History can be a bit dry at 7:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning in Paris sitting on a full tour bus of 45 people when the first attraction is more than a two-hour drive away and the tour is all day long (12.5 hrs).  You may want to sleep until you get there but you’d miss out on all of the drama, the intrigue and the scandal!  Today, our City Wonders bus would hit the tour guide lottery with Adam (from Canada) and Lillia (from Florida).  The bus would be split into two groups once we arrived in the Loire Valley and I would be part of Adam’s group (lucky me!).

On my first visit to Paris in 1993, I rented a car to drive out to the Loire Valley with my friend.  We were able to visit the chateaus back then but I didn’t get the whole story to view them as anything other than really nice castles. Today, however, the history came alive and my Netflix queue is now filled with all of the drama of the royal courts.  I sat in my seat furiously taking notes on my phone which I’ve never, ever done before (ok, the guy next to me didn’t want to talk or acknowledge me so note taking kept me busy and engaged).  Kudos to Adam for making the stories so interesting in all of its soap opera drama peppered with a few snarky funny bits of commentary.

So Adam begins with the history of Paris and the Loire Valley.  There are walls, wines, invasions, kings, royal courts and too much drama. Jump ahead to the 100 years’ war (Jeopardy answer: it was longer than 100 years) when the royalty in Paris fled to the Loire Valley where there were Roman fortresses. The Loire Valley would be the border between England and France.  The royals were so paranoid at the time that the Royal court was shut to outsiders for about eighty years and modern France was born with the cradle of French language still pure.

And then the crazy takes it up a notch – King Charles VI (Charles the Mad) who thought he was made of glass. Royals who, instead of fighting, would move castle and court (between two to twelve thousand people) once every two weeks.  Royals who thought it was bad to tan in the sun so they lined the streets with trees which gave invaders an easy roadmap to find them.

So after all the wars and invading, pilfering, etc. the Italian Renaissance comes to France in 1515 with Francois I who has so many good ideas but alas doesn’t act on them. He decides that a hunting lodge should be built with 880 rooms (just a small country house).  The hunting lodge was designed by an Italian architect who didn’t realize that it snows and gets cold in France – you’ll see large ceilings, large windows, outside stairs between floors, small fireplaces, etc.

The project stopped at 440 rooms, it was built section by section rather than floors so was inhabitable (to a point). The Royal court abandons the lodge because of the cold and the fact without a town nearby, they needed to hunt their own food.  Royalty (at the time) spent a total of seven weeks in residence.

The château was inspiration for the Beauty and the Beast castle.  We would arrive here at 10 a.m. after our rest stop.  The day in the Loire Valley turned cloudy and dark in the morning setting the mood as we learned that the French revolution ransacked, burned and auctioned the painting, tapestries, furniture, etc. The château is now furnished with reproductions.  Throughout my tour with Adam (we wore the headsets so could linger behind if you were like me taking pictures), I was laughing as he made comments that most of us were thinking as we toured the rooms and learning about “mind your beeswax”, “sleep tight” and how the pink/blue colors of the king/queen ended up switching so that the king (boys) was blue and the queen (girls) pink.

Our guided tour ended back at the double stairs (designed by Leonardo da Vinci) and we had twenty minutes to explore on our own.  I went to the roof to get a good look at the design elements and the landscapes. To think that they kept hundreds of horse at the ready in case the royal court came to visit was just mind-blowing.

On the way to our lunch stop, we were regaled with more stories of royalty in the Loire Valley, this time I would need a whiteboard, a flow chart and colored markers to keep it all together.  It was the time of Catherine de Medici.  With a break in the drama this time we stopped at Nitray, private estate for lunch and wine. The family owned estate produces their own wine and hosted us for a lovely lunch.

Back on the road, we headed to Chateau de Chenonceau, a famous castle used in the classic Drew Barrymore movie “Ever After” (one of my guilty Cinderella inspired movies).  This château has seen its share of drama and intrigue over the years – it’s often referred to as the “ladies château”.  The two ladies at the heart of the chateau were the queen, Catherine de Medici and the King’s lover, Diane de Poitiers. It was a scandalous, devious and a powerful alliance. The three of them had quite the interesting relationship in this home.

The property is broken into sections – you can boat on the water, you can tour the house, tour the fruit/vegetable garden, tour the side gardens the more colorful by the Queen or the more demure by Diane, the mistress.  I watched actors go by (not sure what they were doing) while other guests were enjoying al fresco meals and drinks.  There are many options for a visitor.

We started our tour walking through the fruit and vegetable garden and it was a lovely way to enter the vast grounds.  As we walked toward the château, I was surprised that it was much smaller than Chateau de Chambord. Nowhere near 440 rooms, this seemed a more manageable house albeit filled with just as much (if not more) royal drama. Adam guided us through the crowds in each room (including the black room for the woman in mourning), explained the decor as well as the history of use during WWI and WWII all the while reminding us of the craziness of the queen, the king and his lover.

With the tour portion over, we had the option to explore the grounds for ½ hour or go have more wine in the underground (cool) Cave des Domes.  It was hot and crowded inside and wine was on offer so you know where I went next. The underground cave was a cool respite from the heat and the wine was nice.  Again, wine is for sale if you are interested.

Back on the bus, we headed back to Paris, a long 3+ hour drive.  This time the history lesson was over, we left the royals back in the Loire Valley as the highway view of expansive green became a memory.

I’m the first person to shun the big bus tours in favor of the small private guide tour but my City Wonders Loire Valley Castles and Wine tasting was really impressive made a million times better with Adam as our tour guide and a group of engaged travelers.

The cost of this tour is about $186 per person and the tour is approximately 12.5 hours offered three times a week on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.  I was a last-minute guest of City Wonders as my foot injury diverted me to Paris for a few days.  Thank you to them for hosting me on this lovely tour of the Loire Valley and to Adam for challenging my idea of the big bus tour.  As always the opinion is mine.