Happy New Year to all! This is the tower on the far right in the photo I posted yesterday. I think I took the picture here in the year 2000, when Walt and I were staying in a gîte in Vouvray, a famous Touraine wine village. As I said yesterday, I think we climbed cup to the top of the Tour de l'Horloge back then. In a later post, I mentioned that the photo (below) of the black slate rooftops of Chinon might have been taken from the top of the tower. However, I can't believe I would have climbed all the way up to the top of the tower to take only a single picture. I can't find any more that look like they were taken from so high up. The tower itself is 22 meters (72 feet) tall. According to Google Earth, when you're at the top of the tower you are more than 250 feet (80 meters) above the level of the Vienne river below.
The Cadogan Loire guidebook describes the town of Chinon like this: "With fine medieval houses as close knit as chain mail fighting for space down between the hillside and the Vienne river,Chinon is dominated by the secure walls of one of the great ruined castles of the Plantagenêt kingdom. The town may appear distinctly provincial today, but Chinon is a place that retains more than a spark of old courtly glory. It's a magnificent little spot, with charming streets behind the riverside road and its pruned trees."
So many wonderful places to see in one lifetime.
ReplyDeleteWhat travel said. Happy New Year, Ken!
ReplyDeleteThe connection to centuries past, and people who were alive all of those centuries ago, is what pulls me in when I see these places. Thanks for la of the great photos this year, Ken, and for continuing to share yourself with all of us. Wishing you and Walt a very Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Judy. What I like about the photos is that they remind me once more of places that I have read or heard about since I started learning French 60 years ago(!). I have a visual image (is that redundant?) of them after I've seen them, even if it's only one time. And that satisfies me.
DeleteThanks for these posts on Chinon. Danielle and I visited there for four days in 2009 and really enjoyed it and the area.
ReplyDeleteBettyAnn
I'm glad you got to spend a few days in Chinon. I've been over there half a dozen times or more, but I've never rented a gîte or vacation apartment there. Maybe Walt and I should do that this year.
DeleteChinon really is a village tightly-packed in! Definitely a place I want to see in person.
ReplyDeleteIt really is worth it, Mary. Hope you get to do it.
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