Riverboat Trip as we Wind Down in Chinon

Day 20

Riverboat Trip as we Wind Down in Chinon

It is our last full day in Chinon. It is also very warm indeed, up and beyond 30 degrees. Just looked at the wall thermometer in our courtyard terrace and it is threatening to go off the scale that peaks at 50C. For these reasons, this is an easy day.

Baubles 'n bangles at Market

Got up a little later than usual before heading for the market. Made a bee line to the Asian speciality stall and joined the queue. Enjoyed the chit chat with Madame as we stocked up for lunch and evening. Also had a good look around and bought one or two presents.

Busy fruit stall. The grapes,
for eating, are Italian.

Got back around noon and headed straight for the pool. Cooled down and as we walked back to our gite we picked a few plums from the numerous trees in the garden. Did I tell you we have been living in a cave for the past three weeks? And I don’t mean a wine cellar.

Our suntrap! A "foot" of the cave
may be seen on the right (with flowers)

Les Cathelinettes is built on three levels.   The first building is the main one where the hosts, Sylvie and Roger, live and where they also have two B & Bs. Next level up is where we are, a 2/3 person gite built into the hill and an existing cave and termed Troglodyte. These kind of buildings are very common around here and also in the Dordogne. Another gite, a slight bigger one, is built above us.

By the way, you’d never know you’re living in a cave. It looks like an ordinary house but has the advantage of staying nice and cool in this very hot weather. All holiday makers here, and there could be up to a dozen at times, share the pool. In practice though, we’ve always had it to ourselves, often having to take the cover off. It has been fantastic facility the way the weather has turned out.

Chinon and its fortress from our river-boat today.

Chinon too – we can walk to the centre in 20 minutes – is a lovely and sometimes lively town, lots to see and do here and it is also well placed for touring to the east and west as there is a terrific road network.

We used the bigger roads, including autoroutes, to get to places like Vouvray, Amboise and Chenonceau and smaller ones most of the time. They take you through the fields. The landscape, aside from a few hills, is mostly level and quite often the roads are straight. 

A little riverside beach.

We enjoyed some lovely drives with the fields alongside. Crops of Corn on the Cob, Vines (of course) and Sunflowers are the main ones at this time of year. The sunflowers may be a disappointment to some of you. Now, in September, they look delicate, like faded golden paper dolls, all bowing to the inevitable and awaiting the grim reaper, the yellow of their vibrant youth long gone.

Roused ourselves in mid-afternoon and headed down to the tour boat dock. It turned out to be third time lucky. And, with a nice little (very little) breeze on the water, our mini-cruise on the flat-bottomed boat up and down the Vienne was delightful. Some nice views, especially those of the Fortress.

Big Heat Hits Loire. Two wine visits

Day 19

Big Heat Hits Loire. Two wine visits

Teach 'em young!

Super September continued in the Loire Valley with temperatures exceeding 30 degrees and boosting the hopes of wine producers such as Sebastien at Chateau Du Petit Thouars for a super harvest next month.  Rain, forecast for the weekend, will also be a help. Big juicy grapes!

We called back there after a couple of weeks to catch up with the news. Sebastien had been in Sligo for a wedding and his and Darcy’s daughter Elizabeth had taken her first steps and gave us a little demonstration. Great to meet up again with the trio and purchase some more of their fabulous wines, all destined for a trip to Ireland at the weekend.

Chateau du Petit Thouars

Back then to the gite and saw that the thermometer on the wall in the courtyard was getting up towards fifty – this is quite a sun trap as the general temperature is about thirty. Nothing for it but to tog out and take the few steps to the pool and soon we were cooling down.

Over a light lunch, we found we were a little short of Chinon wine, of all things. So we headed off to the riverside cave of Mon Plaisir, another one of those cellars built into the tufa, “free” cellars again, but very impressive even if many of the casks and barrels were covered in a fungus! Skipped the white and roses and went for the reds in the tasting and came away with some 2008 and 2009. 

