CHAMBORD

We drove the short distance from Chenonceau to Chambord. We had detours in place all over due to public holiday markets being on and main village streets being closed. A bit of a buggar when you dont know until you get to the barriers and have to try and turn around and find another way.

Chateau de Chambord  is the largest and most grandiose of any castle we have seen and it does look impressive. It was constructed by King Francis 1 of France. The grounds are massive and you drive for a good few kms from the boundary wall until you get to the castle. The aire here is 12 euro and you get nothing for it except 24hr parking. Very expensive. We decide it is too busy this afternoon to go through, so will go again first thing in the morning. They have a few eating places and stalls so we sit and have a drink and then peruse the grounds. We did a wine tasting in a local cave and bought another 3 local wines/bubbles which are very nice.  I am impressed by the price they have on local wines in the caves.  Normally if you try wines in NZ wineries they are very expensive to buy – over $20a bottle where as here they range from 6 to 10 euro (probably cheaper in a supermarket).  I am sure once we get to the Champagne region that will not be the case and the price will hike significantly.

We hit the castle early again beating the crowds and on this Tuesday we get groups of school kids as well as the tour groups. We do manage to avoid most and get an unhindered view. This castle has rooms so large and high ceilinged that they had to build smaller ones from them and put false ceilings in so they could be heated. I image it to be freezing in winter here and quite unpleasant. In fact in past history no one really wanted to live there for any time because the land around was swampy and had midges and it was so difficult to heat because of its size. It is really quite obscene it is so big. They did a lot of hunting in their grounds because of their size. They have a 32km wall around the exterior and the forest houses deer and foxes amongst other animals.

On the outside walls there are black shapes giving it character. These are interestingly cut out pieces of slate that have been fixed onto the outside. An interesting feature but very effective from a distance. The castle houses a double spiral staircase which is very unusual but typical of this grandiose style of castle – nothing done on a small scale at all.

There is little in the way of furniture in this castle and they house a lot of art exhibitions in the top floors large rooms. The castle is owned by the state in France and has been since 1930.

Once finished at this castle we head off for Cheverny and what might be our last castle at this moment in time.

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