Tours

Have you ever wanted to be a Disney princess? Don’t lie, I know you did… still do. Well Tours (pronounced Tour) has got to be the best place for all of your Cinderelli-singing-animal-happy-ever after dreams to come true!

Ok, I don’t want you to be disappointed… I didn’t happen to come across any singing animals that did my laundry while on this trip… but I did visit a castle that could very well be Cinderella’s dream home. Tours itself is your home base and you will need to venture out to explore the MANY dreamy castles. It’s actually ridiculous how many there are. My advice, pick your favourite three and go from there, because I actually think you can have too much of a good thing.

Of course there are tours you can take from Tours like any classic tourist destination. It is possible however to get there on your own and the public transport accessibility may influence the castle you visit. The two I chose were Chateau de Chaumont-Sur-Loire and Chateau Villandry.

Chateau de Chaumont-Sur-Loire (what a mouthful) was the Cinderella castle I was talking about. It really felt like I’d stepped into a fairy tale and that true love was not far away. Well no true love for me, but it was super interesting inside. Most rooms were decked out in the standard medieval fair… and then there was a chapel modern art instillation. I found out that there had been many previous owners of the castle and one eccentric owner had a pet elephant… you know as you do when royalty. I caught the train to the Cinderella castle and it was a reasonable walk from the station.

Chateau Villandry is known for its gardens. I’m not talking a couple of pot plants, these are some extreme gardens. I loved it! But better yet I got there by bike which was my favourite. This princess doesn’t need a knight in shining armour on his noble stead. Nope! I rode there myself and the journey was almost as good as the castle experience. Flying wheels is the bike company I used and I would recommend.

Tours was a great home base as well. Kind of pricey but very nice. I found a quirky crepe place that is fit out like a house (I ate in the bathroom). Then there are also parts of town that look like they are straight out of the village from Beauty and the Beast.

Anyway, here are the pictures which really say it all…