Cave Mon Plaisir

Happy out but not so happy when we turned up at the opposite river bank for an expected boat trip up the river (Vienne). For the second time, we were disappointed as we were the only two that showed up. The boatman said he had twenty the day before.

Mould on bottles of Chinon 1979

So back to the car and up the river to Montsoreau, just where the Vienne and the Loire meet. Quite a lot of activity on the wide waters and we enjoyed a pleasant spell there.

Fun on the river

Amazing how many restaurants around here stay closed on Wednesdays and that was one of the factors, the heat another, in our eating at the gite this evening. On the way back from Montsoreau, we raided the traiteur and loaded up with pate, salads, main courses and a vegetable gratin. Over across the little square then to the baker and a nice little boule (it doesn’t always have to be baguette – there is a huge range here) and a couple of their winemaker tartlets!

Loire speedsters

Should be a lovely evening as the temperatures are still way up! A demain.

Winemaker's Rartlet - this evening's dessert from the baker.

Amuse Bouche

When not assembled with the rest for dinner, breakfast, a game of billiards, a walk, you are in your room reading, or lounging on your sofa. Every moment there comes in through your window, open on the garden, “puffs of music” from Chopin, working away on one side, which mingle with the songs of the nightingales and the scents of the roses.

From Famous Women: George Sand by Bertha Thomas

Day 18

Saumur:  Mounted Police. A Donkey. Tanks. Wasps in the Pool.

Pilgrim's progress!

Don’t worry. It was a very peaceful day.

Started off the day with a trip to see Saumur, especially the central section, near the River Loire. It is a lovely little town (population about 30,000), full of quite narrow streets that suddenly expand into lovely circles and squares where the locals and visitors are to be found eating and drinking.

Today's Specials, ours on left

After walking round, we decided to have a little lunch and spotted an inviting menu at Cafe du Coin, €12.50 for salad and dessert. Well, the salad turned out to be mega, much better than the description on the board. A great plateful for each of us, plus two Coffee Gourmands and two Pineau Charente came to just over thirty euro and put an end to the prospect of dining at one of the big restaurants for that evening!

While eating on the pavement table, we saw two mounted policemen come up the street, just riding slowly along. They stopped for a while and as they did so this lady walking a large donkey, both well laden, came down the street, against the traffic.

Mega Salad, tomatoes, chicken, more added to original.

She tried to turn left but the donkey was having none of it. She had better luck when she tried right as the traffic built up. But the animal didn’t seem to like Rue St Jean either, for the duo – the lady looked like a Camino pilgrim – were soon back on main street and this time going in the same direction as the traffic.

We had parked up near the chateau and were soon back up there and headed for a nearby viewpoint. Got some great views over the Loire to the left and to the right and, just as we turned to go back to the car, who should we see but the pilgrim duo again. What a couple! After, all they had climbed all the way up with the temperature up to the thirty mark.

The wild Loire, from the heights of Saumur

Our next port of call was just outside the town, the Musée des Blindés, the museum of tanks, all of them from the 20^th century and most used in the two world wars. Man’s ingenuity when it comes to destruction has to be seen to be believed.

There were familiar machines here, the Panzers, the Tigers, the Shermans, the Chieftains. We can only hope that names of this type will never be as familiar again. The men involved, especially in the second world war, were not forgotten and the likes of De Gaulle, Montgomery, Rommel and a rather pasty looking Patton were remembered. 

Chemical warfare

I didn’t think the De Gaulle model was exactly a lookalike. In fact, he looked more like Stephen Fry. The exhibition is in a huge barn type building and is quite a visit if only as reminder of those dreadful conflicts. Just look inside one of those tanks and imagine the panic as flames broke out in the heat of battle. Brave men.

