Читать книгу The Loire Cycle Route. From the source in the Massif Central to the Atlantic coast онлайн

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Château de Chaumont was the home of King Henri II’s mistress (Stage 18)

In addition to secular buildings, the Loire Valley holds a strong religious presence. Le Puy-en-Velay, with a church and iron Madonna each perched on top of volcanic spires and a great basalt cathedral, is the start point of Europe’s most popular pilgrimage to Santiago in Spain. Tours has both a great cathedral that took so long to build it is in three different styles (Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance) and a basilica built to house the tomb of French patron saint, St Martin, a Roman soldier who became an early bishop of Tours. Other French saints encountered include St Benedict (founder of the Benedictine order), buried at Fleury Abbey in St Benoît, and Ste Bernadette of Lourdes whose preserved body is on display in Nevers. Ste Jeanne d’Arc, a French national heroine who lifted the siege of Orléans and turned the tide of the Hundred Years’ War in favour of France, is widely commemorated particularly in Orléans itself. By contrast, the little village of Germigny-des-Prés has a church from the time of Charlemagne (AD806) that claims to be the oldest in France.