I woke up to a glorious morning in the vineyard campsite I was staying in, Domaine de la Belle Etoile. It was a little cool and the sun was coming up over misty paddocks. It was gorgeous.
I drove into the nearest town, Brissac-Quince and stopped to have a look around. There was a chateau there but it was still really early and it didn't open until 10am, which is frustrating for someone like me who gets going early! It looked like a nice chateau too, though you couldn't see too much from the road.
I had a wander around the little village which was nice, and stopped to get a pain au chocolat, which was also nice! Then I jumped back in the car to head to Saumur.
I drove into Saumur a little after 9am. I found a parking place easily but, as I was walking out, I wasn't really sure I was parked in the right place... I kept looking for signs to say I couldn't park there but only saw one as I was walking to town - I'd accidentally parked in the parking for the cadets going to the Armoured Branch and Cavalry Training School in Saumur. Ooops! So I jumped back in the van and drove into the next driveway, which was the public parking!
Saumur is a city on the Loire river that is famous for two things - wine, and the 12th century château that dominates the town. Most of the houses in Saumur, including the château, are constructed out of tuffeau stone, a type of creamy-coloured limestone found in the Loire Valley. It is this stone, when mixed with the local clay and other soils, that creates the perfect grape-growing soil that make the wines of Saumur some of France's most famous wines.
I walked into the town and had a wander first before heading to the château. I'd picked up a leaflet of the châteaux of the Loire and I wanted to go and see a few of them that I'd never visited before, and Saumur was one. So after looking around town, I walked up the steep hill to the castle.
I've been to quite a lot of châteaux before and they are all generally nice, but I must say I prefer the ones that people have lived in, or still live in, as opposed to the ones that have been empty for a while. Unfortunately, Saumur château fell into the latter category, and it was quite sparse inside, meaning that there was not too much to look at. I think this château is better admired from afar rather than visiting, as it is quite impressive otherwise!
After my château visit, I went back to the town to grab a baguette sandwich before jumping back in the van and heading off to a village nearby called Turquant.
Turquant made my list of places to go because a) I'd seen photos on Instagram and b) it was the site of many troglodyte caves and dwellings. These places were formed when the tufa stone (which is geologically related to but different from the tuffeau stone of Saumur) was mined in the area. I went with the expectation of seeing lots of little cave homes, but instead only found restaurants and shops in the caves, which was not as interesting to me and so I didn't take any photos of them. It was a pretty little area though and a good place to stop and eat my lunch. I also went on a walk around the town that was signposted, but the signs were quite difficult to spot after a while so I doubled back on myself and didn't complete the route for fear of getting lost!
Returning to the van, I set the GPS for Château de Brézé, a small but beautiful château nearby, which I will cover in the next post!