Loire Valley Part 2: Rivau and Brézé

Our next stop was the castle of Rivau, which is much more like a typical castle of the Middle Ages.  It was built in the 13th century, and looked like a true castle...

... complete with a drawbridge!

The doorway beckoned us into the castle and up the spiral stone staircase.

Inside, we found several hunting trophies, including one of a dragon!

So they did exist!  And were hunted by knights!

Another beautiful rustic castle dining room.

Another room was filled with musical instruments from around the world!  We had fun going from instrument to instrument to try to make some nice sounding music.

Of course, my favorite was the gong.

And my husband quite enjoyed the drum.

Outside, the garden was filled with several items straight out of a fairy tale.

Shrinking juice

Bram saves Mom from the mouth of the dragon.

Make this picture larger to see Mom yelling for help!

Another labyrinth!  I truly did get turned around in this one!

From the lookout tower over the labyrinth.

The next castle we visited was Brézé. 

The moat was extraordinarily deep! 

The scary little bridge we crossed to get to the castle.

The neatest thing about the castle was an extensive underground tunnel system, used for protection and defense.  When the castle was attacked, people could hide in the tunnels, and place boards in a criss cross pattern through the tunnels, significantly slowing down their attackers.

The only problem was the roof began to fall as soon as we entered the tunnels!

Push!

Narrow passageways.

The largest underground bakery in France.  I guess there's a record for everything.

The underground wine storage.

NOT the largest in France.

The bridge again.  See how tall it is by noting the people standing near the bottom.

The pigeonry.  A pigeon for every hole, and a pigeon for every location messages were delivered to.  Reminds me of the owlery of Harry Potter.

 

While I was there, I was named queen.  I have very loyal subjects.