TALKINTRAVEL™

France’s Best Kept Secret: The Loire Valley
By: Ruth & Rich Carlson/www.talkintravel.com

Forget everything you thought you knew about France, the haughty waiters, the snooty sommeliers, the stifling traditions…the Loire Valley is country chic; with imaginative young winemakers experimenting with organic grapes, gardeners creating displays from recycled materials, haute cuisine served in the chef’s kitchen, and rooms in a castle that cost the same as a generic chain hotel. Just an hour by the TGV (speed) train (http://www.raileurope.com) from Paris, the Loire Valley is often skipped by tourists who are more familiar with the wine regions of Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne. Their ignorance is your bliss; the Loire Valley is uncrowded, less expensive and welcoming to visitors. For everything you need to plan a personalized visit, check out www.visaloire.com. Here’s a guide to some of the Loire Valley secrets: Bonjour: Wave hello to the local farmers as you cycle by asparagus fields on a new and ever-expanding bike route through the Loire Valley, (www.loire-a-velo.fr), a Unesco world heritage site. Clearly marked signs guide bikers along paths winding along the Loire River and through villages with cobblestone streets and cottages made of the local limestone. The French encourage stopping for a three-hour lunch at one of the tiny restaurants owned by the same family for generations. Wine is recommended but only the white varietals, which one restaurant owner explained to me, are good for the thighs. That’s a Tour de France a gourmand can appreciate! Bateaux: Glide into the past aboard an authentic sailboat, used for centuries by fisherman along the Loire River. Today the area is a protected environmental landmark, and fishing is banned, but tourists can still sail the River. The boat only seats 12 passengers and the amiable skipper Jean Ley doesn’t let a little thing like a language barrier get in his way of conversing with everyone. He’s happy to point out the wildlife along the way including eel, perch and raccoons and if he likes you, may let you take the helm. (www.milliere-raboton.net) Bon Appetit: The food in the Loire Valley is some of the best in France--quite a feat in a country that treats meals like a religious ceremony. The restaurants offer the best of fowl from the forest and fish from the Loire River. At the tiny restaurant La Cuisine de Georges, (20 rue Georges Courteline, Tours; 33 247 36 92 04) you’re sure to make friends since the seating is primarily confined to one big wooden table. This tiny restaurant is singlehandly run by Jacquelain Pujole, a former marketing director who attended college in Ohio before following his passion, cooking, which he learned at his mother’s knee. Get there early (that’s around 7:30 pm in France) because he only serves dinner until the food runs out. Specials are displayed on a large blackboard, but he usually serves the popular chocolate gateau (cake) for dessert and the thinly cut prosciutto appetizer. He doesn’t have a web site, an email address, or even regular hours. As he puts it, “If a pretty woman knocks on my door, I will open up early.” A favorite stop for bicyclists, the Auberge du Centre (www.auberge-du-centre.com) Hotel and Restaurant, is run by the genial Gilles Martinet, whose daughter is one of the waitresses. Order the duck topped with gingerbread cookie crumble paired with local sauvignon blanc wines from Cheverny Delaille. Martinet, who says he only does business with friends, says customers have always requested local wines but in the past it was difficult to find consistent quality. Now he can rely upon Thierry Delaile, (delaille@lbertysurf.fr), who caused quite a controversy when he bottled some of his wine using screw tops! Matinet, who grew up in the hotel, says he remembers it was important as a child to have pigs and potatoes for food, but the most important consideration was making wine to drink with friends. He says he chose a natural, slower life, and you can experience his relaxed pace during your stay. Caverne: Many tourists associate the Loire Valley with castles and rightfully so, but for every chateaux there were hundreds of cave dwellers who built their homes out of the soft limestone. The peasants supplied those rocks to the castles, transporting them along the Loire River. Tour the troglodytic valley (www.troglodytedesgoupillieres.fr) to see subterranean caves dating back to Middle Ages where donkeys and pigs doubled as primitive heaters…sleeping in rooms next to families to keep them warm! These farms were the original form of sustainability, where nothing was wasted; even cave rooftops were vegetable gardens. Chambre: It’s fascinating to visit the caves but when it comes time to rest your head, live like royalty for a night and stay at the Chateau des Grotteaux (www.chateau-des-grotteaux.com). When you enter the Estate, you’ll hear “the sound of the Loire,” tiny pebbles crunching underneath car tires and footsteps, and it’s easy to imagine horses pulling carriages trotting over these same paths. The Chateau has a new underground cave restaurant, a heated pool, tennis courts, and enough acreage to get lost and pretend you’re royalty for a day. Just a short drive away, the largest castle in the Loire Valley, Château de Chambord, has just started allowing the public to hold their weddings onsite. One of the most recognizable castles in the world because of its very distinct French Renaissance architecture—-a blend of medieval with classical Italian structures. King Francois I built the castle, mainly as a hunting lodge, and it’s surrounded by a vast forest enclosed within a stone wall. After World War II, the deer in Europe were in danger of extinction because the locals hunted them to survive. Today games keepers periodically capture some of the deer at Chambord, who thrive because they can’t escape the Castle walls, and redistribute them to forests throughout Europe. Chocolat: the word is almost the same in English as French but that tiny difference-ooh la la! Max Vauche (www.maxvauche-chocolatier.fr) offers cocoa