We made our exit into the hot sun and headed for Chinon and agreed it was going to be the traiteur rather than the restaurant. Picked up an inviting looking chicken with lemon, saffron and black olives. We have just the wine to go with it, a 2010 by Clos de L’Epinay, a lovely fruity yet dry Vouvray with a citrusy finish.

Do you think he looks like De Gaulle?

Just had to hit the pool today. We had company. Quite a few wasps had landed there and were floating around, still alive. But we generally avoided one another, though there was one fatality on the other side. C'est la guerre!

A Sherman tank

Da Vinci Codex. Amboise throws the book at me.

Day 17

Da Vinci Codex. Amboise throws the book at me.

Parc Leonardo Da Vinci

Today, in the lovely Loire town of Amboise, they threw the Leonardo Da Vinci book at me. Learned a lot but probably have forgotten much of it already.

Not many people know that the famous Italian lived the last three years of his life here in Chateau du Clos Lucé and indeed died here in 1519. He came as a guest of his ardent admirer Francois 1, the king of France, who had his own Royal Chateau just a few hundred yards away.  There was even a connecting passageway between the two buildings to enable fan Francois talk to his artist.

Here's looking at you kid!

On an arduous journey from Italy Leonardo brought a familiar face, Mona Lisa, with him, though the painting that now hangs here is a copy by someone else painted soon after the original. Da Vinci happily lived here for three years, painting and working on other passions such as engineering, building design, and even producing entertainments for the court.

It cost eighteen euro to do the full visit here and that included the chateau, gardens, a 3D representation of his machines, a special and interesting Da Vinci expo (this accounts for five euro of the fee and you can omit it if you wish) and the enormous park with some 35 individual exhibits illustrating various aspects of the artist’s enormous range of works.

This armour is killing me. Francois I, King of France

The 1471 chateau is modest compared to some we’ve been at but it is attractive. We saw rooms where Da Vinci slept and worked and also the kitchen where the meals were prepared by Mathurine for the vegetarian Italian.

Some mist and sound effects have been added to the waters of the old garden where he walked, a pleasant place where we walked today, but the park is the big deal here, at least for me.  Canvasses hang from the trees to illustrate different themes. Those that caught my eye and imagination were the Light on Faces area and the Mechanics of Life section.

Out in the Parc

But lots more to grab the attention, including getting your hands on the works of the Propeller (precursor of the helicopter), the Paddle Boat, the Tank and more.  Basically, it is the kind of place that you walk around with your mouth open and admiration pouring out through every pore in your body.

This man was a genius of his time and would no doubt have been a genius in these times.

The Propellor (precursor of the helicopter)

It was a tremendous visit in the heat of the second day of September. Temperatures were around the mid 20s as we drove home on the A85 and we were keen to get to the swimming pool. When we reached Chinon, we found our traiteur closed and the only restaurants open were ones that we had already visited.

So, with the pool beckoning, we went a little downmarket and called to the little Carrefour (Carrefour City) in the town. I suppose downmarket might be the wrong term as the prepared meal we choose was by Chef of the Century Joel Robuchon, of Paris, London and Las Vegas.  The meal, titled Le fameux Parmentier de Canard, cost under a fiver each, and was excellent. The little bowls that it came in, suitable for oven or microwave, were cleaned out, not a smidgeon left.

Chateau du Clos Lucé

Saumur Sunday: Blood on the Sand. Mega Flea Market.

Day 16

Saumur Sunday: Blood on the Sand. Mega Flea Market.

A spectacular jousting contest within the walls of the chateau in Saumur and a massive flea market in another area of the lovely Loire town were our “lucky” highlights today. Lucky, because we didn’t set out to find either. Our “mission” was the Sunday market. We found one but it was miniscule and so we headed up the street to where we’d seen people gather, always a good sign in France.

They were gathering for one of the biggest flea markets (known in France as Brocante) I’ve ever seen here. Everything, it seemed, was on sale, except maybe the kitchen sink. There was also much fun and games around the event including a kind of go-kart racing.

