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…
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…
"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…
"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…
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…
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…
"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…
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'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…
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…