Le Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire

Cadogan again, in the words of author Philippe Barbour: “The Château de Chaumont boasts one of the best locations of all the châteaux along the Loire, looking dramatically down onto the river. You can best appreciate the place, standing proudly on its hillside, from the north bank... [there's] a medieval chivalric feel to [Chaumont], even if in fact it's another of those transitional Loire châteaux, built in the period when Italian Renaissance features were merging with French late Gothic forms. Construction began at the start of the 1470s...”

This was the château that the queen Catherine de Médicis gave to Diane de Poitiers, her husband's long time favorite, in exchange for the Château de Chnonceau. Her husband the king had died in a jousting tournament in Paris in 1559, at the age of 40. Catherine was the same age — she outlived her husband by 30 years — and Diane was 20 years older than they were. Catherine wanted Chenonceau, and she had the power as ex-queen and the queen mother to take it. According to one legend, the astrologer Nostradamus (or maybe it was another astrologer, Ruggieri) accompanied Catherine to Chaumont one day and shared his vision that her sons would die early and their Valois dynasty would end. Henri de Navarre, of the Bourbon line, would be crowned king as Henri IV. It all came true. Neither Catherine nor Diane ever actually spent much time at Chaumont.

In my slideshow, there are photos from my first visit (I believe) to Chaumont in October 2000, including a picture of a Renaissance-era tile floor and views out over the river and valley. Other photos of the château from the grounds or from the opposite bank of the Loire date back to 2007, 2009, and 2018. You used to be able to enter the grounds at Chaumont without paying an admission fee, but that era ended a decade ago. Now you can only enter the grounds after you buy a ticket, so you can't just stop by for a few minutes and snap a few pictures. Once when I was there, hot-air balloons were lifting off just down the hill and flying over at low altitude. That was pretty exciting. If I can find photos, I'll include a link to them.