Loches: where were we? We promised to return after our first Tour de France in the spring of 2023, and for this second trip, organized in collaboration with Explore France, we included a stop in the Cité Royale, intending to visit it thoroughly. Back then, we had been guests of Countess Guy de Mareüil and her son Jeff at Château Monastère de la Corroirie. And it was thanks to a dinner booked in the village at the recommendation of the owners of the castle-monastery converted into a charming hotel that we discovered Loches.
In the heart of South Touraine
This time, our base was the Hotel Restaurant Le George, overlooking the Indre River and housed in a former 19th-century post house. We had fallen in love with this hotel which takes its name from the French writer known by the pseudonym of George Sand and we had already decided that if we returned to Loches it would be our choice.
What we couldn’t have known was that it was here that we met our host, Olivier Chable, Head of Communications and Press Relations at the Tourist Office, who guided us through the town, declared a “Ville d’Art et d’Histoire” and “Plus Beau Détour de France” and its surroundings in the magnificent moors of the Indre-et-Loire department, the former royal province of Touraine. This area, despite its past glories, is still rarely explored by the classic Loire Valley tour, despite Loches being one of the very few medieval French towns to still boast much of its original imposing walls, a true gem of military architecture that encompasses 500 years of history.
The sumptuous dinner, good wine, and Olivier’s excellent Italian allowed us to spend a wonderful evening in the cozy dining room of Le George restaurant, with its windows overlooking the river.
In the morning, after a hearty breakfast, we climbed those walls to reach the majestic Porte Royale, the entrance to the Royal City. After dropping Otto off at the hotel—only the park is accessible to large dogs, not the interior—we met our guide Cécile, who led us through the centuries-old history of this city, a city frequented by important historical figures over the centuries.
The atmosphere immediately captivates and immerses you in the Middle Ages. The village, completely enclosed by an intact two-kilometer-long wall, was built by Count Fulk III of Anjou, known as Nerra or the Black, who lived between 970 and 1040. It was he who designed the soaring 37-meter-high Donjon in the 11th century, one of the best-preserved in Europe, flanked by two other towers built later. A visit to this tower, composed of multiple overlapping sections, can be supported by the HistoPad, a tablet that allows for in-depth augmented reality experiences and animations that further immerse visitors in the atmosphere of the place and time.
In its basement, where the prison and torture chamber are located, the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, known as “il Moro”, was held captive for four years until his death in 1508 by the French armies of Louis XII during the Italian Wars. His cell still tells of his time there through frescoes and inscriptions he engraved there during his imprisonment.
The Logis du Roi, the royal palace, despite lacking its original furnishings, as castles at the time were primarily military outposts housing lords during their travels, welcomed four kings of France: Charles VII, Louis XI, Charles VIII and Louis XII. It also hosted Queen Anne of Brittany and Agnès Sorel, King Charles VII’s favorite mistress, to whom she bore four children.
Her magnificent tomb is located within the splendid Collegiate Church of Saint-Ursus, characterized by a superb portal carved in polychrome stone and two towers with eight-sided pyramidal domes.
The castle also houses the Oratory of Anne of Brittany, an intimate chapel whose walls are carved with symbols dear to her, including ermines and cordeliers, and the terrace from which the queen often looked out, overlooking the city and the vast state-owned forest of Loches.
Lunch at La Belle Epoque, with Olivier and our Otto, separated the two parts of our visit to Loches, between the Cité Royale and Ville-Basse. Here, following Olivier’s advice, we sampled a typical and delicious dish of kidney, veal sweetbreads, and mushrooms bathed in a rich cream and white wine sauce called Beuchelle à la Tourangelle.
And while the Logis Royal and the Donjon were the stars of our morning visit, in the afternoon we appreciated the Renaissance-style lower town, dominated by the Tower of Saint-Antoine, which doubled as a bell tower and a watchtower. Of the walls that once surrounded this part of the town, only the Corfeliers and Picois gates remain.
Other gems of lower Loches include the noble palaces of the Chancellery and the Centaur, with stunning bas-relief sculptures on their facades, and the two paintings by Caravaggio housed in the Galerie Saint-Antoine. The two canvases attributed to the painter, “The Last Supper at Emmaus” and “The Incredulity of Saint Thomas,” were purchased directly and under a formal contract by Philippe de Béthune, a great patron and art collector.
The evening enveloped us in a humid, heavy atmosphere that gave us the feeling of traveling back in time, so much so that we almost thought we might encounter one of the famous figures who passed through Loches. Like Richelieu, who is said to have stayed at Château Monastère de la Corroirie when he visited to meet his Carthusian monk brother and escape the turbulence of Paris. Or the slender figure of the Maid of Orleans, whose plaque commemorates her stop at the Cité Royale during her journey between Vaucouleurs and Chinon in May 1429 to meet Charles VII and convince him to be crowned in Reims. Dinner at Le P’tit Restau brought us back to reality, and Marie‘s delicious dishes and Matthieu’s warm service reconciled us with the world.
The next day blessed us with wonderful spring sunshine, and we followed Olivier’s advice to wander among the colorful stalls brimming with delicious treats at the market held in Loches every Wednesday and Saturday morning, one of the largest in Touraine.
And then, before saying goodbye to this village that has now become one of our favorite places, we strolled through the greenery of the Jardin Public, among centuries-old trees, flowerbeds, water features, and the charming bandstand, admiring the exceptional panoramic view of the Cité Royale.
In collaboration with Explore France, Loches Val de Loire
