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…
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…
‘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…
Amboise, Renaissance capital
Five hundred years ago, Amboise was the seat of power and the final stomping grounds of Leonardo da Vinci. Today, the benevolent city on the banks of the Loire seduces history buffs, cyclists and wine lovers alike. Stately plane trees line the Loire River in the middle of Amboise, throwing…
The one, the only tarte Tatin
"You will never, ever find a tarte Tatin that resembles the true tarte Tatin of the Tatin sisters," says Jean-Paul Martin Cousin. Even if you travel to Lamotte-Beuvron, the Loire Valle town where the mouth-watering caramelized apple pie originated, sadly you can no longer find a genuine tarte Tatin because…
Francis I, the “sun king” of the 16th century
A woman is often inconstant He who trusts her is a fool indeed. --Francis I, according to Victor Hugo Francis I, who reigned from 1515 to 1547, has an outsized place in France's history. The swashbuckling king with a legendary appetite for life reveled in earthly delights as well…
Post-covid wine harvest: back to nature in a France for the French
The grapes were just the right height for four-year-old Maxence and Quentin, two years his senior Normally they come from far and wide -- the US, Japan, even Australia -- but this year the punters donning boots and parkas to harvest Loire Valley grapes for the fun of it are…
Chinon jockey wins his weight in wine
Chinon's horsetrack wrapped up its racing year on August 15 in a style befitting the world-renowned wine center.The traditional race bearing the name of the local wine federation rewarded the winning jockey with his weight in cases of the best Chinon wines.A red-robed muckety-muck of the Confrérie des Entonneurs officiated at…
Fraternal twins: Cahor’s Malbec and the Côt of Amboise
Two cities cannot be twinned within the same country, but the Loire Valley town of Amboise and Cahors in southwestern France have become joined at the hip thanks to their shared adventures with a historic grape variety known as Malbec in Cahors and Côt in the Tours region. Cahors has…
Leonardo the anatomist
The gory truth about Leonardo's mastery of human anatomy is that his insatiable curiosity and desire to represent living beings accurately led him to dissect not only animals, but humans as well, including at least one woman who died with an unborn baby in her womb. He obtained his specimens--usually…