Monday, February 05, 2007

Loches

I've posted photos of Loches on the blog before (link, scroll down to see all the posts), but here are two images that I haven't posted before. This historic little city on the Indre river is well worth a visit even though it's a bit far from the well trodden Loire Valley sights.

A church tower in Loches seen from the garden of the renaissance château.

Up on the bluffs above the river is the historic center of town, where the amazingly intact ruins of the medieval castle rise into the sky. It's a blast to explore the dungeon and castle rooms of this place. There's even a restored medieval castle garden in one of the courtyards. The views from the top of the keep are terrific.

On the opposite end of the bluff is the renaissance château, also open to the public, and worth the entrance fee.

Sculptures of dogs in granite adorn the stairs leading into the renaissance castle.

Down below the castles, les Lochois (the population is about 7,000) enjoy a lovely city with a wonderful outdoor market on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

4 comments:

  1. Beautiful! So many things to see in your corner of France.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Claude, merci ! It's true, there is a lot to see. C'mon down and visit sometime !

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi, Walt. Yesterday you mentioned the Indrois River, and today the Indre. Are they different or related rivers? Sorry for my ignorance. I thought I'd heard of the Indre, but I might have been imagining it!

    The Super Bowl was pretty sloppy, I think. I don't know if it was the rain or the play or a combination of both, but it sure was less than thrilling.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ginny, the Indrois is a small tributary of the Indre, which itself is a tributary of the Loire. I agree about the Super Bowl, but it's often the case. The hype usually outstrips the game. The same game might have been more interesting if expectations weren't so high. Still, the Bears kind of lost interest after the first quarter, didn't they ?

    ReplyDelete

Tell me what you think!