Day 30: Tours to Villandry (Tours Part Two)

September 26, 2023

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Welcome to Tours part two! In part one (previous page) all we did was to cross the street to Les Halles and get a couple of lurid food photos. In this part we are going to circulate a bit in the medieval section of Tours, near the St. Martin Basilica, and then we will look at the Basilica and the two nearby related towers. We will then take off to the west, out of town, to one of the most fabulous chateaus on the Loire: Villandry.

The Martin who became Saint Martin was born in 316 a.d. in present day Hungary. He got drafted into the Roman army and so started off as a soldier. There is a famous legend about him at this time, in which he encountered a poor man, freezing on a winter's day. Martin used his sword to cut his own cloak in half, and shared it with the man. Images of this act of charity now abound in representations of St. Martin.

Martin somehow got out of the army after the Battle of Worms, in 356, and launched a religious life. In 371 he became Bishop of Tours, the first one. Before this he had travelled all over, and worked with St. Hillary. It seems to be a thing to follow in the footsteps of Martin.

Martin died in 397 and was buried at Tours. Soon a chapel was erected on the tomb. By 471 the chapel had become a basilica. This got elaborated and developed over the next 1000 years. It got somehow attacked and burned in 1562, and finally destroyed after the Revolution, in 1797.

The key point is that before 1797 the church over the St. Martin tomb was huge - basically cathedral sized. Once destroyed, only two towers remained, quite widely separated. These today are the Charlemagne Tower and the Clock Tower, as visible from our hotel. Streets were put in over the intervening space, to help stamp out the cult of St. Martin. But in 1860 somebody bought the nearby land and discovered tomb under a house. In 1887 construction began on the present Romanesque basilica, and this now accounts for the third tower visible from our hotel.

The area around the basilica is known as the Martinopole, or Chateauneuf area. This is the medieval section of town, the part of most interest to us. We began by looking at the super old half timbered buildings all around.

These houses probably make an appearance in Tours postcards. They are the most half timber houses in a row that we spotted, though there were lots of singles.

The houses above face this more modern but still very pleasant square.

Generally this part of town looks like the two following photos. Both of them show narrow and car free streets!

We double liked this half timber building for also having a bakery.

How about this one, with the fancy brick pattern between the timbers!

This building has a plaque on it about someone born in this house in 1808. But the building has got to be way older!

Here below is the key to understanding the three towers visible from our hotel room. We were confused about them until we found this graphic. What it shows is that in this place there stood a giant church, as mentioned above. It extended far up and down what is now rue des Halles, and its former outline is shown in blue. At the top of the outline you can see "Tour Charlemagne", at the lower left of the outline is a blue square - that is the clock tower, and the brownish rectangle at the lower right is the present St. Martin Basilica, "Basilique actuelle".

The Charlemagne Tower, so named because it is said to house the remains of Luitgarde of Germany, fourth wife of Charlemagne. She died here while Charlemagene was in town. It is said he put her remains somehow near where the tower was built in 1000, but there is no definite location. In season one can climb the tower for a view of the town.

At the tower you can see part of the wall of the church that it used to be a part of.

In the 1930''s the tower was near total collapse, and a demolition was planned. But some kind of save the tower movement had it restored instead.

The staircase inside the tower - part of this tour's staircase collection!

This is the illustration of the St Martin charity story, atop the Charlemagne Tower.

With the St. Martin Basilica itself, we first sent Dodie in while I stayed with the bikes. She came out and told of the St. Martin tomb in the crypt, the interesting ceiling, the statue of St Jacques, and sent me in. I went in, ignoring for the moment the beggar lady on the steps, walked around and saw nothing. Soon I was back out. "Ok, I've been around it and seen nothing but some postcards and some super St. Martin stickers, but tell me again where to look!" Dodie was hoping I would miss the stickers, but she sent me back in. This time I found more, but we would have to return that evening for me to finally see everything. Too bad Dodie is not good with the camera, because she is a super spotter! By the way, I got the stickers, and also some postcards from the beggar lady!

Into the crypt. Note the nice mosaic floor.

The St Jacques statue I was supposed to find.

Also in the Basilica, JP II was here. JP II was everywhere!

I thought this was an interesting touch. Instead of having some coins, you can make the traditional donation via NFC. The machine allows you to choose among candle types, in four languages!

In this outside view of the basilica you see the tower with the statue of St Martin on top, plus the Charlemagne Tower, with its charity depiction.

My photo here of St Martin atop the tower is the same as the one on the postcard I got from the beggar lady, only I think my shot is better!

We first showed up beside the Charlemagne tower quite early in the morning. As we were standing and trying to puzzle out the many posters giving the history, a man came along and set himself up playing the accordion, with very French sounding tunes. You can see a small bit of that below (sorry for the poor cinematography!). To my surprise, when we returned late in the afternoon, he was still there and still playing. Also that beggar lady from the morning was still on the job. Begging is a tough profession! Quite reasonably, I suppose, as we left at the end of the day, the lady and the player were sitting together. Either they are a couple, or they were having a meeting of the St Martin begging society. They both recognized us, and called Bon Voyage as we pedaled away.

