Happy Sunday all! I am finally back to posting after a super busy week. Thanks to all of you for checking in on me to make sure all is well. I am super excited to share our trip recaps to France with you all. For two weeks, we are exploring the L’oire Valley (Castle & Wine Country!), the West Coast along Brittany / Saint- Malo (right on the ocean), Paris, Annency then to Valence for my work meetings.
Our first stopping point was this cute old town, Amboise. We stayed at the Hotel Bellevue which is right across from the L’oire River, Chateau de Royal Amboise and next to a bunch cute shops / restaurants. We picked it as our Central point to explore the L’oire Valley and it did not disappoint.
The view from our room of the castle….
Plus the road leading to the shops.
We had a 2 room suite that was cute / quaint even though you had 3 floors to climb to get to it.
The Chateau de Royal Amboise is less than a 5 minute walk from our hotel. It was a very nice day and sunny even though these crazy clouds passed through.
It costs $12.50 Euro per person and you get this fun interactive mini iPad to walk around as your map, guide and interactive tour guide.
The first stop on our castle walk was this little church.
Its tiny in comparison to the others we have seen but beautiful inside nonetheless.
There are about 8 stopping points for you to scan. Then, you move your iPad around the room to view a live reenactment clicking the little blue dots to read / learn more – fun!
The interior is beautifully decorated throughout the castle.
One of the best things about this castle is the views you get from each floor of Amboise and the L’oire River.
My favorite meal of the day was our dinner at Via Roma Pizzeria.
I absolutely love the fact you get this delicious bread with every meal even when your meal is bread (like pizza!)
We shared the bruschetta which came with a tasty simple salad.
And these very cool ‘pump’ olive oil and balsamic dips. This such an ingenious idea as you can spritz on however much you like covering everything.
Next, we shared the Caprese salad which was my favorite dish of the two.
Since I picked the two salads, The Husband picked the pizza. I think he was a bit shocked that the spicy salami came out so huge and the olives were whole.
I had 2 slices and actually I actually liked the franken meat. I also think whole olives should totally be on pizza now 🙂
We walked along the river trail after dinner to watch the sunset. The perfect end to a great first day.
I’ll catch ya’all later with my next recap of our visit to the Amboise Farmer’s Market and two more Chateaus that have fantastic stories.
Night all!
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