More castles and an amazing dinner

For the last day at Fontevraud, there were more castles, a proper tour of the Abbaye and an amazing dinner. First castle is Montsoreau which is really only about five kilometers away. It is set on the water where the Vienne meet the Loire at the intersection of the regions of Anjou, Poitou and Touraine. It is the only castle build inside the Loire riverbed. Pretty strategic and sure enough a castle that dates from the time of the early dukes of Anjou and is first mentioned in 1089 although the current castle dates from the year 1450. It was built in a specific architecture - between a fortress and a palace. The castle was immortalized in the Alexandre Dumas novel La Dame de Monsoreau. The castle today hosts modern art exhibits so you go through looking at the ancient architecture and seeing rooms full of modern art including an exhibit on Art & Language that is considered the largest in the world. Most of the art was not impressive but there was a room that showed where Rodin and Turner had drawn and painted the castle. I climbed up to the top roof terrace to see the views, something for which I want credit as the weather was less than ideal and I am terrified of heights.

Finishing there it made sense to go to another castle so we chose Montreil-Bellay. This castle was started by Henry II's great grandfather. Henry's father Geoffrey of Anjou was threatened with excommunication after capturing the head of the castle and refusing to release him. The castle has Queen Margot's (from the Dumas novel)wedding chest and some beautiful chandeliers. It was a hospital in WWI and the chandeliers were covered with sheets and miraculously survived the war. The tour was in French but the tour guide had books in English and Dutch for those of us who needed the help with the details. This castle is still a family home so pictures inside were limited but I took a lot in the gardens, outside and in the wine cellar.

Driving back to Fontevraud on some back roads you could see the size of the place from the distance. Truly an entire community. When we got back to Fontevraud where there was some sort of high end car show in the parking lot. Majorly annoying because we just wanted a place to park and dodging between the Porches and Lamborghini's to make sure we avoided them with the Audi was not fun. Then we went on the audio tour of the Abbey. We had already found everything they showed but in some cases, they provided more details pointing out where the Abbess would have stood to great honored visitors and providing more detail on the time Fontevraud was a prison including the time during WWII. It was interesting to listen to the audio tour talk about the kitchens which were huge to feed to entire community. I also tried 'drawing' on the walls of the church - the triangle columns are my work. I had best stick to photography.

Now it is time to get ready for dinner at the famous restaurant here.
Dinner was experience, and yes, I took pictures. I ate most everything except the pigeon heart and liver wrapped in veggies. First course was tomato soup with dried bread and veal carpaccio. It was amazing but I did not take pictures. Followed by a wild mushroom dish of cooked and raw mushrooms with a clear edible top covered with spices.

Next course was mackerel with a variety of sauces, followed by a strawberry sorbet to cleanse the pallet before the pigeon main course.

The pigeon breast was very tasty-like dark meat chicken but as I mentioned, while I gobbled up the carrots, I left the veggie wrapped innards. The server giggled when I told her I was not going to eat it. I am glad she told me the details because the green wrapping looked lovely and quite edible.

Then cheese, rose mousse, and a lemon olive desert. Don't ask how those last flavors can go together but they do.

Finally there was this amazing natural digestive, Rosemary, lemon thyme, sage, pepper, cinnamon. It was yummy and I wish I knew how to make it at home because I was convinced eating all that good food would haunt me the next day but after the green drink, I felt fine.
So while the dinner was much more than likely served to even the honored guests like Eleanor, it was a lovely way to end the stay at Fontevraud. Tomorrow onto Angers.