It's Sunday morning and there is a market in town... well, in a town nearby anyway.

We wake at the lovely Le Gaimont and once again pinch ourselves to be here in this beautiful setting. Breakfast, as we are becoming accustomed, is again a delight and so delicious. After breakfast, we set out in our rental car through the town of Vouvray and across the river to the nearby city of Amboise. 

Here we find loads of traffic and people filing into and out of the city. Amboise lies on the river with an imposing castle sitting alongside the bank. We wait in the line of cars to cross the bridge and turn down the street that runs the length of the river. Here is where the market is located. Luckily we manage to find a parking place in one of the lots that line the street. It takes some patience to wait for traffic to creep along but once we turn into one of the bigger lots down the street a bit, we find a place to leave our car. 

The market is just up the embankment and is teeming with people. We walked around for a bit and admired so many yummy looking products including all sorts of vegetables and other food stuffs. There really are so many people here that after just a little bit it all becomes a little overwhelming with all the looking and dodging people here & there. So after our fill of the market, we head out across the street into the town of Amboise. 

The Chateau Royal d'Amboise sits up on a height overlooking the river and town. The town here is charming and filled with restaurants and shops. This is the heart of the Loire Valley. Here within the castle walls lies Leonardo da Vinci's grave. He died here in France after living here as the King's guest for the last several years of his life. This friendship with the King of France explains why the Mona Lisa lives in the Louvre Museum in France. Da Vinci brought the painting with him when he moved to France. 

We walked past the Chateau on our way to the Clos Luce. This mansion and grounds is located a short walk up this little charming road deeper into the town of Amboise. Here is where Leonardo da Vinci lived and worked during the final years of his life. It's said that he died here but this is not proven. This year of 2019 marks the 500 year anniversary of Da Vinci's life so at this point I suppose it's not quite all that important the exact location of his death. His life and his work are a legacy and inspiring really. On display here at Clos Luce is the mansion with furnishings and displays as well as models of his inventions interspersed throughout the massive and beautiful garden grounds. This visit was a highlight!

Having done with Clos Luce, we are a bit hungry so we wander back down towards the Chateau in town where we spotted a creperie where we want to eat ... being mid-day, there is a bit of a wait for a table so we do a bit of shopping before our table is ready. This town of Amboise has a number of cute shops and stores to poke around it... our lunch at the Creperie is delicious. We are super happy with Amboise! 

On our wander back to the car, we wander past beautiful buildings and of course more shopping! Our next stop for the afternoon is about a 30 minute drive across the countryside to a very old, family-owned distillery. Here the old building sits on the road and is built into the wall of the hill to make caves. Distillerie Giradot makes all sorts of fruit liqueurs which we are keen to taste. The current master distiller is 4th generation and is one of a handful of people who run this distillery. We first have a tasting of three liqueurs each. All are fruity and some are quite strong! Our favorites include the famous strawberry one as well as some of the blended ones. We take a tour of the distillery and see all the very old and musty caves where the liqueur is made. 

After our stop at the distillery, it's about a 5 minute drive back down the road to the Chateau de Chenonceau. This is a very popular castle of the Loire Valley. Having arrived late in the afternoon, the crowds are thinning and bonus, the light is low in the sky too. This Chateau is a famous home of both Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de Medici, the later being the Queen of France and kicking out Diane who was only the mistress of the King. She got booted when the King died before Catherine de Medici. This Chateau was amazing and so beautiful. 

On our way back to our home at Le Gaimont, we stopped off at the pizzeria in our little town of Vouvray. We enjoyed a delicious Italian meal. My pizza had burrata cheese sitting in the middle. So yummy! I could not eat but only some of it so I took most of my pizza back with me in a box. Good thing. When we arrived back at Le Gaimont, Mathieu, teased us for being so late returning and worrying him so much, but he was also very hungry so he ate the rest of my pizza! All while we lounged around the pool and enjoyed the setting sun over the amazing estate of Le Gaimont. 

We really, very seriously never want to leave !