Here's a kind of impressionistic view of the Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire, which is about halfway between the big towns of Blois and Amboise on the Loire River. It's pretty much directly north of Montrichard, which is on the Loire tributary called the Cher. Rain was falling when I took the picture. The château really looms over the village, doesn't it?
There's a modern bridge over the wide Loire river at Chaumont, and on the south end of the bridge is this building. We have driven up there and crossed the river many times — it's one of our favorite ways to get to Blois — and this old hotel/bar/restaurant has been closed for at least the last 13 years, and maybe longer. It's too bad, because the building is interesting.
The building below, on the road between Chaumont and Amboise, is much less interesting-looking, but it appears to be a good restaurant, if you can believe the reviews on TripAdvisor. We haven't yet tried it — maybe one day soon.
Speaking of rain, it's supposed to fall again today. January turned out to be a very wet month, but with freezing temperatures for only a few days in the middle. It's going to end damply.
Finally, above is another house on the Cher river across from Montrichard. Just because I like it. The front door makes it look like it was a restaurant or shop at some point in history. I don't think it's open these days, or has been in quite a while.
There are some fine cracks on the walls of the house in the last photo. Even with what looks like the front windows open it still has the look of being unloved, and sort of uninhabited..
ReplyDeleteI'm fairly sure I heard that the Bec Fin has new young owners and is indeed worth eating at.
ReplyDeleteThe chateau at Chaumont-sur-Loire is a favourite with us and we have been to the biennial International Garden Festivals there several times. Last year's was a really lovely day out although it was too damned hot that day to cover it all. We hid in the shade from the foliage and there was plenty of that!
ReplyDeleteI like the building too but wonder how serious all those cracks are :) look at the size of each of the stones !!
ReplyDeleteReviews on TA and most other travel websites are best taken with a grain of salt, I think. You don't know where else those reviewers have eaten or how their tastes mesh with yours.
ReplyDeleteLove the chateau pic. It dwarfs the town below.
ReplyDeleteInteresting to see "Le Bec Fin." Once upon a time, that was also the name of a famous restaurant in Philadelphia, under chef Georges Perrier. It was considered one of the best in the States: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Bec-Fin
They were, apparently, famous for their galette de crabe, the recipe now online: http://www.philly.com/philly/food/restaurants/recipes/34663439.html
I like that first photo, the blobby effect looks like a watercolour painting.
ReplyDeleteIn fact I wish I could paint like that myself.
That is a cool, kind of impressionist photo of Chaumont-sur-Loire :)
ReplyDeleteWonderful, thank you!
ReplyDelete