Tours and Chinon

 

We spent the morning exploring a bit of Tours, a cosmopolitan city with a mix of beautiful old architecture, fountains and a classy, modern vibe. We walked about 15 minutes to the Cathedral of St. Gatien, a magnificent gothic structure with 70-meter twin towers and lots of intricate carvings on the outside. St. Gatien was the founding bishop of Tours in the 3rd century. The inside (partially under scaffolding - a new twist for us) is packed with flying buttresses, richly decorated chapels, a huge baroque organ and, most impressively, dozens of stained glass windows. Some depict scenes in the life of Christ or various saints. Others are “portraits” of bishops and other patrons. Signs in English explained it all. 

There was a large portrait and altar dedicated to St. Martin of Tours. Per Wikipedia, he is best known for the account of his using his sword to cut his cloak in two, to give half to a beggar clad only in rags in the depth of winter. His shrine in Tours became a famous stopping-point for pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. His stature was revived during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, and he was thus seen as a patron saint of France during the French Third Republic. Per Julie and Nick, he was so saintly that as a baby he refused to nurse on Fridays. 

We were just awestruck by the beauty of the Cathedral. It was most definitely worth the visit. 

We then walked to the Tours market by way of a nice shopping street and also stopped in St. Martin’s Basilica, which was large and nice but not as opulent as the Cathedral. The market was all inside and featured meats (chickens with heads and feet), cheeses, wines and prepared foods. There was a spice store and Sue asked the clerk for a specialty of Tours. He showed her a large container of dried pears that looked like figs and then sold her a jar of the pears soaking in some clear liquid (rum?). Not what she had in mind but still she made the purchase. 

We returned to the hotel passing the majestic Palace of Justice and City Hall. We boarded the bus for Chinon about noon. This is another village with an impressive chateau built over a fortress above the river. We didn’t have time to go inside the castle, but saw it from the outside as well as a nice view of the town below. 

The highlight of the day was our visit to the Pierre and Bertrand Couly winery. We were served a wonderful buffet lunch and a couple of their wines. Then the owner gave us a comprehensive tour through the vineyards and winery. He and his son grow only Cab Franc grapes in several different terroirs. They never blend the grapes, and they don’t use oak barrels as that would overtake the flavor of the wine. He showed us how they prune the vines to get the most energy going to the grapes, rather than the stalks and leaves, and also how they have wires holding the vines to provide the most sun to the grapes. They have grasses and hedges so the roots of the grape vines have to grow deeper to compete. One plant makes one bottle of wine. They will be harvesting next week. They were bottling some wine from last year’s harvest, and we got to watch them doing that. Lots of it is still done by hand, and they can bottle thousands of bottles per day. He talked about the effect of climate change making the buds appear early and then a frost can come and damage them. They have several methods to protect the plants from the frost, including lighting candles and using fans to spread the warmth. At the end of the tour, we tasted more of his wines. Sue and Nick bought some to be shipped to Wisconsin, and Mary and Julie bought some of their very tasty rose to drink at the hotel. We returned to the bus and rode for about an hour back to the hotel. 

We went to dinner at a delightful Italian restaurant Mary found on her walk near the station. We had a bottle of Montepulciano wine from Abruzzo, where we had once visited. Julie and Sue had pasta that was garnished with a Parmesan frico bowl. Nick had scallops and Mary had a burrata salad. We all loved the food, but Mary did not appreciate the free Limoncello we were given at the end. 

We had some wine in Sue and Nick’s room - it has a weird window between the shower room and the bedroom. And like all the other hotel rooms, the toilet is in a separate room across the hall from the shower room. At least this one has a sink in it, although there’s no towel bar or soap or towel provided. The last couple hotels have had great showers with waterfall shower heads as well as a handheld ones. 

Tomorrow we have a 3 hour 45 minute ride to Reims. Sue is looking forward to the Cathedral. We have two nights there, and then it’s on to Paris. Our wine and rugby adventure is coming to a close.