Chateau de Chambord, France

After Saint Malo, we drove to our accommodation at Cangey in the Loire Valley. Loire Valley is the place to see all the chateau or French castles. There are over 300! The French sibeh rich hor.

The next morning we woke up early hoping we could catch the sunrise. And we did!

The location of this hotel is just unbelievable. It's literally in the middle of a green land! Every morning we hear birds chirping from our room's window. The air also 特别 fresh.

During spring/summer, these wall climbing plants will bloom! The entire wall will be covered with leaves/flowers!

The waiting area when you enter the hotel

Where we had our breakfast

So by then this would be our 4th French breakfast. And I think this hotel has got the best breakfast  out of our entire trip. Not that they have more food, but they serve excellent quality food and topped with excellent service. And the view is just spot on.

It was here where we had the BEST preserves ever. So concentrated with its fruit's flavour, and full of the fruit itself. I can never ever eat jams or other preserves again.

We've had croissants everyday before this for breakfast and this place has the BEST. So was their pain au chocolat (my favourite!) and baguettes. I usually never bother with baguettes but when I saw its crumbs I knew I had to try them. So fresh and moist!

Soft boiled eggs

I've always seen this in angmo magazines/recipes but never tried before. I mean I have made and eaten soft boiled eggs before but never eaten from an egg cup. These are boiled for about 5-6 minutes, then you fish it out and sit it on an egg cup. Slice off the tip of the egg shell, add some salt and pepper and spoon it out to eat it. The whites are hard boiled, and in the middle still soft and the yolk is runny. Tastes like soft boiled eggs only lor hahaha. But usually if we eat it without the cup  the yolk will go everywhere. 

The common lounge

Le Colonial Restaurant

Walkway to our room

Our room's called Coquelicot, which is the French name of red wild corn poppies. 

'Salle de Bains' which means bathroom in French

Outfit of the day? I had a coat on too (not shown) but this ensemble was a big mistake. HUGE.

The first castle we visited was Chateau de Chambord. This is the largest castle in the Loire Valley built by the first king of France, Francis I in the Renaissance period. 

Is the name super creative or what? Francis from France. LOL.

Anyway. You think he lived in there? Oh no. This was built purely as a hunting lodge. A freaking. castle. as a hunting lodge. Wtf. And this was incomplete. Yup, he wanted a bigger lodge. Because being the biggest castle of the region wasn't enough.

One of the chambers.

It was absolutely freezing inside the castle itself! Probably because it's all stones and it's so empty inside.

Remember my outfit? Yeah stockings and shorts nearly froze me to death. The only reason I dressed like that was because the weather forecast was sunny, and it was outside! Who knew it's like the Antarctic inside the castle... pfft.

See that lizard looking thing on the door (and also everywhere throughout the castle)? It's a salamander, an emblem of King Francis I.

This was what a royal heater looks like at the time.

The amount of detail is just insane

The chapel

Wk took a picture of me taking a picture of...

...this! 

Happy with my cuppa hot chocolate after a freezing day inside the castle :D The easiest way to tell when I'm cold is the tip of my nose, it goes red. I hate it :(

After that we drove to Amboise intending to search for restaurants for dinner. Along the Loire River we passed by a lot of other castles.

Being winter, lots of attractions usually close early. We chanced upon this one that didn't close until around 7pm. It's the Chateau du Clos Luce, where Leonardo da Vinci last lived and died. I cannot remember what the entrance fee cost but it was quite expensive. We were quite hesitant because it's expensive and what's inside wasn't going to be anything original apart from the building. We went in anyway thinking since we were there, why not.

At the basement where they exhibit some of his inventions.

To be honest, not impressed and overpriced. Architecturally, nothing to shout about. Probably because we've seen the real deal (Chambord) and this one pales in comparison. The park was so pathetic. I understand it's winter, everything's brown and grey. But to charge that much, I would expect some sort of maintenance at least? 

Thank you for cheating our money.

That night, we had no dinner :( I believe it was a Monday and in France, most restaurants especially in smaller towns and regional areas are closed on Sundays and Mondays. If anything's opened it'll probably be some dodgy pizza place or McDonald's. We ended up buying some sandwiches from Carrefour (supermarket) and ate in our room in the hotel.

By the way, does anyone know Carrefour's French?? Damn kampung la me, I should have known since the name is said in such a fancy way. Oh I used to pronounce it like CARE FOUR hahahah like  aunty only.

Night view of our hotel, with the wall-climbers it actually look like haunted house lol. I loooove the petite lamps though. 

Now let's talk about our hotel.


Hotel Le Fleuray
Fleuray - 32 Route D74
37530 Cangey, France
+33 (0)2 4756 0925
contact@lefleurayhotel.com

The setting of the entire place feels extremely homely, the kind of setting I like for a hotel over modern, cold finishes. It's just my preference. So it's no surprise I fell in love with this place the moment we arrived. 

I think we had one of the standard rooms on the first floor. The size is very reasonable for its price. Hospitality was amazing. The people were so professional and welcoming, and their fluent English just made it even better. 

This hotel also has its own restaurant but during our stay, unfortunately they were closed. We were informed prior about its closure and was given a few recommendation of nearby restaurant. Unfortunately, they were all closed too because it was Monday T_T Such a shame because it seems like the restaurant has pretty good reviews. Oh well.

That sums up this day. We check out the next day, visit another castle and then move on to the next region! Till then.