From Saumur, we drove 10 minutes out to Brézé, where the majestic chateau was settled in beautiful rolling vineyards. We got tickets and went inside the Chateau du Brézé. It has the deepest dry moat in Europe--I had never heard of a dry moat before visiting Brézé! The entire moat was riddled with a labyrinth of caves and troglodyte dwellings. It was such an interesting mix of grand chateau and rustic caves. We scuttled through all kinds of dark low tunnels, exploring everything from bedchambers to underground stables to kitchens to wine pressing rooms to silk worm farms--all tucked away behind the tall tall walls of the canyon-like moat. We saw so much and only a small fraction of the underground labyrinth was open to the public! It was so cool. The whole time I was baffled at why our DK Eyewitness Travel Guide for the region of the Loire Valley did NOT mention Brézé at all! What!? This amazing place was mentioned as an afterthought in one tiny sentence in our Family France travel guidebook. It pays to read the fine print!
When we had our fill of crouching in caves, we drove the 80 minutes home, arriving just before 6pm. Fridge food for dinner.
I feel very satisfied with our trip. We did more than I thought we would be able to with the kids, and we have really settled into a relatively comfy travel groove with them--just in time to leave and travel nine time zones home! Tomorrow is Sunday, then we have one more day of adventuring on Monday before beginning the journey home on Tuesday.
Kids in the courtyard of Le Château du Brézé.
We liked the paint job in the castle wing we visited.
The walls had all of these different castles and buildings painted on them--that's just a trompe l'oiel painted frame--the whole wall was flat.
Anne de Bretagne (Anne of Brittany: she was carved in relief--not painted onto the wall).
Castle courtyard through classic diamond castle window: yes please!
The light pouring through these windows looked so cheery and dramatic, although I'm not sure I captured the mood with my auto-setting photo.
Portrait gallery. On our way out of the upper castle wing, I saw a sign that said no photos...oops. In my defense, it was not a very big sign and everyone else was taking photos too.
Good ole Marie Antoinette--such a CHARACTER.
This was a good wall decor/doorway combo.
Upper window view
Inside one of the circular towers--those wooden beams were quite visually stunning and the room was massive. It felt old because it was not seamlessly restored--that giant steel girder braced across the middle of the room to keep it intact. The room was full of cracks too--the wind was whistling around the place finding every gap in the wall! It was as drafty as any good medieval castle should be. We were glad to visit during summertime.
Old floor, gnarly Shaina-feet. The floor was original to the castle. THRILLING! (Have I mentioned how excellent my footwear was on this trip? These Xero Z-Trail sandals were the comfiest for all-day walking. My feet could breath and move and bend and I barely knew I had shoes on. These beauties were even better than my old Tevas and Keens!)
Courtyard from above.
Heading down to the DUNGEON.
No escaping these thick thick walls!
Goodbye, blue sky!
The stairs were so steep going down into the black abyss!
Peek-a-boo, Rose! This was the dungeon door. I guess they fed the prisoners through that peek-hole in the door.
From the dungeons, we ventured forth into the web of caves in the walls of the dry moat.
Running in the bottom of the moat!
Pictures don't quite show the depth of the moat.
I took this picture looking down into the moat from the bridge on our way into the castle.
Still inside the grand canyon of a moat.
Massive wine barrels in one of the many moat-caves.
Doesn't this staircase just give you chills?
Amber was a tad stressful underground; she kept running off ahead to explore and we thought we were going to lose her to the depths of Mother Earth a few times.
Seriously. DOWN DOWN DOWN. Those can lights shining up from the floor actually made it harder to see because they kept blinding us every time we passed one. My eyes never quite adjusted to the underground gloom--every time I almost started to be able to see, another floor light dazzled my retinas.
It kind of reminded me of the Last Crusade (e.g. Petra, Jordan).
Dizzying-ly steep stone steps.
Silk worm farm. In a moat-cave, of course. Why not? Wine and silk production--a luxurious castle indeed.
Random peek-through royalty stashed in one of the caves.
It looks like the castle grew out of the rock, or the rock grew the castle.
Looking out from the cave-kitchen. This room was massive. I loved it! I wouldn't mind baking rustic bread and soups in that massive fireplace.
I love smoke marks on old fireplaces--PROOF that they were used and used and used.
These cave people had a bigger kitchen than I do at home! haha. They weren't neanderthals or anything--I think cave people sounds so primitive. Moat-dwellers? Peasants? The plaques weren't clear on who cooked in this kitchen and for whom they cooked.
Amby, barricaded at last.
As cool as these caves were, I still think living underground would be stressful!
The shadow of the chateau up high in the moat! And my mother-in-law down low.
Jeff is a good sport about selfies--and this was a new one for us: dry moat selfie!
This was the perfect sword for Amber: wooden with a pink rope handle and pink felt sheath. I wanted it for her. But I did not want the violence, injury, and mayhem that would come along with it, so we left it in the gift shop.
Nobody was up for a family picture outside of the chateau at the end of the day, so I grabbed the two most willing participants and took one of them.
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