with a conscience. Along with five other French chocolatiers, he has reached a fair trade agreement with the African region Sao Tome, nicknamed Chocolate Island. Known for its high quality chocolate, the Island produced 36,000 tons a year in the previous century, but today the plants only about yield about 4,000 tons. The French chocolate makers plant new cocoa trees, which have a life span of about 30 years, and ensure the employees have quality working conditions. At the Max Vauche showroom you learn how chocolate is like wine; with the soil and aging process affecting the taste of the final product. At the tour’s end your patience is rewarded with a sampling of the goods, including candy from Cuba and naturally Chocolate Island, which has a distinct banana undertone. Since you’re helping the Islanders improve their quality of life, enjoy your chocolate guilt free. L’amour: It makes sense that one of the most romantic places on earth would dedicate a chateaux to one of the greatest love stories of all time-Edward the Duke of Windsor who gave up his throne for the divorced American commoner Wallis Simpson. On June 3, 1937, the couple was married at the Loire Valley’s Chateau de Cande and the home is now a monument to their love. The tour, which starts with a newsreel covering that famous wedding day, includes his boyhood photos and rooms filled with Wallis’ hats, clothing and jewelry. www.chateau-cande.fr Jardins: The Loire Valley has been called the Garden of France and with the scent of roses and lavender perfuming the air, it’s easy to understand why. Villandry (www.chateauvillandry.com) has what many consider the finest example of a traditional French garden, ironically created by an American and Spanish couple in the early 20th century. Their great grandson, Henri Carvallo, has opened the Chateau and gardens to the public every day of the year -even Christmas- because he says, “People often travel a long way to visit and I don’t want to disappoint anyone.” One of the most requested stops is the garden depicting the four kinds of love: tender, passionate, fickle and tragic. Green thumbs will also appreciate the Le Grand Velum International Garden Festival of Chaumont-sur-Loire (www.chaumont-jardins.com). New garens are chosen annually from a global competition and showcased for six months every spring through fall. This year the theme is sharing and the botanical displays include Scandinavian simplicity of mirrors and rocks, charred timber from Santa Fe, New Mexico and a French garden made from trash collected from all the other plots, including an entrance made of hanging soda cans and chairs filled with old bottle caps. Chefs also compete to serve innovative fare at the restaurant and this year’s winner prepares vegetarian delights. The black squid risotto topped by fresh asparagus, artichokes and Parmesan cheese, are so beautiful the dishes are almost—but not quite—too pretty to eat. Soie: The sunlight filters through pane windows to protect the fabric and it takes a moment for your eyes to adjust and see the brilliant display of red, gold and blue threads spread like a spider’s web on antique weaving machines. Le Manach, (www.lemanach.fr), is the oldest working silk factory in France and none other than fashion designers John Paul Gaultier, the late Yves St. Laurent, and the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, have commissioned tapestries from this family run factory. The man who won the award for best weaver in all of France works here and has one leg shorter than the other from pedaling the historic machines. Olivier Biosse Duplan, the handsome heir, says the historic building belongs to the people but he still operates the factory, which owns 4000 designs and is also capable of custom orders. Wealthy customers often bring in a small scrap of fabric from a family heirloom and the Le Manach masters are able to reproduce it. Vin: “Making wine is magic, say Valerye Mordelet, who owns Les Loges de la Folie, (leslogesdelafolie@yahoo.fr), with her partner Jean-Daniel Kloeckle. The name of the winery, which she explains translates to “It’s cool to be crazy,” reflects the couple’s modern take on an ancient French tradition. They use organic grapes and don’t add sugar to raise the alcohol level. “We grow our wine on the vine not in the cellar, so we must have great grapes,” says Mordelet. In the last decade young people have started a revolution, creating new wineries, rather than limiting the field to the French who inherit estates. The change is happening primarily in the Loire Valley where land is cheaper than the more established areas like Bordeaux. The young vintners are shaking things up with some decidedly modern ideas like imaginative labels and casual wine tastings. Avoir: Air France (www.airfrance.com), which flies direct from SFO, has special business rate packages that will ensure you start your trip refreshed. With their French savoir-faire, they put “airline food” jokes to shame. If you’re the worrying type, (or traveling with one), who arrives at the airport hours ahead of departure, there is good news. You can stay overnight at the Sheraton Hotel located inside Terminal Two of the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris (www.sheratonparisairport.fr). It’s a good thing too, since the ticketing and security lines can take a good hour and a half to get through—leaving precious little time for duty free shopping! With a non-stop view of the planes landing and taking off it’s amazing that you can’t hear the jet engine’s roar in your room. Spring for the Club Floor and you won’t even have to go out for dinner; the room serves heavy appetizers and drinks till 11 pm and an American style, sit-down breakfast. Voila! The Loire Valley locals are waiting for you with everything you need for a romantic vacation; leisurely bike and boat rides along the Loire River, gardens created for stolen kisses behind hedges and local delicacies to share, including fresh eel, magical white wine, and artisan chocolate. Hurry up and book a trip for the slow life before France’s best-kept secret gets out. -End-