Langeais, A Lovely Sunday Excursion Exploring the Town , its Château and its Market
We planned our visit to Langeais around the outdoor market and the château, two of my favorite things to do in any country! Every Sunday Langeais has a wonderful market, part of which is under a covered pavilion and the rest sprawls over a huge parking lot.
The 15th century château viewed from the 10th century donjon.
Langeais – Two Château for the Price of One
Langeais gives you two châteaux for the price of one here in the Loire Valley. Behind the current château are the remains of an old fortress. This is the oldest donjon in France. The Comte d’Anjou, Foulques Nerra, built the donjon in 994. I love the view the current château from the windows of this old fortress. You just have to brave the climb up the reconstructed scaffolding. Plus, behind the fortress there is a nice path to follow if you want to explore more of the grounds of the château.
Nerra’s donjon from 994.
The scaffolding behind the donjon allows you to climb up and view the more recent château through the windows.
View from the scaffolding- magical, isn’t it!
The second château was built in 1465. Its tapestries and tile flooring are well worth the visit. The draw bridge is raised each day at opening and closing and we had planned to be there for this.
The infamous drawbridge
Sunday Market at Langeais
However, the market turned out to be much more extensive than we realized. We missed the opening of the drawbridge! So much to see and clearly not enough time planned for the market! Buying Christmas gifts for family and friends distracted us and we missed the opening time for the château and the raising of the drawbridge. It was a disappointment to miss the drawbridge in action as this is one of the last drawbridges to still be activated manually. However, we did come away with some very lovely gifts!
A sea of vendors surround the covered market hall with its lovely produce.
Tile Flooring and Tapestries
To me, the most striking feature of this particular château was the tile flooring. Each room boasted a different intricate and sometimes quite colorful tile floor.
Observe that the tile in the above room is a diagonal pattern but in the room below the pattern lines up with the walls. It’s not very aesthetically pleasing to have the bed squeezed into the corner by the fireplace but I’m guessing it was the best way to keep the occupants warm through the winter nights. Even in late October it was a bit chilly inside the château.
Virtually every room had either a door, a box and/or a cabinet embellished with strikingly ornate locks.
One of the many lovely pieces of hardware & door knockers at the Château de Langeais
Besides all the ornate locks, more than 30 tapestries decorate the rooms of the Château de Langeais.
The tapestries below are of the Nine Worthies, woven between 1525 and 1540. They are the “paragons of chivalry of all time, incarnating wisdom, prudence, courage, piety, virtue and love”. They were woven for the lord of the Château de Chauray. Using only five colors, the white silk threads yield a luminous appearance in the tapestries.
The Wedding of Duchess Anne of Brittany
In 1491, Duchess Anne of Brittany married Charles VIII, son of King Louis. The life-size figures here recreate the wedding party.
The Royal Wedding Party
The Banquet Hall where they feasted after the wedding, has secular tapestries and an intricately carved fireplace.
The Banquet Hall
I can only imagine that this is a throne for the Lord of the Château here in the dining room.
We followed the signs through the château and ended up on the parapet! The parapet walk around the château yields a wonderful view of the suspension bridge over the river. We could also see the market below us.
Out and About in Langeais
In the shadow of the Château is a wonderful patisserie called La Maison de Rabellais. We lunched on salads and then split this delightful pastry for dessert. I have no recollection as to the name but it was rich, enormous and filled with chocolate.
I don’t remember the name of the dessert but it was enormous and filled with chocolate!
After lunch we concluded our visit by exploring the town on foot and enjoying the views along the canal.
For a lovely video walking tour of Langeais, visit France with Véro on Youtube.
I’m not sure how I found your site but definitely find your posts interesting and informative. Your pictures are also excellent. We live on a barge in France and I also blog. You are showing me areas we need to explore beyond the waterways of France. Thank you.
I’m so happy to add ideas to your travel list! I’m headed over to your blog – what an adventure to live on a barge!!