This presentation will describe a road trip in May 2022 from Paris to the Loire Valley. Our first stop was Orléans, where Joan of Arc led the French army to victory over the English in 1429. From there we travelled to Blois, with stops en route in Beaugency and Villeny. We toured some of the grand châteaux for which the region is famous: Chambord, Cheverny and Chenonceau. We visited Amboise and the château of Clos Lucé, home of Leonardo Da Vinci, before continuing to the city of Tours, our final destination in the Loire valley. Our trip was within the central Loire valley, which has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As UNESCO has noted: “The Loire Valley is an outstanding cultural landscape of great beauty, containing historic towns and villages, great architectural monuments (the châteaux), and cultivated lands formed by many centuries of interaction between their population and the physical environment, primarily the river Loire itself.” I will only add to that description - good food.
