Saumur is a town of some 25,000 on the banks of the Loire river about 40 miles downriver from Tours. It's known for its mushroom caves, its sparkling white wines, its Saumur-Champigny red wines, its château dating back to the 14th century, and for its horses and riding school. The Cadogan guide says Saumur is "an utterly enchanting town, one of the very finest on the Loire. It presents a cheerful, well-scrubbed face to visitors, and has a magnificent architectural heritage for such a small place." It's not in Touraine but in the historical Anjou province.
I took these photos from high ground on the right bank of the Loire, looking downriver.
This one is from October in the year 2000, which was my second time in Saumur.
The old part of the town is on the left bank of the Loire, but like Blois and Tours upriver, Saumur includesneighborhoods on both banks of the river — as well as on an island in the middle of the river.
Le pont de Saumur, a.k.a. le pont Cessart after the engineer who designed it,Louis-Alexandre Cessart, was built between 1756 and 1700.
Here you can see that we were not far from the Château de Saumur when taking these photos.
Here's what the Loire looked like, facing upriver, when we were there in July 2006.
These photos are beautiful and of great quality.
ReplyDeleteAm I wrong to think we had lunch in Saumur, you, Walt and me on our way to Cunault?
The Loire is full of sand.
I’m wondering if there is a connection with this town and saumure.
Monsieur Walter is going to take a photo?
No, you are not wrong. We ate lunch in Saumur, outside, that day, July 18, 2006. From what I've read, the name Saumur derives from Celtic terms that mean "safe" and "wall." And yes, Mr W. was taking photos. I think that he was using his then-new Lumix digital camera.
DeleteSo beautiful! The Loire is really the land of all fairytales, isn't it? I always enjoy enlarging your photos to see all the detail. Wish my ipad was bigger!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kiwi. I always review my blog photos on a PC connected to our 48-inch television set after I compose the posts on my laptop.
DeleteToday's photos are splendid. I've wanted to see Saumur for a long time, but never quite got there.
ReplyDeleteNext time?
DeleteAs for the last picture, does the Loire always have those sand bars or was the water level unusually low that year. Is it navigable when its that shallow?
ReplyDeleteI think the river was very low that summer. I assume small boats and barges can navigate the Loire most of the time, but maybe not when the level is so low.
DeleteThe first time my wife and I stopped in Saumur was in the 1980's, and we thought it was beautiful. We had lunch at simple but charming place not far from the chateau. I believe we had an omelette, frites, and a Sancerre. The next time we stopped in Saumur was at least 10 years later. Not only we couldn't find the restaurant, we couldn't even find the area it had been in. Something had changed drastically. But at least the chateau and bridge were still there.
ReplyDeleteMysterious. A whole neighborhood had disappeared? I read this morning about one of the walls of the château terrace collapsed in 2001, destroying or damaging some houses below. Were you there after 2001? Maybe the restaurant was in that area.
DeleteI'm pretty sure it was before 2001. Maybe it was just a big renovation project and the place looked totally different. Something like that happened to us in Luxembourg City when we visited 20 years after our first visit.
DeleteWow, that bridge reminds me of a mini version of le Pont Neuf à Paris :)... just the support structures.
ReplyDeleteI had some fun doing some "driving" around on Google streetview :)
So now I'm adding Saumur to my future to-see list along with Langeais. They are not very far apart.
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