Visitors trickle back to Chenonceau as France lifts coronavirus restrictions
The partial opening offers an excellent chance to enjoy sites without the three-deep crowds visitors have come to expect, especially in the summer
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Red robes and Chinon wine, in a cave
The French are serious about their wine, and none more so than the stalwarts of the Confrérie des Entonneurs Rabelaisiens--loosely translated, a brotherhood of winemakers who channel the great humanist and storyteller Rabelais. The people of the Loire Valley city of Chinon refer to the 16th-century satirist who gave us…
Amboise’s anglophones get a taste of Ambacia food and wine
Anglophones and anglophiles turned out in force for the Loire ConneXion's holiday party, clearly enticed by the venue: les Caves Ambacia and their Oppidum bistrot. History buffs will know that Amboise was called Ambacia under the Gauls, and that oppidum is the Latin word for settlement. The diners sat down…
Amboise wine harvest: a boon for unemployed youth
Young and unemployed? School dropout? No resume? That's the profile of most of the grape-pickers who were recruited this fall for a project developed by an association for the empowerment and autonomy of young people in Bolbec, Normandy. Sixteen of these youths ranging in age from 16 to 25 worked…
It’s pumpkin time in the Loire Valley
"You have to love pumpkins," is the simple explanation of Jean Gadan, the head of a brotherhood of pumpkin eaters. He has a lofty title: the brotherhood's grand master. France has dozens of "confréries" -- societies of lovers of all manner of food and drink -- and pumpkin lovers are…
Amboise horse-and-buggy contest keeps tradition alive
“The overall tableau should be so harmonious you’ll want to hang it on the wall,” says a mustachioed judge as a horse and buggy trots into view against the backdrop of a lush vineyard in the heart of France's Loire Valley. The team is one of a dozen competing in…
Tours’ basil and garlic fair, a living medieval tradition
"My great-grandmother went every year," said Thierry Massonnat, a retired electrical engineer in nearby Amboise, where other regulars shared memories of a tradition that has seen generations of Tourangeaux -- natives of the greater Tours area -- shop for garlic and basil in the Place du Grand Marché in the Loire…
At each relay station, a new glass is added to the tray.
A (Waiter’s) Race for Jobs
A waiters’ race through the cobblestone streets of Amboise on April 15 aimed to attract job-seekers to the hotel and restaurant industry. Around a hundred potential recruits attended a job fair that preceded the race. On your marks, get set, go! One hundred and ten brave souls took to the…
Leonardo the anatomist
A show at the Clos Lucé in Amboise, the manor where the master lived for three years until his death in 1519, details his tireless search for the "mechanics" of life through study, experimentation and especially dissection. Leonardo unlocked the secrets of digestion, respiration, circulation and reproduction, worked out the…
Boules anyone? In Amboise, it’s more than a club
Players at Amboise's boulodrome usher in the spring with their first outdoor competition The regulars at Amboise's boulodrome are more than just boules enthusiasts. They belong to a close-knit community with a long tradition of bonhomie. “It's always lively, even on rainy days, when you'll find folks playing cards in…
‘Fake news’: Leonardo died in the arms of Francis I
An 1818 painting by French artist Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres shows Leonardo da Vinci breathing his last in the arms of his patron, France's King Francis I. The Ingres painting hangs at the Petit Palais in Paris The scene was inspired by an account in "Lives of the Artists" by Giorgio…
Hey kids, it’s Easter in the Loire Valley!
If you're a kid visiting the Loire Valley and lucky enough to be in the area for Easter, here are a few great ideas: There are Easter egg hunts at Troglo Dégusto on both Easter Sunday, April 17, and Monday, April 18. It's a wine cellar set in an abandoned…