It was tough to leave Paris, and as I mentioned, 3 nights wasn’t enough. But the drive to Amboise was very scenic. We stopped in the town of Orleans for lunch, enjoying several types of Galette’s, then wandered for a short time to burn off our calories, well at least some, definitely not all! Orleans is called the river city because it’s on the Loire River, and it’s most famous for Joan of Arc, who helped to end the siege of the city on 8 May 1429.
We got back in the car and headed to our destination, Amboise. A charming small market town, it was once home of the French royal court. The Manor where we stayed was right next to a castle, and the view of it from our room was magnificent. After we checked in and lugged our suitcases up the stairs ( to be fair the young, petite girls working the front desk offered but our suitcases weighed more than them so we declined), we freshened up and headed towards the center of town. Or so we thought, we turned right, crossed the bridge and observed the area. We both looked at each other like, oh no, did we make a mistake coming here? We did however, find this charming cocktail bar that was right on the river, our tables and chairs so close I could smell the water, with a front row seat to a spectacular view of the entire castle. After my perfectly chilled bottle of Sancerre arrived, along with a platter of cheeses and pâtés, I didn’t care if we had made a mistake in coming here. As it turns out, we should have taken a left at the bridge, and we found out that there was a lot more to this town, more than we could have hoped for with shops, restaurants and of course the castle! We toured that the next day, as well as drove out to the vineyards also driving by other Chateaus and castles. I highly recommend Amboise, it’s just adorable! I definitely drank my share of Sancerre, and enjoyed roast duck, and lamb. My grand finale was a Nutella crepe, that I inhaled in seconds. We spent two nights here, then left early to head out for another long drive to Normandy.
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