Château de Blois

The last morning of our excursion, we packed up the bus and headed off to the small city of Blois. We took a rapid tour of the château there, one which brought together eras, characters and stories from the whole trip.

The first section of the château de Blois was built by king Louis XII. Then François I added on another wing, and a beautiful spiral staircase just like at Chambord (the one on the courtyard, not the da Vinci one). The staircase is also covered with carved salamanders. Gaston d'Orléans was the brother of king Louis XIII and added the third and final wing to the castle. But poor Gaston was in exile in Blois, so he didn't have much money to decorate his wing, so it's rather simple inside.

(Also not my photo, but a really good way to see the full lay-out of the three wings of the castle built around the courtyard. From right to left (oldest to newest): Louis XII's medieval wing, François I's Renaissance wing, and Gaston d'Orléans' classical wing.)

The façade of the castle when approaching from town

Great gargoyles on François I's staircase

This elaborately decorated room was the site of our last history tales from Vincent. It was here that king Henri III (son of Henri II & Catherine de Medicis) held his Estates-General meetings. In the chambers above the great hall, Henri III arranged to have his nemesis, the Duke de Guise, assassinated. The plot (one worthy of his mother) worked, but unfortunate Henri III was killed less than a year later by a fanatical monk. 

The tiled floors in the great hall were also elaborate and beautiful, though probably not original, considering what the floors looked like at Chenonceau!