Vania and I spent the day wondering through Tours in the Loire Valley while we waited for Jodi to come down from Paris. It's a very beautiful city with wide streets and squares broken up by little cobblestone ways, and we enjoyed some fantastic pastries for breakfast. We were going to be in Tours for a couple of days so we got all the info on bike rentals and the Châteaus (French Castles) in the area. We headed for the botanic gardens in the afternoon to chill while we waited for Jodi and while we were relaxing Vania was reading through the Lonely Planet and spotted our hostel for the next two nights... problem was it was in a different town! Whoops. Luckily it wasn't too far away, about a 20min train ride but it did give us a good laugh.
After being told to "get off the grass" in French by some park wardens (what the French have against sitting on grass in a park I don't know) we headed for the train station to go to Amboise. Getting the hostel in the wrong town turned out to be a great thing. Amoboise was a gorgeous little village with a few quaint streets and shops sitting under a beautiful Château. Our hostel was on a tiny island that sat in the middle of the Loire River running through the town. It was such a cute town, especially as the sun was going down. Food here was fantastic too with a delicious creperie.
We rented some bikes the next morning for our day trip through the Loire Valley, complete with bag straps on the back and bells on the front.. too cute. The rental guy mapped out a couple of paths for us and off we went. Biking through the countryside was incredible, gorgeous little country towns and wide open fields. It doesn't get much better than that. Our first stop was Château de Chenonceau, a beautiful Château over a river with perfectly manicured gardens. We checked out the inside but it was the gardens and outdoor setting that really impressed.
Back on the bikes we did a big loop heading through a few more small towns till we reached the Château de Chaumont. This one we just enjoyed from a distance after a well deserved icecream and wine tasting. Over the other side of the Loire we rode through some more country towns and vineyards on our way back to Amboise. Jodi and Vania are pretty fit and besides Vietnam I hadn't been biking for a while so I was pretty knackered by now. Unfortunately there was no slowing down for us as time was ticking on and we had to get our bikes back by 7pm. 6:58 we made it to the shop just as he was closing up! We were so lucky.
I was exhausted, every part of my body ached. Vania thinks we did about 40km. I have to say I'm pretty proud about that! And we picked the best day for it, the following day it was pouring with rain so we had a nice relaxing morning chilling at the hostel till we caught our train to the next stop, Bordeaux.
Vania and I spent the day wondering through Tours in the Loire Valley while we waited for Jodi to come down from Paris. It's a very beautiful city with wide streets and squares broken up by little cobblestone ways, and we enjoyed some fantastic pastries for breakfast. We were going to be in Tours for a couple of days so we got all the info on bike rentals and the Châteaus (French Castles) in the area. We headed for the botanic gardens in the afternoon to chill while we waited for Jodi and while we were relaxing Vania was reading through the Lonely Planet and spotted our hostel for the next two nights... problem was it was in a different town! Whoops. Luckily it wasn't too far away, about a 20min train ride but it did give us a good laugh.
After being told to "get off the grass" in French by some park wardens (what the French have against sitting on grass in a park I don't know) we headed for the train station to go to Amboise. Getting the hostel in the wrong town turned out to be a great thing. Amoboise was a gorgeous little village with a few quaint streets and shops sitting under a beautiful Château. Our hostel was on a tiny island that sat in the middle of the Loire River running through the town. It was such a cute town, especially as the sun was going down. Food here was fantastic too with a delicious creperie.
We rented some bikes the next morning for our day trip through the Loire Valley, complete with bag straps on the back and bells on the front.. too cute. The rental guy mapped out a couple of paths for us and off we went. Biking through the countryside was incredible, gorgeous little country towns and wide open fields. It doesn't get much better than that. Our first stop was Château de Chenonceau, a beautiful Château over a river with perfectly manicured gardens. We checked out the inside but it was the gardens and outdoor setting that really impressed.
Back on the bikes we did a big loop heading through a few more small towns till we reached the Château de Chaumont. This one we just enjoyed from a distance after a well deserved icecream and wine tasting. Over the other side of the Loire we rode through some more country towns and vineyards on our way back to Amboise. Jodi and Vania are pretty fit and besides Vietnam I hadn't been biking for a while so I was pretty knackered by now. Unfortunately there was no slowing down for us as time was ticking on and we had to get our bikes back by 7pm. 6:58 we made it to the shop just as he was closing up! We were so lucky.
I was exhausted, every part of my body ached. Vania thinks we did about 40km. I have to say I'm pretty proud about that! And we picked the best day for it, the following day it was pouring with rain so we had a nice relaxing morning chilling at the hostel till we caught our train to the next stop, Bordeaux.
1 comment:
So lovely to read you had a great time in the Loire Valley, if you know anyone going there please let them know about www.myweekin.net, a free travel guide, lots of things to do here, I live in Tours and yes its small but pretty.
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