Do you ever get food anxiety before you head off to destinations unknown? Do you feel the need to arm yourself with a vending machine item that you would normally eschew but now gratefully punch buttons for? Heading off on the Rail Europe regional TER train we are seated in the first class compartment which is thankfully quite empty and I have two seats on which to stretch out. I’m armed with a waffle from the vending machine for the princely sum of €1 and we take the three hour journey to Tours.
For the entire trip I admit I was so tired that I slept soundly the entire way only to be awoken as we approached Tours. Amboise is actually just a couple of hours from Paris by train or car. The drive from Tours to the picturesque and pretty town of Amboise reminds me why discovering these little cities reminds me of picking a chocolate from a box. Every one is unique and worth every bite, every moment savoured.
The town is delightful to look at, multi faceted and also small enough to explore easily by foot. It holds many treasures inside it with châteaux, wine tastings, third generation chocolatiers as well as Chateau Royal d’Amboise which is where Leonardo Da Vinci was buried and the Chateau du Clos Luce where he spent his final three years. Not only that, another castle (yes there is no shortage of castles) has a Renaissance chef who specialises in making food from the Renaissance period (stay tuned for that!).
We arrive at our hotel for the evening, Le Pavilion des Lys, an elegant 18th century residence owned by chef Sébastien Bégouin. The salon or living room is welcoming but stylish and the seven rooms up the winding staircase are all individually decorated and I have myself a deluxe room. A Louis Vuitton chair with the canvas and trim from a genuine bag is edged by fur.
My room at the top right of the stairs (number 20) is decorated with a striking red and white theme. There is a king sized bed that looks temptingly comfortable and the room is very spacious. There are salted caramels and bonbons on the table and a large wardrobe to hang clothes.
The bathroom has a bath and a shower, a separate toilet and toiletries include shampoo 2 in 1, body gel and a divine smelling body lotion. I look at the bath longingly wishing that I had time to soak in it.
And I usually skip breakfast but I couldn’t possibly here. The breakfast spread is one of the most impressive and luscious that I’ve seen with hand picked goodies including the most luscious dessert figs and apricots proffered in enormous glass bowls the size of vases. The pastries and jams are all worth every calorie and you can also order hot food from the menu.
Even the cellar door in Amboise is not your usual one. At Caveau des Vignerons d’Amboise, a collective of 10 winemakers or vignerons take turns manning the cellar door with each taking one month of the year. The cellar door is located at the base of the Château d’Amboise There are wine tastings as well as cheese sales for the gorgeous Sainte-Maure goat’s cheese.
Sainte-Maure goat’s cheese
I love the romance and drama of a castle or and for the castle lover, the Loire Valley has 19 castles to visit in a castle trail. You can choose the castles that you want to visit based on different factors and one of the most popular for art lovers is the one that Leonardo Da Vinci lived in. Tickets to the museum range from €11-13.50 depending on high or low season and you can download a iPhone guide for the museum as there is no guide.
In 1515, at the age of 63, Leonardo Da Vinci moved to Amboise at the invitation of the French King Francis The 1st. He brought three key paintings with him: the Mona Lisa, St John the Baptist and the virgin Saint Anne. At Chateau Le Clos Lucé, he stayed with his entourage including his lover and lived out his final years there without any pressure to produce any works of art.
Chateau Le Clos Lucé was originally built by Etienne le Loup who originally worked as a kitchenaid in the king’s kitchen. The legend goes that King Francis I liked to be anonymous and when he went downstairs to the kitchen and asked the young marmiton or kitchenhand le Loup how much money he made. Le Loup answered “As much as the King.” When asked what he meant by this he explained that he earns what he spends. The king, liking that mysterious response made le Loup a counsellour and gave him money so that he could have his own château. It was then bought by the royal family in 1490.
When Da Vinci arrived he had paralysis in his right hand and worked slowly as was his custom. The bed in his bedroom still sits in its canopied dark velvet glory and to the left sits a copy of a painting of his last days where he lies in the bed in the arms of King Francis I, his long white hair trailing onto the pillow.
Downstairs in the gardens and the museum are many of his inventions brought to life. None of the machines from his sketches were built during his time and some include the multiple shooting machine gun, the tank which was designed and rendered in wood with several guns coming out from under the hood. The design for the tank actually had such a crucial flaw that they supposed that it was done on purpose in case the designs fell into the wrong hands.
There are interactive versions of his designs as well as large representations of the sketches. Which brings us to the Renaissance lunch where chef Sieur Sausin recreates food from the renaissance period after researching the subject in depth.
