Amboise anchored this stretch of the Loire, its royal château looming over the town from every angle —
the Tour de l'Horloge marking the entrance to the pedestrian streets below, Anne of Brittany's ermine
banners still flying from the rooftops, and a stone bridge carrying the road across the river itself.
Day trips fanned out from there: Château Gaillard, just outside town, hides its orangery in the tuffeau
hillside and its Jardins du Roy behind it, the site of France's very first Renaissance garden. Further
along, the Château de Chenonceau spans the river in the postcard shot everyone comes for, its own
gardens laid out in swirling parterres and quiet pergolas. Back in Amboise, the evenings ran to wine and
beer — a troglodyte cellar's worth of old winemaking equipment at the Maison des Vins d'Amboise, and a
flight of local ales at Art is an Ale to close out the day.
A busy pedestrian street, the château's towers rising above the rooftopsThe towers and Gothic pinnacles of the Château d'AmboiseThe Tour de l'Horloge archway, over a patisserie-lined streetA snail making its way across a stone stepThe Château d'Amboise's rooftopsAmboise's rooftops and the Loire, seen from the château rampartsThe stone bridge over the LoireThe orangery of Château Gaillard, carved into the tuffeau hillsideThe Jardins du Roy at Château GaillardThe Château de Chenonceau, spanning the riverThe ornamental garden at Chenonceau, its swirling parterre and fountainA garden pergola and stone colonnade, tucked among the hedgesThe Château d'Amboise, beyond a field of lavenderThe "Vins d'Amboise" signAntique winemaking equipment, Maison des Vins d'AmboiseThe tap wall at Art is an Ale BrewingA flight of beers, closing out the day
