Sunday, January 17, 2010

Château-Renault

About halfway between Tours and Vendôme, on the route nationale 10 which leads to Paris, is the little town of Château-Renault, population just over five thousand. The town is situated at the confluence of the small Brenne and Gault rivers in the northeastern part of the Indre-et-Loire département.

The rooftops of Château-Renault.

Ken and I visited the town very quickly on a sunny January day back in 2004. The ruins of the château, originally founded in 1066, sit on a bluff above the town next to a grassy esplanade lined with tilleuls (linden trees) overlooking the town below. There weren't many people about that day and we enjoyed the views from the esplanade.

The tilleul-lined esplanade with the old château's donjon on the right.

Most of all, we enjoyed the warmth of the mid-January sun on our pallid winter faces.

8 comments:

  1. Lovely photos and so that's what a tilleul looks like !

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  2. I'm so into donjons ever since you and Ken sparked my interest in Loches, which sparked my interest in learning more about Foulques III Nerra and the development of the style of donjons from squared corners to round... now, I love seeing them, even though they all look pretty much the same! :)) Thanks for this photo.

    Judy

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  3. Aw, you rich kids have all the fun.

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  4. Glad you are able to enjoy the playoffs. I wonder - do people in Orleans root for the Saints?

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  5. I love history - any Capets lurking around the place?

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  6. jean, we have a tilleul in our back yard. Do you remember it?

    judy, there is something about them, isn't there?

    starman, rich? Bwahahahaha!

    john, is the pope catholic?

    michael, I'll ask next time I'm up there.

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  7. michael, I'll see your Valois and raise you a Bourbon.

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