Royal weekend at Tours (France)

What's better than bank holidays to visit the most beautiful castles in France?

During the Feast of Ascension, my mother and I visited the Pays de la Loire and more precisely, Tours.

We took the train on Wednesday, 24th by night and went back on Sunday, 28th in the afternoon.

Going to Tours was so fast! 1h15 but 2h when we went back. TGV against Intercités (non high speed services)!

We slept in an apartment hotel ; if you've already followed my previous articles, you know what it is about, no need to explain it to you.
The apartment hotel was located next to the Gare de Tours (10 by foot), so practical!

As for ours last mother/daughter weekends, the weather was beautiful, and not only in Tours but also in the whole country. With this kind of weather, you just want to drink a good beer (or many)! Wonderful for sunbathing! Not really difficult with this kind of temperatures! I didn't bring my sunscreen and didn't get any sunburn, lucky me!

What was our program during this wonderful weekend?

Day 1

On Thursday, we went for a walk around the city center: Avenue André Malraux, Place de la Cathédrale, Place Plumereau, etc.

Avenue André Malraux

 

Place Anatole France

The Place Anatole France with its beautiful tags.

Place Choiseul

In order to cool off, we had a beer at the Place Choiseul ;-)

 Place de la Cathédrale

Place de la Monnaie-Tournois

Place Jean Jaurès

 Place Plumereau

We ate at the Place Plumereau where there are buildings similar to the one we saw in Strasbourg.

Pont de Saint Symphorien

Pont Wilson

Jack Sparrow's boat

 

Rue de la Monnaie

 

Tours American Monument

Vieux Pont

Cute basketball players ;-)

Château de Tours

We didn't visit it because the current exhibition wasn't interesting.

Day 2

Château de Blois

The Château de Blois is located 40 minutes away from the Gare de Tours. When you leave the Gare de Blois, you just have to walk 10 minutes.

We took a pass with which we could visit the castle, see a magic show and a sound and light show.

We started with the magic show. We were welcomed by angry dragons spitting smoke. I thought we were in a Game of Thrones episode!

Once in the room, we solved different riddles waiting for the big show.
A magician taught us how to make a Chinese wallet and did some magic before all the visitors went to the show room. We waited behind a door but we started to be concerned because nobody went to check on us. We noticed we weren't waiting behind the good door. Nobody told us about it. So we all talked to a security guard and he told us the show had already begun and it was too late to enter the room. One part of the group was already there and went through another door. Impossible to get a refund. We had to wait for the next show! Nobody wanted to wait because we had to visit the castle.

To console ourselves, my mother and I drank a beer before going to the castle.

About the sound and light show, my mother and I didn't see it because it was late at night and we didn't want to miss our train back to the Gare de Tours.

1 show for the price of 3!

 

Jour 3

Château d'Amboise

The Château d'Amboise is located 15/20 minutes away from the Gare de Tours. Then, you just have to walk 20 minutes.

The Château d'Amboise was my favorite. The visit was shorter than for the Château de Blois but there were nice gardens and the view was beautiful.

We ate outside before going to the castle and drank a beer after the visit. I also bought some souvenirs.

Then, we went for a walk around Amboise before enjoying a pizza and a good beer.

Day 4

We wanted to visit the Château de Chenonceau but the timing was too short as we had to take our train at the end of the afternoon. So we went for a walk around the city center where we ate and drank our last beer.