac353 each. Still, even with all excursions added to the cruise fare, CroisiEurope comes out to be the price-leader, and not just because Loire Princesse\u00a0is the only game in town when it comes to cruising the Loire. There are a few eight-day sailings remaining this year with rates priced at less than\u00a0US$2,500 per person, sans<\/em> excursions.<\/p>\n

The cost of excursions becomes irrelevant in 2016, as CroisiEurope will include shore excursions. Rates for next year’s eight-day Loire Princesse sailings begin at\u00a0US$2,979\u00a0per person, with\u00a0all<\/em> shore excursions included as well as WiFi, wine, beer, spirits, speciality coffees, bottle water and soft drinks \u2014 and more.<\/p>\n

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Our first stop, the Ch\u00e2teau d’Azay-le-Rideau. \u00a9 2015 Ralph Grizzle<\/p><\/div>\n

As for our day visiting the palaces, the pictures say it all. I do have a few comments to add, however.<\/p>\n

The first comment is that the ch\u00e2teaux\u00a0felt familiar. And in fact, they were.<\/p>\n

In Asheville, North Carolina, we have a 250-room ch\u00e2teau on the grounds of the Biltmore Estate. The estate, with its big mansion, is one of my favorite places in the world. Nestled against the backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains, George Vanderbilt’s Biltmore House was inspired by\u00a0Ch\u00e2teau\u00a0de Blois<\/a>,\u00a0according to the web site North Carolina History<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The inspiration is clear not only to me but also to at least one Loire local. During lunch, I pulled up a picture of the Biltmore House on my iPhone and asked our guide if he knew where it was. He studied it and said, “That’s the next ch\u00e2teau\u00a0we’re seeing.” The next ch\u00e2teau\u00a0we would visit was, in fact,\u00a0Ch\u00e2teaux\u00a0de Villandry, but indeed there was a resemblance between it and Biltmore House, even if\u00a0the two were an ocean apart.<\/p>\n

Whereas Western North Carolina can claim only a single ch\u00e2teau, the Loire Valley is littered with these magnificent mansions. We would see three today. There are few other places in the world where you can see so many palaces in such a concentrated area.<\/p>\n

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Beauty on water: The Ch\u00e2teau d’Azay-le-Rideau. \u00a9 2015 Ralph Grizzle<\/p><\/div>\n

Our first stop was at\u00a0Ch\u00e2teau d’Azay-le-Rideau, built on a small island in the middle of the Indre River. The ch\u00e2teau is undergoing renovation and restoration, and unfortunately, most of the exterior was obscured by scaffolding during our visit.<\/p>\n

If you’re planning a later visit, the\u00a0restoration project is scheduled to be completed in 2017. The intent is to restore the French National Monument to the grandeur it reflected under the ownership of Gilles Berthelot, a wealthy financier who wanted to incorporate its medieval past alongside the latest architectural styles of the Italian renaissance. Even with the scaffolding and work going on, the ch\u00e2teau was beautiful, and its interior and gardens were gorgeous on the day we were there.<\/p>\n

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Inside the Ch\u00e2teau d’Azay-le-Rideau. \u00a9 2015 Ralph Grizzle<\/p><\/div>\n

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Reminds me of Biltmore House:\u00a0Ch\u00e2teau d’Azay-le-Rideau. \u00a9 2015 Ralph Grizzle<\/p><\/div>\n

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Scaffolding obscures the Ch\u00e2teau d’Azay-le-Rideau – until 2017. \u00a9 2015 Ralph Grizzle<\/p><\/div>\n

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Village street near Ch\u00e2teau d’Azay-le-Rideau. \u00a9 2015 Ralph Grizzle<\/p><\/div>\n

After our visit to Ch\u00e2teau d’Azay-le-Rideau, we headed to\u00a0Villandry, a village with an impressive palace. Lunch was included as part of the excursion. In a cozy restaurant, French bread was passed around, glasses were filled with local wines, and we enjoyed a starter, main course (chicken with a rich sauce) and dessert (apple tart).<\/p>\n

After lunch, we visited the gardens of the\u00a0Ch\u00e2teau de Villandry. The gardens\u00a0weren’t in full bloom but beautiful nonetheless.<\/p>\n

