We are at the end of our most-recent journey to France, a trip that has taken us throughout the Grand Est region of Alsace, to Paris, briefly into the Normandy region and finally in the Loire Valley, where we stayed for four nights in the village of Amboise.

Amboise sits on the Loire River about a 20 minute train ride from Tours, which is the largest city in the region. Pat opted for the smaller town, figuring that after a hectic couple weeks of travel it would be more relaxing, and that proved to be correct. We took two day trips, first to the chateaux covered in our previous post, and next for wine tasting in the Chinon region.

Wines in France are classified by region, not grape varietal, and Chinon wines happen to be ones that we like. The principal wines are reds made from the Cabernet franc grape. But growers also produce some chenin blanc and other white varietals.

We only visited two wine makers but there are many more in the area. The first, Lambert, was the most interesting. They have been farming organically for over 20 years, and while a small producer they make a wide variety of wines. We had tastes of about 10 of their wines. They spent a lot of time with us, which was nice because we were the only people on the tour.

But it felt like the old days in Napa, before it became a “destination” with highly scripted (and expensive) tastings. The second tasting was at Chateau de Miniere, which was a much larger operation and was more like what you find in Napa and Sonoma these days. Formal and scripted. The de Miniere wines were fine, but we liked Lambert’s products better.

In between we briefly strolled around the ancient streets of the village of Chinon and stopped for lunch at a cafe. It was a Saturday and the town was bustling with locals out enjoying the day. There is also a fortress/chateau on the heights above the village, but we didn’t have time to visit it.

For our final day and a half we largely just took it easy. We spent Sunday morning taking in the weekly market day, which was quite extensive. Pat found some interesting jewelry made from recycled computer parts. The artist turned out to be an American who started the process of moving to France in the 1990s, when the dollar was strong and property in France could still be purchased for relatively low cost. Wish I had had that foresight.

Later we had a glass of wine at a wine cellar and bistro that dates to 1463 and then lounged at the pool, which was welcome on a hot day. That evening we checked out an American-style brew pub called Art Is An Ale. Get it? Artisanale is the French equivalent of artisanal in English. The West Coast style IPA that I had was quite good, and while we were there we had a nice chat with a couple from Scotland.

Food was varied on this leg of the trip. We had two fine French meals, first at our hotel and later at a small bistro that was recommended to us by a couple of women from California who we met on our chateaux tour. They were visiting somebody who has been in the area for several weeks. Duck is ubiquitous in France, and my last tasting was quite tender. Fish has also been good.

But one night we once again just wanted a light bite, which turned out to be pizza for the third time on this trip. I know you wouldn’t associate pizza with France, but the reality is that it is everywhere in the world. Heck, we had it twice in Vietnam on a past trip. And the last one, here in Amboise, was the best of the ones we had. Very much like what we are used to in New Jersey. Who knew?

Now it is all over but the train back to Paris and the airport, and a flight home the following day. Overall, this has been a great trip.