Time then to head West, to Villandry.

For about 300 km along the Loire, both east and west of Tours, there are about 80 major chateaus. Including lesser ones and ruins, the count may reach 300. It's an amazing thing, and the major ones especially are absolutely world treasures. Chambord is the largest and possibly the most striking, but there are so many more. Villandry is probably our favourite, because it is the one with the best gardens. Today they take the form of formal gardens, covering seven hectares (17 acres). There are about eight knot gardens, framed in boxwood, and then a herb garden and ornamental kitchen garden. There is also a water garden, a maze, a forest, a moat, a lake, and more.

To reach Villandry we set out along La Loire a Velo, one of our favourite bikeways. The path followed the Cher most of the way. This is a tributary of the Loire, that joins in not far from Villandry. Villandry is close to the village of Savonnieres, those it has its own little nearby village, which was probably owned in the day by the chateau owner.

La Loire a Velo runs through the town, and offers various pieces of road and sidewalk, all marked for bikes. It was easy to follow

Our starting point for the ride could be considered the Hotel de Ville, which is a typically fancy structure.

In front of the hotel de ville is a broad avenue, very Parisian. We followed this a quite long way, and finally over a bridge and onto the main bike way.

Not so great, not so far from town, was a barricade of the cycle route. Dodie told the worker that we are not from here, and what should we do next. He gave some instructions that turned out to be wrong. You can also see in the photo a cycle detour sign - these were also wrong. But eventually Dodie found a way!

Despite the glitch about the route barree, La Loire a Velo really is great. There are lots of signs showing where the route is locally, like the one pictured below.

Looking at the sign more closely, you can see to east and west all the famous chateau destinations nearby, like Chinon, Candes, and Chenenceau. One could set up in Tours and make a lot of day rides out to these places!

Our route may have been nominally along the Loire, but actually we followed the Cher, which run parallel until finally joining the main river. You can see this most clearly in the map at the top of this page.

This is a type of gull we have not seen before

This old mill is on the Cher, but has not operated with water for some years. However it operates still, and we watched a delivery of grain for it to process.

Savonierres in the calm Cher is a beautiful sight.

This is one style of the river boats that are commonly seen in the Loire region.

We knew that there would not be really secure bike storage, but our bikes joined lots of others. Here we are parked beside a clearly German setup from that brand Fahrradmanufactur. Note the typical handlebar arrangement.

The tour of Villandry can be just the gardens or of the house as well as the gardens. We went for the full deal, which starts with the house. Our general impression is the same for all these older castles - they are not really comfortable, whether in layout, furnishings, or facilities. But some things are great - like parquet flooring, and "wallpaper" which is actually a silk embroidered hanging. There are lots of rooms, so going through can be tiresome, for us, as well as for someone looking at the pictures. Still, have a flip through. One thing you will see is that all the rooms have the advantage of looking out at the fabulous gardens. So as we go through and look out, so does our camera.

One other comment about the house. I was amazed that we were allowed to walk among the treasures - furniture, books, paintings with no apparent docents or controls. Had we been idiots, we could have touched anything, sat on a bed and read a book? Perhaps it was just an illusion. But I enjoyed feeling trusted.

Five glasses! Which one is for the Coca Cola?

The kitchen was surprisingly small and inefficient. Did they usually order takeout?

The Prince Jerome bedroom. Yes, that little thing is the bed. They are all like that.

Ah, but look out the windows!

The library. The most recent private owners were Joachim Carvallo and his wife Ann Colman - one Spanish, one American. They bought the property in 1906. Both were doctors. Carvallo's PH.D. thesis was there. It looked very advanced!

The kitchen garden bedroom, so named because it looks out on the kitchen garden. The parquet flooring is an 18th century masterpiece, made of different types of wood.

This Louis XV era bath looks a little crude, but the idea of a real chair in it could be ok.

This beautiful wallpaper is actually silk hanging.

In the Moat bedroom, these sofa bed things belonged to Ann Coleman. They are some of the few things that actually looked comfortable.

The oriental drawing room had this ceiling out of a 16th century Spanish palace. There were four ceilings in the palace, the other three are now in museums in Madrid, London, and San Francisco. The ceiling is comprised of 3600 wood pieces and took a year to assemble.

I thought this sheep was genius. The central handle cranks the rear wheels, and feet on the front mechanism gives the steering.

A Punch and Judy type theatre. I think Dodie said she had something like this as a child.

I climbed the donjon, or tower. On one level there is the Francis I bedroom. Francis visited here in 1543.

The following are stunning views from the top of the tower. See the village beyond the official chateau grounds. We stayed there a few years ago.

Each of these knot gardens has a theme - like Tender Love, Passionate Love, Flighty Love, and Tragic Love. ardens overall have 30 km of boxwood, which requires a special team 3 months to prune.

