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As you float down the Loire and enter Anjou, fortified châteaux give way to chalky-white tufa cliffs concealing an astonishing subterranean world of wine cellars, mushroom farms and (literally) underground art. Up on the surface, black slate roofs pepper the vine-rich land, which produces some of the Loire’s best wines.
Angers, the historic capital of Anjou, is famous for its powerful dukes, the fortified hilltop château they left behind, and the stunning medieval Apocalypse Tapestry. Other architectural gems in Anjou include the medieval Abbaye Royale de Fontevraud, delightful riverside villages such as Candes-St-Martin, and some lovely châteaux. Europe’s highest concentration of troglodyte dwellings dots the banks of the Loire around cosmopolitan Saumur.
To take in the Anjou wine country by car, head northwest from Saumur along route D751 towards Gennes, or southeast on route D947 through Souzay-Champigny and Parnay. From Angers, cut southwest to Savennières.
These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Anjou.
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The highlight of this 12th-century abbey complex is the vast but movingly simple church, notable for its soaring pillars, Romanesque domes and polychrome gisants (funerary effigies) of four illustrious Plantagenets: Henry II, king of England (r 1154–89); his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine (who retired to Fontevraud following Henry’s death); their son Richard the Lionheart; and Richard's brother King John’s wife Isabelle of Angoulême. Signs are in English.
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One of the world's premier equestrian academies, the prestigious French National Riding School is home to the Cadre Noir, an elite group of riding instructors that's also an equestrian display team. Superb tours take you behind the scenes; kids will love to pat the horses in their spacious stalls – several stomp their feet insistently if you don't caress them! Commentary is in French, but written information is available in eight languages; call ahead for details on tours in English.
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Looming above the river, this forbidding medieval castle – seat of power of the once-mighty counts of Anjou – is ringed by moats, 2.5m-thick walls and 17 scarily massive round towers. The centrepiece is the stunning Tenture de l’Apocalypse (Apocalypse Tapestry), a 104m-long series of tapestries commissioned in 1375 to illustrate the story of the final battle between good and evil, as prophesied in the Bible's Book of Revelation.
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Owned by the Brissac family for 18 generations (since 1502), this seven-storey castle, the tallest in France, has 204 rooms, many of them sumptuously furnished with antique furniture, Flemish tapestries and twinkling crystal chandeliers. The serene 70-hectare gardens, which can be explored on five themed paths, have 19th-century stables, and vineyards boasting four AOC vintages (three rosés and one red). Guided tours are in French; a written text is available in six languages. Non-guided visits may be possible in July and August.
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Inspired by the Apocalypse Tapestry in the château, Jean Lurçat (1892–1966) began his epic tapestry masterpiece, Le Chant du Monde (Song of the World; 1957–61), just 12 years after the slaughter of WWII; scenes depict everything from the delights of Champagne to space exploration to nuclear holocaust. A quintessentially mid-20th-century meditation on the human condition, it is exuberant but contemplative, and only guardedly optimistic. The museum also exhibits a changing kaleidoscope of extraordinarily beautiful 20th-century and 21st-century tapestries.
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Brézé sits on top of a network of subterranean rooms and passages, 1.5km of them open to the public, that include a boulangerie, wine cellars, defensive bastions and a troglodyte dwelling dating from at least the time of the Norman invasions (11th century). Above ground, much of the U-shaped château dates from the 19th century, as do the many intricately painted neo-Gothic and neo-Renaissance interiors.
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One of the earliest examples of Angevin (Plantagenet) architecture in France, Gothic Cathédrale St-Maurice is distinguished by its striking Norman portal and nave (mid-1100s), 13th- to 15th-century stained glass, humongous organ and supremely baroque baldachin (1758) over the high altar. From the square in front, a monumental staircase, Montée St-Maurice, leads down to a new riverside esplanade (under construction at the time of research) and a gourmet covered market (set to open in 2020).
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Owned and lived in by the same Irish family and its descendants since 1749, this elegant Renaissance-style castle, built on medieval foundations, is notable for its 12,000-tome library, huge kitchens, domestics' dining room and Chambre Empire, an extravagant domed bedroom designed for Napoléon (he stuck around for just two hours). Situated 20km west-southwest of Angers.
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Angers' austere, mainly 12th- to 13th-century cathedral has a striking Norman porch and nave (mid-1100s); the latter's three convex vaults, forming a perfect square, are outstanding examples of mid-12th-century Angevin (Plantagenet) vaulting. Much of the stained glass dates from the early 13th to the mid-15th centuries. In the 18th century a humongous organ was erected inside the western façade, facing a supremely baroque baldachin (1758) over the high altar.