On any hiking holiday in the Loire Valley, you will, sooner or later, pass through one of the two largest towns in the area, Angers and Tours. You may also find yourself having a couple of hours to kill.
Today, we will give you suggestions of how to do this.
Easy Hikes on River Promenades in Tours and Angers
The river that flows through the heart of Angers is not the Loire itself but the Maine, one of its many tributaries.
But this is not the main reason why the large castle in Angers is not generally considered as a Chateau de la Loire (some of those most famous Chateaux are equally located on tributaries or simply inland, facing no river at all).
It is not included in the list because its face does not fit: it is, quite clearly, a medieval fortress, not a Renaissance pleasure palace.
The castle of Angers as you see it today – 650 metres of 3-m-thick walls and 17 massive towers – was built in the early 1200s. Its high point in history actually precedes that period.
The fortress, the very heart of the Plantagenet Empire, was the place from where King Henry II (Peter O’Toole in the multi-Oscar-winning The Lion in Winter) ruled England, and where his two sons Richard the Lionheart and John grew up (Good King and Bad King respectively in every Robin Hood movie that was ever made).
Throughout the later Middle Ages, the hilltop castle was gradually surrounded by an entire district of churches, clerical buildings and timber-framed residences.
This district still has the atmosphere of a village and a sleepy one at that, an oasis of calm in what is otherwise a busy town.
Once you have explored the network of medieval lanes and enjoyed the views across town from the panoramic platform …,
… you should descend the long stairway behind the Cathedral …
… and, at street level, turn left into the Promenade Jean Turc.
This short footpath, wedged between the river and the castle, provides you with some delightful sights …
… as well as the opportunity to admire the castle from a different perspective.
As big and bulky the castle may look when you face it “on eye level” standing on the hill itself, it looks even more intimidating from below.
The city of Tours about 50 kilometres upstream of the Loire has two historical centres rather than one: a “modern” one around the 16th century Place Plumereau, some time ago voted the Most Beautiful Town Square in France …
… and an even older (and more sedate) one around the St Gatien Cathedral, where the archbishops of Tours have resided for over 1000 years.
The most storied site in town, however, is located somewhere in between those two. The 19th century church that today marks the end of the Rue des Halles, one of modern Tours’s main shopping streets, …
… marks the spot where the Basilica of Saint Martin once stood, one of medieval Christianity’s main pilgrimage churches, built over the tomb of the saint.
The old church was destroyed in the religious wars of the 16th century and eventually torn down in 1796, with the exception of two towers, the Tour Charlemagne …
… and the Tour de l’Horloge.
It will actually take you a couple of minutes walking down the Rue des Halles from one tower to the other. That’s how large the old church once was!
Today, most visitors come to Tours not as pilgrims but because the city is the perfectly located gateway to a trip of the Loire. They will catch their first sight of the river here, and it is therefore a bit unfortunate that Tours does not provide many options for a scenic promenade.
You get your best chance for a good first impression of the river on a stretch just underneath the Cathedral.
It is tempting to search for more scenic views on the far side of the Passerelle Saint Symphorien footbridge, …
… but the Ile Aucard is a bit of a disappointment during these river promenades in Tours and Angers. It looks promising enough from a distance, …
… but the land on either side of the road that cuts through the island is private, and there are no publicly accessible footpaths. Which is why, if you fancy a walk on a river island, you should head a bit further downstream for the Ile Simon.
Something else that Tours significantly fails to provide is a proper Chateau de la Loire. There is a building called the Chateau de Tours, but – just like Plantagenet HQ at Angers – it is generally not counted as a member of the club, because this Carolingian fortress, with its bulky 11th century frame, does not meet membership specifications.
It is a strange fact that neither of the two largest cities in the Valley can offer its visitors a castle that qualifies for the Premier League of the Chateaux de la Loire.
Roughly half of these castles, however, are located along the river path between the two towns, and nearly all of the remaining ones can be reached on an easy day-trip from Tours upstream in the direction of Blois.
There is a reason, after all, why Tours is considered the main hub for explorations of the Loire Valley.