The donjon steps. Even the best castles make it hard to bring your bicycle!

The final couple of rooms on the second floor are just before one exits to walk outside above the gardens. These rooms contained an exhibition from Brigitte Chappaz, a crafter in silk embroidery. At first it seemed there was just a film about it, but then it was clear there were many actual examples hanging. We found these all amazing, and we are sure daughter-in-law Sabrina, as well as our friend fabric artist Marsha would think the same. So here are a lot of the film shots, and actual hangings:

Once outside, the immediate views were of the knot gardens.

There is a small lake as part of the property, and a stream from it feeding the moat:

The maintenance team is surprisingly only ten full time gardeners. Quite a few of them were out right here. The twice yearly planting plan is very complex, and is rotated for sound gardening reasons. There are brightly coloured overview plans around the property, and I'm sure in the background this is all on some brightly coloured spreadsheets.

Let's take a bit of a random walk around this very organized place.

Yes, you can eat the grapes. They were quite overripe now, though.

I felt this gardener was still leaving weeds as he tilled the gravel. Tsk tsk.

Dodie called these Cinderella french pumpkins.

We found we were too beat to really explore each and every garden (forest, and lake) in detail. So we'll be back! We stopped in at the chateau ice cream and crepe stand, and got some really super artisanal gelato. We had flavours like honey nougat and coconut!

With it getting a little late, we hastened back to Tours. This has clearly been the best day of the tour so far!

Two sights from the ride back:

A heron far out in the river, shows it is not deep.

These Loire type boats are naturally made right here (near Savonnieres)

Today's ride: 51 km (32 miles)
Total: 1,652 km (1,026 miles)

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Tricia GrahamVillandry garden is one of my favourite things in the whole world parto the kitchen garden. I hope I get to see it again
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1 year ago

Andrea BrownI'm afraid that I don't find formal gardens very appealing, unfortunately. My favorite garden in the world is in your neck of the woods, Van Dusen Gardens in Vancouver, and the botanical garden at UBC is also a treasure, with their beautifully naturalistic, varied collections set in the amazing PNW tree canopy. So when I see monotonous begonias surrounded by fussy sculpted boxwoods I just sort of zone out. I'm sure you were awaiting with great anticipation for my unsolicited opinion, of course! But honestly, your home region is far, far superior in the gardening world, 1000 percent. You can take great pride in that, and I'm sure you do.
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1 year ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Tricia GrahamWe really love the way the formal French gardens fit in with the Renaissance Chateaux. Keep telling yourself that with the right type of bicycle and easier route you WILL be able to see Villandry again. You already have the will, and that is more than half what is needed.
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1 year ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Andrea BrownFor our own feeble gardening efforts we prefer the more organic jumble of plants all mixed together. However, the formal French garden is really well suited to the time (Renaissance) and place (Chateaux). A less formal approach just would not really fit, we think.
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1 year ago

Tricia GrahamTo Steve Miller/GrampiesI am hopeful Steve. Since we returned home I have been riding my bike with the battery in the more sensible position on the down tube with no problems of an unstable bike when I stop. The bikes we left with Louise are still there and on inspection in perfect condition and my one has a battery in the desired position. This is all very hopeful and we are busy designing a route from Moret ( it is close to Fountainbleau) taking us along all the canals of Burgandy and the Loire on a big circle that reaches to Macon. Much of this we have done at least once before but that doesn’t matter as they are places we like and the routes are easy
In hindsight perhaps we shouldn’t have ended our tour but just got rid ofthe bikes headed for Moret and picked up the other ones but we really didn’t know what condition they would be in after 4 years and in fact it didn’t even enter our heads. My last fall when the bike and I do nearly went into the canal really freaked us out
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1 year ago

Janice BranhamThe cycle path on La Lore really is wonderful. We were going to visit Villandry from Tours last year but skipped it since our day was already too full. Now that I see what we missed I'll be angling for another shot at it some day. The gardens have such intricate designs.
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1 year ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Janice BranhamVillandry is one of our favourite spots and is only 20 kms from Tours, so an easy out and back ride with lots of time left in the day to explore the Chateau and gardens.
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1 year ago

Karen PoretThank you for the tours! Wonderful to view up close without the actual walking..Amazing how much time and work goes into keeping this looking wonderful! Here in the San Francisco Bay Area we have our own version of this at Filoli, but, obviously not as immense. Again, THANK YOU for your time to photograph and explain the details.:)
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1 year ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Karen PoretLiterally, bringing these photos and descriptions is and has been, our pleasure.
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1 year ago

Karen PoretPlease let me know if I am replying with too many comments! Your journal and photos are Suzanne Gibson worthy! :)
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1 year ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Karen PoretNot too many. It is lovely to get feedback. We just cannot reply to all comments, we need to sleep, eat and ride. Glad you are enjoying "riding" with us.
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1 year ago