We have been successful at some of these before but this time didn’t buy anything, despite checking out row after row. Did see an attractive looking green Tullamore Dew jug but couldn’t find it at second attempt! Some stalls were obviously professional while others were of the car boot variety. And the customers were of a similar mix.

 It was thirsty work in the sunshine (mid 20s) and we headed for the popular bar stand and got a couple of Oranginas (many of you will remember those) for two euro each. Two euro was also the price for a fouée here, ancient French "pocket" bread, typically paired with savoury stuffings such as goat cheese or a pork spread.

View over the Loire from the chateau.

I had rillettes in mine while CL enjoyed Apricot jam. Kept us going until we drove to that chateau which had terrific views over the Loire. Here another drink was required and must say I absolutely enjoyed an Iced Tea with Peach.

The Flea Market (well, part of it!)

Sipped that while waiting for the joust, the main event. A crazy commentator, dressed for the occasion, kept this show going as the two guys battled each other on horse and off. The good guy won of course. Very enjoyable half hour in the sun.

Anyone want a Dinky?

The chateau doesn’t have much by the way of furniture so you need to time your visit to coincide with something like this. It does also have a very good equine museum, at least to my amateur eye. In any event, we enjoyed our trip around the chateau (sometimes you can arrange for a tour in English but the timing didn’t suit us today) and especially the jousting!

All the action men you could want!

And, just now, another pleasant surprise. Just opened a bottle of St Nicolas de Bourgueil and it is a gem. Producer is Sylvain Bruneau and it is a 2011 from old vines. Santé!

Two men of France, Richelieu and Rabelais. And some animals!

Day 15

Two men of France, Richelieu and Rabelais. And some animals!

Would Richelieu approve?

Those of you following my Loire story will be aware that I’ve “met” some admirable women here, including Eleanor of Aquitaine and Jean d’Arc. Today, it is the turn of two men, beginning with Cardinal Richelieu, a major influence in French politics, for much of the time what we’d call a prime minister today, in the 17^th century, having been consecrated a bishop in 1608, and the man responsible to a large degree for the flight of the Huguenots to Cork and elsewhere.

You’ll find the Wikipedia article on him here. Not too far south of Chinon, Richelieu set about building a walled town to be named after him. And he made such a good job of it that much of it remains today, with the glaring exception of his own chateau.

 We thought we’d hit the jackpot when we saw a load of stalls in the market place and the outstanding timber framed market hall, another thriving Richelieu relic, all set up for a feast. But the fun and games weren’t due to start for some hours.

Still we had a walk in the magnificent park, another legacy from the cardinal, and saw some of the animal and farm machinery exhibitions being set up, including some very strange forms of poultry and a great line-up of vintage tractors (some with machinery on tow).

The Cardinal. "I want...."

Big Boy. Rabelais's Gargantua

Sixteenth century Francois Rabelais was the complete Renaissance man, a monk (of at least two orders), a doctor, a major writer and a humanist. We visited his original home in La Deviniere today, a modest enough dwelling, though hugely enlarged by its underground caves, which have many uses.

Between La Deviniere and a nearby Abbaye de Seuilly there is a short walk, a pleasant one. The 600 metres is lined with banners, mostly with quotes from Rabelais. “I love you from the bottom of my liver” is one. “To philosophize in wine, not in vain” is another.  His humanist tendencies are underlined with “Try every art of peace”.

Try all the arts of peace. 

Read them all on the way back to the car park at La Deviniere and soon we were on our way to Chinon and to our favourite traiteur. Every holiday maker in France, especially if you don’t want to do any cooking, should check out the best local traiteur on arrival.

They make lovely cooked dishes, including some French classics, at a fraction of restaurant prices. Quality is usually good (you should try at least two shops) and the meals just need re-heating in the oven or microwave. We bought enough for two main courses each for about thirty six euro and are all set up for the weekend. Back to the restaurants after that!