Chef Sieur Sausin
Renaissance food is interesting because it straddles the late middle ages and early modern and it was a time where spices were introduced to French cuisine. Spices were a costly addition to a meal and they explain to us why the upper class used to eat food with their pinkies extended. The pinkie was to taste the spices without contaminating them with saliva. It was a three year return trip by sea to India for the spices so they were very expensive.
Madame Sausin
Sieur’s wife, who serves us in period costume, also tells us that people used to share the same drinking vessel and that spoons were the only implement on the table. Two pronged forks were only to be used in the kitchen and not on the table as it reminded people too much of the devil’s pitchfork. This changed in 1550 when Catherine de Medici arrived from Italy where they were more evolved with the table customs and she brought the habit of eating with a fork and knife at the table. This also helped with the fashion at the time which was the stiff collar and the fork prevented the collar from getting dirty.
Meat was cooked for hours and usually pigs or animals were skewered and roasted whole from their beard to the tail. She tells us that the beard was called “barbe” and the tail “queue” and hence the term barbecue was created (although this is commonly disregarded as fact and more folklore).
We start with some wine and there are two to choose from: a white wine with sage, sugar and mint called “Vin de sauge” which is actually very pleasant. The red wine is a sweet mulled wine called hypocras which is sweet and drinkable-dangerous in other words! 
We start off with some Fleur de Lys puff pastry topped with cheese and herbs and baked. They’re crunchy and the fleur de lys is a lovely pattern.
Crayfish and avocado
The little shot glass is the first in a series of amuse bouches. This has a layer of lemony avocado and crayfish at the bottom. The crayfish layer with mustard seeds is delicious although I didn’t go for the moussey avocado layer which had a flavour that was hard to place (an enquiry yields just lemon as the other ingredient although few of us tasted more than this).
Our next two amuses are beetroot and bacon lardons cooked in their own fat. The beetroot is a sweet and earthy puree and the lardons add a nice saltiness to the beetroot. The other one is grilled vegetables topped with a white anchovy. The vegetables very well seasoned and the anchovy gives a punch of flavour.
The bread arrives and they explain that there was a ritual to pray before meals. Then people would signal the cross over the bread and it used to be shared with everyone breaking a bit of bread off. Interestingly, the words for sharing bread is “co” (with) and “pain” (bread) and copain means good friend. And she explains that in the absence of other ingredients, they used to use breadcrumbs and poppyseeds to thicken sauces.
Asparagus puff pastry
Travels to America brought back items such as pepper, corn, maize, tomato, potato, banana, pineapple and vanilla. Coffee came from Ethiopia and it took 50 years for it to become used in Paris after it landed in Marseille. Cocao was used as a powder cooking it with crayfish. The custom was also that men were served before women. Our entree has three spears of fat asparagus with a creamy foam on top and a green pea puree on the side. There was also saffron cooked asparagus spears in the puff pastry container which was crispy.
Pork filet mignon
The sweet pork with bay leaf butter is tender and juicy and the mushrooms are divine-so moreish I could have had a plate of these on my own! They were paired with a sweet garlic and zucchini frittata which was soft, moist and eggy.
Before dessert there is a cheese course with a brie and a Saint Maure goat’s cheese which I adore.
Chocolate cake
An unusual mix the centre is like a chocolate cake whereas the outside was like a chocolate biscuit. The strawberry sauce is generously poured but is very sweet and I didn’t really go for this dessert.
One last stop while we are in Amboise! I promised to also show you the chocolate shop didn’t I? Bigot (pronounced bee-go) is a beauty and three generations strong. With a dizzyingly delicious range of cakes, chocolate and ice creams, all made on the premises, it was established in 1913. Service is very friendly as it has been in all of Amboise as they are used to international tourists due to the Da Vinci museum’s popularity.
Puits d’amour on right
There are wonderful items like Puits d’amour which means “well of love.” It is a rum based custard tart and is one of their best sellers. There are also delicious items like the Bostock which is an almond cream filling, grilled and then served with coffee ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate sauce. Doesn’t that sound amazing like you want to dive headfirst into it and eat your way out?
Catherine Bigot
Next year they will have been open for a century and Catherine, the third generation of the Bigot family, shows me the photos and the original oven and paddles that her grandfather used. Originally, the shop was a third of a size and with each successive generation, the shop and space has expanded.
The original oven and paddles above
They have eight staff to make the chocolate, pastries and ice creams. And we can’t go without trying the Leonardo Da Vinci chocolates in both milk and dark. They are divine, with a rich gianduja filling and the dark outer and sweet inside is a particularly lovely combination. The enrobing is skillfully thin too.
It’s a very sad goodbye to one of my favourite stops on our regional France trip!
