THE ROAD TO AMBOISE
There is a peculiar charm in the riparian scenery of the Loire when seen from the raised road that follows the broad river closely all the way to Tours. In the late afternoon the soft colours of the sunset sky reflected in the oily and swirling surface of the river are singularly beautiful, and looking backwards, as one leaves the town of Blois, the buildings beneath the château, the towers, and the bridge, are all transformed with a soft gold, which subdues all that is crude, and heightens every charm, in just the fashion that memory gilds the past. To the south, beyond the river, is the forest of Blois, a remnant of the medieval forests that surrounded the town, and near at hand all the trees are tufted with mistletoe, which shows up against the burnished gold of the sky as the sun drops lower and lower in the west.
A suspension bridge of six spans crosses the river opposite.
CHAUMONT-SUR-LOIRE
The little brown-roofed village nestles by the water-side under an orange-red cliff crowned with the picturesque castle built in 1473 by Charles de Chaumont. He was a brother of the great Cardinal Georges d’Amboise, Archbishop of Rouen, who was born in the castle in 1460, and whose Cardinal’s hat can be seen in the chapel.
Visitors are allowed to see the castle every day in the absence of the owner (the Princesse de Broglie), and on Thursdays when the family is in residence. When first built, in the tenth century, the fortress belonged to the Counts of Blois, and came afterwards to the family of Amboise. It was burnt by Louis XI. because Pierre d’Amboise (his tomb in Rouen Cathedral has been mentioned) had rebelled against him, and rebuilt in quadrangular form by his son Charles. The side towards the river was pulled down in 1739 to open up the beautiful view.
Catherine de Medici appears not to have lived at Chaumont, but she obliged Diane de Poitiers to accept it in exchange for Chenonceaux.
The entrance gateway between machicolated towers shows the initials of Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne, and the arms of Charles and Georges d’Amboise. Certain apartments are called those of Catherine de Medici and of her astrologer Ruggieri. The Salles des Gardes are hung with Beauvais tapestry. A big cedar holds out beneficent arms in the courtyard, and the steep ravine on the west side of the castle eminence is clothed with trees.
Returning to the north side of the river, one passes the mossy-roofed hamlet of Veuves, built close up to the-raised road, and in a short time the strikingly picturesque town of Amboise appears on the south bank of the river.
AMBOISE.