And the wine this evening? Nothing less than bubbles and a very special rosé sparkler from yesterday’s visit to Chateau Minière. Eating and drinking, included among the arts of peace. Cheers.

Well Fed at Les Années 30

Day 14 (Part 2)
Well Fed at Les Années 30

2009

Crazy Salad and Aspic Bunny featured in the menu that drew us to Les Annees 30 in Chinon last evening. Well not in the restaurant's French language menu, but in the Google translation. Also, we had a recommendation from Sylvie, our hostess here at the gite.

Sylvie has good taste! It was an excellent meal, quite leisurely with French style service meaning a 10.15 pm exit after a 7.30pm entrance. But, in between, we enjoyed four lovely courses, some quite superb dishes and a bottle of excellent local Chinon wine.

Amuse Bouche

Rabbit in aspic, Grapefruit and Ginger, Ice Mustard, Surf Pink Grapefruit, 

Bouquet of Mesclun with Coriander. A superb starter.

Cream Codfish cumbava,Sandre chips and Smoked Salmon, 

Parmesan, Salad, Sauce Beetroot Balsamic Vinegar.

Loved this, especially with the other two fish, the

salmon and the sandre (river perch)

Dorade Redfish Snackée, Mashed Potatoes with Olive Oil and Fresh Cheese,
Espuma of Broccoli, Cream Lemon Tarragon. Five star dish!

Fillet Roasted Duckling Chinon Wine Jam, Duxelle Mushrooms, 

Roasted Pear and Celery Cream of the Tonka Bean.

Another five star!

Red fruit "soup", iced Pistachio with Amarena

Chocolate Mousse Guayaquil and Madagascar (chef's specialty),

Caramel Ice Lavender and Violet. Top class choc!

Marvellous Tasting at Chateau de Minière

Day 14 (part 1)

Marvellous Tasting at Chateau de Minière

This, our first outdoor tasting of the trip, was marvellous. In gorgeous sunny weather, and overlapping with the local pony club, we enjoyed meeting the crew at Chateau de Minière at Ingrandes de Touraine. Here, we tasted their excellent Bourgueil wines.

Owner Kathleen was unable to be present but Anna, Stephen and Anissa helped us through the tasting, a lovely leisurely one that included sparkling, rosé and red, all from the Cabernet Franc grape. 

There is a long line of feminine tradition here, now being maintained by Kathleen. The estate was handed down through a line of women for two centuries ever since Marie-Genevieve d'Espinay married Martial du Soulier in 1767 and brought him the property in her dowry. In 1995, Bertrand and Evelyne de Mascarel acquired Minière from the last descendants of Marie-Genevieve, Margarède and Diane du Soulier.

In 2010 Sigurd and Kathleen Mareels - Van den Berghe acquired Minière and will continue the further development of the vineyard and chateau.  One of those many developments is making the vineyard organic and that is almost complete.

Left to right: CL and yours truly (centre) pictured with Chateau staff Anna and Stephen.
Thanks to Anissa for taking the pic.

Back to the current wines. All were impressive but our favourite and perhaps the favourite of everyone on the estate is the Vignes Centenaires 2009 made, as you might expect, from vines of an average 100 years of age, some as old as 110! Also ordered were some Chateau de Minière 2009 and 2010.

We just could leave the sparkling rosé behind and so a few bottles of that are also on the way to Ireland along with some “specialites artisanales” of the house including Morello Cherries au vin de Minière.

Chateau de Minière is a lovely place to visit, right in the heart of the Bourgueil vineyards and close to the magnificent Loire river, and you may read more about it here.

We had planned to go boating on the Vienne and the Loire in the afternoon but that fell through when not enough passengers turned up at Chinon. The boatman declined to start up even though the four of us present offered to make up the difference to the required six, according to their leaflet, saying the minimum was eight! Had to make do with a spell in the pool as the temperature reached 28 degrees. Not a bad consolation!