Tours Cathedral

Saturday
We are down in the Loire Valley for the weekend. We left home a little before 9am and arrived in Tours around 11.30. Our journey down was rather misty/overcast, but as we arrived in Tours, the sun was finally beginning to break through. We visited the cathedral first. Saint Gatineau Cathedral was built in stages, between 1170 and 1547. At the time construction began, it was located at the south end of the bridge over the River Loire on the road from Paris to the southwest of France. It's construction having been particularly drawn out, it presents a complex pattern of French religious architecture, for example the tower buttresses are Romanesque, the ornamentation is generally pure Gothic, and the tops of the towers are Renaissance (early 16th c.). We then walked into the old town for lunch. Whereas you would normally expect the "old town" to be the area around the cathedral, Tours developed in the Middle Ages with two juxtaposed and competing centers, the "City" in the east, successor of the former Roman settlement, while in the west, the "new city" centered around the Abbey of Saint Martin. We enjoyed lunch outside on the Place Plumereau, lined with half-timbered buildings, and the focal point of old town. After lunch, we went for a wander around the nearby narrow streets, and eventually found our way to the beautiful "new" Basilica of Saint Martin built between 1887 and 1924. By this time it was getting toward time to return to the car as our parking time was up. We are staying the night in an auberge in the small village of Chenonceaux, famous for its beautiful chateau.