29 January 2016

Driving through Montrichard

Montrichard (pop. 3,300) is a small town on the Cher river, in the greater Val de Loire area, that's 10 miles downriver from Saint-Aignan. It's about the same distance south of Amboise, and 20 miles south of the old royal city of Blois. This is the heart of the wine new Touraine-Chenonceaux wine production zone and appellation, and the famous Château de Chenonceau is just 6 or 7 miles to the west.


We drove through Montrichard a couple of days ago and I snapped some photos from the car. Don't worry — Walt was driving. The bridge across the Cher at this spot has retained its medieval look, though it has been rebuilt several times. It was last destroyed by German forces during WWII.


Above is a view of the river and the Montrichard riverfront from the bridge. The river is fairly low right now. The big building on the center right is the Hôtel Bellevue, and you can just see the town's beach on the right side of the image. We very nearly ended up living in Montrichard when we moved here a dozen years ago, but finally chose Saint-Aignan instead.


The old building at the south end of the bridge, which you see directly above and also in the first picture in this post, is now home to a pub called Le Passeur. I've been looking for more information about the building but haven't found anything so far.

20 comments:

  1. This was our main shopping town when we stayed at Carole and Mikee's little cottage in Thenay. You photos bring back fond memories.

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  2. We stayed at the Hotel Bellevue.

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    1. I stayed there once, back in 2003. It was fine but nothing to write home about.

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    2. Nor blog about? I like going on these virtual tours of rural France, Thanks Ken.

      -craig-

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    3. 2003 was well before my blogging career started.

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    4. Nor blog about, Craig. Nothing exceptionally good, or bad, about the hotel. It's well-situated for a walk in the town and the view is very nice. We were really just there because we were dropping in on Ken and Walt and then going the next day to our son's in-laws near Tours. Last time we did this, we stayed in Tours.

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  3. According to zphoto.fr at Montrichard, page 3, the building on the bridge is called la Maison du Passeur just as the pub. I guess the original building was built at the same time as the bridge in the 15th century.

    Would there be, also, a Maison du Passeur on the bridge at Saint-Aignan?

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    1. Not that I know of. There was a mill on the Saint-Aignan bridge, on the south end. There are two buildings on the north end, one on each side. One is now a restaurant (Sur le Pont) and the other appears to be empty. I wonder what their function was decades or centuries ago. I don't know if there was ever a mill on the bridge at Montrichard.

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    2. According to Wikipedia.fr there were two fortified mills on the Montrichard's bridge at some point in time.

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  4. glad to see Montrichard pics....we had spoken with a real estate guy there & looked at a village house & one further out of town back years ago, when we were dreaming (little did we know then that our daughter would end up marrying a frenchman, so it worked out in the end)

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    1. Wonder if you talked to the same real estate agent who helped us find our house. We were looking in 2002 and moved here in 2003.

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    2. all I remember is that the office was on the right side of town if you have your back to the river....no idea what his name was

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  5. Ahhh , my husband's favorite dream was to retire and move to France where he could live among the wine :)
    He was actually very knowledgeable when it came to wine, I am sorry I was not a better student :)

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    1. Living among the wines and vines is not over-rated.

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  6. I'm in the middle of my Val de Loire unit with my French 4 class, and we were just talking about Montrichard :)

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  7. je connais bien ce bâtiment, si pouviez le prendre dans l'autre sens il se détache mieux sur le paysage, par la même occasion, vous y allez prendre un pot à ma santé, avec une photo de vous au bar!
    bien à vous

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