Bike: Maslives to Blois, 10 miles 240 feet of climb
Accommodation: La Tour Beauvoir (Booking.com); host Axel Fontaine. Dungeon and terrace of tower, two bedrooms, double bed plus four twin beds, private bath, kitchen, terrace, no wifi, breakfast beverages and condiments included (buy your own bread, croissants, etc.). Tower dates from the 11th century. You sleep in the oldest prison in France, transformed so in the 14th century.
A return trip to the bakery next door in Maslives gave us a good breakfast. We started out early because of the heat, and biked through vegetable fields and parks along the Loire.
Our destination was an 11th-century tower-turned-guesthouse in Blois. We arrived around noon and discovered that the tower was set in a little park with picnic tables, benches, and a petanque court. (Petanque is a game similar to bocce, played with metal balls on a gravel court. We sent Konur's brother, Josh, a set as a wish-you-were-here gift; we'll set it up and play it with the boys when we get home in October.)
I needed to get a prescription filled, and we needed lunch supplies, so I hiked down to the main part of town to a grocery store and pharmacy. Meghan met us at the park with her lunch, and we sat in the shade until we could check in at 15:00. When we contacted the host for check-in, we found out the key (a big, old-fashioned metal key like you would expect for a dungeon) was hiding in a hole in the wall behind a loose stone; we could have entered earlier if we had known.😁
After we checked in, we walked to the Maison de la Magique, a magic museum. We learned all kinds of magic tricks and history, and watched a magic show. After dinner, we toured the Royal Chateau de Blois. We went back to the tower for a little rest, and then we returned to the courtyard of the chateau at 22:30 for a sound and light show that started with shadows of big fire-breathing salamanders crawling all over the walls of the chateau. (The salamander is the emblem for Francois I, king of France from 1515 to 1547.)
Not long before midnight, four very tired Drivdahls crawled into three cozy beds in the tower for a good night's sleep.
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| A short bike ride brought us to the bridge into Blois. |
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| Lunch in the shady park outside the tower we had reserved for the night. |
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| Konur pretending to be a knight in the chateau. |
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| Ken, Meghan, and Konur on the single-helix staircase at the chateau. The Blois Chateau was built in four wings around a central courtyard, from the 13th century through the 17th century. It was occupied by seven kings and 10 queens of France. |
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| There's always room for ice cream. |
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| The sound and light show in the courtyard of the chateau was amazing. We had English audio telling the history of the chateau--a little too much for us to digest that late in the evening, but a unique experience. |
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| As we biked into the city, we turned left here and wound our way up to the top of the hill. When I followed Google Maps to the grocery store and pharmacy, I discovered that this "mural" is actually a staircase down to the main part of the city. We walked up and down the staircase a couple of times before the day was done. |
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| Konur elected to sleep in a room by himself in the dungeon. He said he wasn't scared at all. |
