Château de Chenonceau and a weekend in Blois - Part One

I left Château de Chambord around 1:00 pm, 40' later I reached the other one, also very famous in this "Vallée  de la Loire" - Château de Chenonceau. When I first saw this architecture on the internet, it didn't blow my mind right away like the Chambord, but when I arrived and saw it my eyes...what I could say was just "Wow"!

              Château de Chenonceau - the famous eastern facade of the castle over the river Cher.

Not like the Chambord that we can see right from the entrance, here at the Chenonceau - you have to take a 10' walk along the beautiful road, surrounded by the tall trees on both sides. And when you see the château from its main entrance, you may find it a bit "humble" compared to the Chambord, until you turn left to the beautiful garden and witness another facade, the eastern, of the château, you will admire the beauty of this over-500-years old architecture.

                    The view from the main entrance - the Chenonceau didn't look that impressive...

                      and the road leading to the main entrance of Château de Chenonceau. 

              The famous eastern facade - the 2-floor hallway on the bridge, over river Cher at low tide.

Still famous with the nick-name "Le château des Dames" (i.e the castle of the Ladies) as this castle and its gardens have been developed, enhanced by several famous Ladies of the High Society since 16th century. That's why we have the Catherine's garden (created by Cathérine de Medicis) or Diane's garden (created by Diane de Poitiers). Diane de Poitiers was the one who built the famous bridge over the river Cher and then later Catherine de Medicis decided to built two-floor gallery on the bridge as you see in the above photo.

                          The Diane's garden with the water fountain in the centre.

                     and the view to Diane's garden from the pathway along the river Cher 

Diane de Poitiers was the the King Henri II's favourite Lady, she was renowned for her beauty, intelligence and sense of business. Henri II gave her the Chenonceau in 1547, and she created the garden that you see in the above photo and it was one of the most spectacular, modern at that time.

                   The Catherine's garden - on the west side of the Chenonceau. 

Catherine de Medicis - the Queen and the Henri II's widow. Henri II was killed in 1559, Diane de Poitiers returned the Chenonceau to the Queen in order to exchange for another château - Chaumont-sur-Loire. Catherine de Medicis made the gardens more magnificent and she was the one who raised the height of the 2-floor hallway for the glorious parties upon the bridge that has been built by Diane de Poitiers.

                  and here the hallway, 60 m long, 6m wide, 18 windows...

I much prefer the Chenonceau than the Chambord. No extremely immense park like in the Chambord, no spectacular facade or majestic rooftops, but Chenonceau seems, to me, more "exotic", especially when I was facing the eastern facade and walked along the hallway inside the château, decorated with the high windows open on both sides to the river Cher below, it made the hallway full of the light and cool thanks to the fresh breeze from the river Cher.

                        The view from the hallway in the eastern facade to the river Cher 

It wasn't crowded in the afternoon, but as I didn't have time to stay longer in this château, I was able to pass by some rooms, then went down to the kitchen for a quick look and I was in hurry to go out to the park outside.

                     Simple interior decoration in Diane de Poitiers' bedroom...  

                     Another room with the portraits 

                   The bread oven in the low floor - one corner of the kitchen for château's employees. 

                    one of the green alleys in Chenonceau...

                   and another one - still very green in early September - no sign of the Autumn yet. 

                The famous Italian Maze was created by the order of Catherine de Medicis 

                     The main road leading to the Chenonceau, the view from the Château. 

                         another alley along the canal, near to the exit. 

I didn't want to keep my companion - a funny and quite talkative driver waiting, so I hurried back to the car and we went back to Blois around 5:00 pm. My visit to these amazing châteaux was from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm, not enough for me to explore, as most of the time I spent for the photography but I was happy to feel that my plan was completed.
I will definitely come back to Blois whenever I have a chance as it's not far from Paris, 2 hours by train, so will see you soooooon - Blois and the famous châteaux in the Valley of Loire River. My next review will be the second part of this post - a very sportive weekend in Blois and the beautiful evening light show at Château de Blois.