Chateau Chambord: France

Take me back to a time when we could travel, or at least leave the house beyond a 1km radius and without a signed document.

We are back to shut down conditions here in France, potentially until December. That includes no travel between regions within the country or outside the city we live in. No more day trips beyond the grocery store for us for a while.

Luckily we took a trip to Chateau Chambord a few weeks ago before the restrictions were put in place. Take me back to that time!

The castle is located within the Loire Valley region of France just a little over an hour’s drive South of Paris, very close to the city of Blois. We left our home early in the morning and arrived there sometime around 10am.

A short distance from the parking lot and the castle first comes into view. It rises up over a small restaurant and café village situated just outside the castle grounds.

If you're so inclined, at certain times of the year you have the option of paying an additional fee to watch the castles horse and birds of prey show. We didn't do that when we were there so I can't really tell you if it’s worth it or not. We did however see two of the actors riding their horses around the grounds, which gave the whole experience a sort of old timey Renaissance feel.

You enter the castle grounds from the back of the property and make your way down a long path to the front entrance.

The castle itself sits within a large courtyard surrounded by a wall and small entrance way. The first thing you notice on arrival is the castles jagged asymmetrical silhouette made by countless chimney’s and towers.

Other than the castle itself, the inner courtyard is mostly plain with not a whole lot to see. There is a gift shop, cafe, and restaurant with a bit of outside seating, but not a lot else. Not even so much as potted plants, flowers or any sort of significant foliage.

Without many distractions though, your eye is immediately drawn to the architecture of the building. Wide banks of windows and arches and a few elaborate exterior staircases are particularly interesting to gaze upon.

Then of course there is the intricacy of the roof design. With numerous outcroppings of various shapes and sizes jutting about in every direction, it looks a lot like a cityscape viewed from a distance.

Decorative black stone circles and diamonds line each of the windows and chimney's and stand out against the white of the limestone structure. All in all the castle is truly remarkable in its asthetic.

The Interior

The first thing you see when entering the chateau is it’s famous double helix staircase situated in the center of the building. Two separate and distinct staircases wrap around a central hollow core that allow individuals using the different pathways to see each other on either side without actually coming into contact with one another. It took me a little while to wrap my head around the idea.... (pun pun pun) and understand what was going on.

Hunting décor is very prevalent throughout the main floor of the chateau, and for good reason. The castle was originally built in 1519 by Francois I to serve as a hunting residence for when he wished to get away from his royal home in Blois. The castle was also used to entertain guests and was lent out to individuals who were close to the reigning monarch. Several rooms were decorated with faux elk and deer mounts as well as numerous paintings depicting scenes of the hunt.

Located on the top floor of one of the towers is the trophy room as well. Here there are numerous (too many to count) sets of mounted antlers from a wide array of cervidae (members of the deer family including: deer elk, moose...etc).

The kitchens of any castle is always cool to see, especially if it happens to be decorated with some of the old period cooking tools and utensils. At Chambord you can see a rotisserie spit and drip pan as well as a variety of copper pots and pans (among other tools) scattered throughout the room. The kitchen also has a window with a view overlooking the gardens outside.

That would be nice for those working there, I think. Who doesn’t like a view of the garden when they are cooking?

Below is an image of one of the bedrooms located on the floor with all of the apartments. Apparently people would entertain guests in their bedrooms back then so they typically had a lot of seating. Hence all of the chairs.

Various styles of wall covering can also be found throughout the chateau, including this woven wall matt made out of bulrushes. The wall paper found throughout the castle looked pretty modern to me though and given the sheer quantity of it, I doubt that it was very old. Wall paper used to be hand painted back during renaissance times, so it was extremely rare and expensive (not that money was an issue for Kings). Nonetheless, most castles that I have been to in France that have original old world wall paper, only ever had very small rooms with the stuff. The fact that there is wall paper in nearly every room of the apartments tells me that it’s likely a recent addition, perhaps done after one of its many, more recent renovations.

Making your way through the rooms of each of the floors and up the flights of stairs (both inside the castle as well as outside) you eventually end up on the rooftop terrace.

Located at the center of the roof, above the helical staircase, is the intricately designed Lantern Tower. It is topped with a fleur-de-lis royal crown which points up into the sky and is really quite spectacular to see.

Walking around the tower surrounded on all sides by columns and many clusters of chimneys, kind of reminded me of walking along the streets of a miniature city. The tall, closed-in nature of the space, definitely felt like walking among a few skyscrapers.

A walking path wraps around the entire perimeter of the upper terrace offering some amazing views of the French gardens and surrounding landscape.

The leaves of the trees were only just starting to change colors when we were there but I imagine that it’s quite a sight when the entire surrounding forest undergoes its fall color transformation.

Eventually we made our way back down the central staircase and into the gardens for a view of the back portion of the castle.

Chateau Chambord is the largest castle in the Loire Valley and according to some sources among the most famous in the world.

The castle has also belonged to many historical figures throughout its history (I know, what castle in France hasn’t?) and they have all left their mark on it while it was in their possession. Francois I, Gaston Duke of Orleans, Louis XIV and Stanislas Leszczynski are among the castles owners who have added to the chateaus original design over the centuries.

Chambord's unique architecture, which is part medieval and part modern Renaissance, is one of the reasons that makes it so spectacular and such a popular place to visit.

If you get a chance to visit the Loire Valley I would definitely recommend Chateau Chambord as a spot to see while you're there.

Chateau Chambord: France

The Interior

That’s it for now. Thanks for Reading

That’s it for now.
Thanks for Reading