Touring Saumur - 1 - with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Touring Saumur:  Visiting the Loire Valley’s Home of the  Cadre Noir Equestrian School with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

The château at Saumur is lovely.  There are two sparkling wine houses in town that do informative tours with wine tastings: Gratien et Meyer and Ackermann.

The world-famous Cadre Noir Equestrian School has its headquarters in Saumur and the Decorative Arts Museum at the château has an extensive collection of objects from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance.

But, Saumur was also a stronghold of Protestantism, so it is still somewhat downplayed as a tourism venue despite having nice hotels, recreational areas, and high-quality merchandise to buy.

The Protestants of Saumur vied with Louis XIII (1601 – 1643) for power.  Louis XIII had Saumur’s protective walls razed in retaliation in 1623.

The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 by Louis XIV (1638 – 1715) caused many French Protestants (Huguenots) to emigrate to England, Berlin, and even the southern United States (Charleston, South Carolina was the main port of entry.)

Today tourists visit Saumur for the Crémant de Loire tours and tastings as well as for the exhibitions of the Cadre Noir Equestrian School.

We did not have a lot of time to visit on this outing to Saumur.  We had to make a choice between the Calvary Museum, Armour Museum, and the Decorative Arts Museum.

We chose to visit the château first and climbed to the very top for a view of the sinuous Loire River, the gardens around the château, the forests, the off-white houses with slate roofs, and people going in and out of shops with packages of wine, charcuterie, bread, and pastries.

I thought of Honoré de Balzac’s heroine Eugénie Gramdet, who lived in Saumur, and imagined her stocking up her provincial townhouse with jams and jellies along with rillettes for winter while she saved money to send to her cousin in Paris.  In the end, I think both she and her cousin got a pretty good deal.

We visited the Decorative Arts Museum, which has a ton of great items, if you like dishes and dining room centerpieces.

As I walked through the museum, I thought to myself, “How much stuff does France have squirreled away in the provinces?”

Each little town in France seems to have its own collection of decorative arts in a townhouse museum or château it seems. 

Perhaps this is because decorative arts are easier to move than paintings and sculptures in times of war, domestic revolutions, rioting, and foreign occupations.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Eugenie Grandet: The Anjou (France) Touring Game Created by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Eugénie Grandet: The Anjou (France) Touring Game Created by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Introduction

I named this game Eugénie Grandet after Honoré de Balzac’s novella of the same name that is set in Saumur (Anjou, France). De Balzac wrote a series of 100 novellas set in the Loire Valley mostly called the Comédie Humaine.

Anjou is the French department region close to Chinon and Tours in the Loire Valley region that most tourists are familiar with for visiting.  Both Anjou and the Touraine are full of châteaux, wonderful food and wine, and great souvenirs.

Fontevraud –

The Royal Abbaye houses the tomb of Eleanor of Aquitaine.  Eleanor of Aquitaine was the queen of both France and England.

The Cloisters outside the tomb area are great spots for photos.

Saumur –

The château here is the home of France’s famous Cadre Noir equestrian school and museum.

The caves in the homes along the Loire River are called troglodyte homes.  Some can be rented for vacation stays from the local tourism office.

Cholet –

Cholet is a good spot to stop for a quick lunch at Paul Vienroisserie for sandwiches in an air-conditioned mall or heated mall depending on the season.  These malls usually have 20 -30 bathroom stalls to handle a busload of tourists.

Malls have places to let tourists off, fill up the gas tank, and park while tourists eat and buy souvenirs.

Cholet is known for its clothing and textiles.  Most malls have French baby stores with christening gowns, layettes for newborn babies, and silver spoons and dishes.  (The Chinese emperors used silver rather than gold dishes, because silver turns color when poison touches it.  I learned this in Beijing –China when I toured the Forbidden City with an inner-city youth study tour to that country in 1979.)

Angers –

The château houses the Apocalypse Tapestry that has been hidden and pieced together several times throughout history

Angevin Souvenirs

-Crémant de Saumur

Manufactured using the méthode champenoise.  Ackerman is the winery for this product that is similar to Asti Spumante from the Piedmont region in northern Italy where Barolo is produced.

-Côteaux de Layon

Sweet white wine that is good with cream and mushroom sauces on poached, freshwater fish like most of the sweet white wines from the Anjou regions. 

I would also drink some of the sweet whites from the Anjou region as a light cocktail before a meal.

-Quarts de Chaume

Very sweet white wine that resembles Sauternes from the Bordeaux region

--Bonnezeaux

Another sweet white wine from the Anjou region

-Savennières

A sweet white that can be used a pre-dinner cocktail, especially with blackcurrant liqueur as a not-so-fancy kir cocktail

-Cointreau Liqueur

Orange-based liqueur

-Combier Triple Sec

Combined sweet and bitter orange liqueur used in margaritas

-menthe pastille

peppery mint liqueur

Other Good Souvenirs

Lautellier Tesson Couture

Sur Measure Wedding Dresses by Dior and other French Designers

Artisan Boot Maker

Joel Albert

Other Tourist Attractions in Anjou

-Bioparc at Doué-la-Fontaine

This “zoo” has more than 700 species in it, including 40 species on the endangered species list.

-Parc Oriental de Moulévrier

This is the largest Japanese garden in Europe.

-Camifolía at Chémillé

This is a sort of botanic garden wit aromatic plants and herbs cultivated in Anjou.

-Balloon Rides

There are several places that offer balloon rides along the Loire River.  Check with local tourism offices for information.

Château Hotel Rental Agencies

These agencies rent in châteaux all over France and Europe.

-bienvenue-au-chateau.com

-relaischateaux.com

-chateauxhotels.com

-grandesetapes.fr

Recommended Reading

Honoré de Balzac’s Comédie Humaine.  There are more than 100 novellas in this series set in the Loire Valley, mostly between Saumur and Tours.  The novella Eugénie Grandet in this series uses Saumur as the backdrop for its story.

Film to Watch

Seven Days…Seven Nights starring French actress Jeanne Moreau.  Moreau is from Angers (France).  She won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress for this film.

The Chartreuse de Parme by French author Stendahl is a similar book about Italy, but there is an older aunt taking care of a younger nephew in this book instead of a cousin as in Eugenie Grandet.

Have fun planning a trip or trying something new to eat or drink.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

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