How did all of these palaces come to exist on the Loire?\u00a0Until about the middle of the 16th century, the Loire had been the center of power for France, when many of the ch\u00e2teaux were built. Then King Francois I shifted power\u00a0back to Paris. The great architects followed along. In the middle of the 17th century, King Louis XIV built what was arguably the greatest of all ch\u00e2teaux, the Palace of Versailles. At the same time, the wealthy bourgeoisie continued to renovate existing palaces\u00a0in the Loire region and\u00a0build new ones as their summer residences. The\u00a0Loire, with its rollings hills and vineyards, and its beautiful river, were\u00a0where many among the French royalty preferred to spend their time.<\/p>\n

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The gardens of the\u00a0Ch\u00e2teau de Villandry. \u00a9 2015 Ralph Grizzle<\/p><\/div>\n

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The gardens of the\u00a0Ch\u00e2teau de Villandry. \u00a9 2015 Ralph Grizzle<\/p><\/div>\n

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The\u00a0Ch\u00e2teau de Villandry. \u00a9 2015 Ralph Grizzle<\/p><\/div>\n

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The love gardens of the\u00a0Ch\u00e2teau de Villandry (note the heart-shaped hedges). \u00a9 2015 Ralph Grizzle<\/p><\/div>\n

The last ch\u00e2teau that we visited had a history that inspired something entirely different from the rest: Charles Perrault’s “Sleeping Beauty.”<\/p>\n

Indeed, the fortified towers of Ch\u00e2teau d\u2019Uss\u00e9 reminded me of the Disney animation, and along with two friends I made on Loire Princesse, I\u00a0climbed to the top of one of the towers to see the room where Sleeping Beauty was awakened by a kiss from her\u00a0handsome prince, at least in the Disney version of the story.<\/p>\n

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Ch\u00e2teau d\u2019Uss\u00e9 \u00a9 2015 Ralph Grizzle<\/p><\/div>\n

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The way up to Sleeping Beauty. \u00a9\u00a02015 Ralph Grizzle<\/p><\/div>\n

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Three princes will attempt to awaken a sleeping beauty\u00a0at Ch\u00e2teau d\u2019Uss\u00e9. \u00a9 2015 Ralph Grizzle<\/p><\/div>\n

As we made our way back to Ancenis, I could help but think that we had experienced a day when fairy tales took on a degree of plausibility. We had visited three gorgeous ch\u00e2teaux\u00a0in the Loire region, each a little different from the other. I left thinking I was glad that monuments like this were being cared for. They inspire the imagination as much now as they did back in the day of Charles Perrault.<\/p>\n

It was a beautiful evening when we arrived at Loire Princesse. We quickly boarded, and our ship\u00a0pushed away from the dock to begin its gentle journey downstream. By 10:30 p.m., we would be back in Nantes. Between now and then, however, I had plenty of\u00a0time to breathe in the fresh\u00a0air of the Loire and to admire the textured light holding the river and its landscape in its embrace. It was a day and an evening that I will never forget.<\/p>\n

Loire Princesse - Nantes, France, roundtrip<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Day<\/strong><\/th>Event<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Day 1<\/td>Loire Princesse Preview: Cruising The Loire River, \u2018A Royal Legacy\u2019<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Day 2<\/td>Pre-Boarding Loire Princesse: Getting To Know Nantes, By Bike<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Day 3<\/td>Loire Princesse: Day 1, Boarding In Nantes<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Day 4<\/td>Meet The People Who Built CroisiEurope\u2019s New Loire Princesse<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Day 5<\/td>Loire Princesse Preview: An Innovative Ship With A Soul<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Day 6<\/td>Loire Princesse: Day 2, Nantes to Saint-Nazaire<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Day 7<\/td>Loire Princesse: Day 3, Ancenis & Muscadet<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Day 8<\/td>On Loire Princesse: Day 4, A Walk Along The Loire<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Day 9<\/td>Loire Princesse: Day 5, Visiting The Beautiful Ch\u00e2teaux of the Loire Valley<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Day 10<\/td>Loire Princesse, Day 6, Nantes, End Of Cruise, Summing Up<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, the motorcoach’s engine was revving at 8:30 a.m., and with all seated comfortably, we pulled away from Loire Princesse to begin a full-day excursion to visit some of the most beautiful ch\u00e2teaux\u00a0in the Loire region.\u00a0Unlike the other excursions on our cruise, which ranged from \u20ac37 per person to \u20ac71 per person, the Ch\u00e2teaux of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"full-width-content","footnotes":""},"categories":[533,535,171,24,41,465],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15075"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}