So tell me Dear Reader, if you could go back to any era in history, what would it be?
NQN travelled as a guest of Rail Europe.
Rail Europe
Rail Europe is the exclusive distributor of the France Rail Pass in the world. www.raileurope.com.au
Le Pavillon des Lys
9 Rue d’Orange 37400 Amboise, France
Tel: +33 02 47 30 01 01
www.pavillondeslys.com
Sieur Sausin and historical cuisine
L’Auberge du Prieuré: a gastronomic journey from the time of Leonardo de Vinci
Tel: +33 (0)2 47 57 55 78
Open June to September, every day except Wednesday for lunch: service from 12 noon to 4.00pm.
Bigot
2 Rue Nationale 37400 Amboise, France
Tel: +33 02 47 57 04 46
Bigot Amboise – Patisserie chocolaterie Bigot à AMBOISE
www.bigot-amboise.com
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36 Comments | Add your own
What a lovely trip, and definitely on my list of places to visit on our return to France. Such a nice connection to Leonardo Da Vinci.
I once organized a Conference at University for Medieval Studies and had to find a company to cater in that style. It turns out that the foods were heavily spiced not for taste but to hide the fact that some had spoiled. Gross. That would definitely not be the time I would want to go back to. Plus I like indoor plumbing too much.
I love all the history peppered through this, particularly the language history (even if it is a bit suspect in its veracity
)
Also, that bed is EPIC.
fabulous post, makes me want to travel there right now!
Went to Amboise in June. This brought back lovely memories. Great food, interesting locals and I learned soo much. Ah the fois gras in France !!
Lorraine, I now know what to do with my old LV bags. Chocolates, pastry, beautiful hotels, just my cup of tea this morning. Roz
I wouldn’t go back at all. It all looks romantic, but few people had teeth past the age of 25, the medical attention was dreadful at best and people usually didn’t bathe very often and must have smelled horrible.
Wow, what beautiful photos. Unfortunately I can’t read the text as it is white over background photos and near impossible to see…or is it just me.?
What a lovely place. I’d go back to the Swinging Sixties in London and see The Beatles live.
Wow I never knew that forks were not allowed on the table because they reminded people of the devil’s pitchforks
Very interesting!
As usual your photos are lovely Lorraine and gosh I wish I was in France right now
sighhh I think its that time of the year we all need a break!
And if I could go back in time I would love to go back to the Victorian times in England. I have always been fascinated by that time
and have read way too many books hehe
Oh this post brings back memories of my trip to France last year as we stayed in Amboise for 2 days on our Chateau cycle tour. The locals were very friendly and the food and wine was great.
The Renaissance lunch is definitely something different…what a great experience
Wow that was a lot of strawberry sauce for that little chocolate cake!
I think I’m a 50s housewife at heart. I love doing things the ‘proper’ way with special dinner parties and going all out like they used to!
OH NQN!This is my most favourite place in France! We stayed in Amboise for a week 2 years ago and I have recommended it to all my friends since! We absolutely loved it! We hired bikes and rode to a lot of the nearby Chateau’s, Chenonceau which is built over the river is the most stunning, I really hope you got to see it!? Villandry was our other favourite….My husband still lusts after everything at Bigot. The hot chocolate & orange drink with whipped cream on top……okay, I have to stop now, I’m going go to cry!
Hi EJM! It was one of my favourite places on the whole tour. Such a magically beautiful place but one that I’m embarrassed to say that I knew little about before I visited. It’s like it is sprinkled in fairy dust isn’t it?
I think I’m glad I live in the present – I like my mod cons way too much and I couldn’t live without my internet and phone!
Jason and I are sitting in the departure lounge for Europe as I read this lorraine. What a fitting post and what a fantastic looking trip!
I think here the vending machines would have tacos.
OK, I declare total trip envy with that get-away. OMG, lucky you to get to visit the food- and wine-centric Loire Valley. If you go back, I gladly volunteer to carry your luggage for you.
Oh wow! Next to Provence this is my favourite area of France!! Surely did not expect to get what amounts to a uni lecture this morning: what a delight
! Shall keep and file! I have been to many of the major castles and partaken of much of the wonderful gastronomy and wonderful wines of the area, but somehow have missed the da Vinci connection. That Renaissance meal is most interesting and will be further perused! What period in history: actually not so far past – end of 19th – beginning of the 20th, living possibly in Paris or the Cote d’Azur hinterland – what an elegant era, already with an air of modernity . . .
Oh, man, Lorraine. What a gorgeous little french village. Those puits d’amour look luscious.
Oh I would love to do a rail tour of Europe! Especially France, I started doing one as a teenager and then ran out of time :0!!
I think I am happy living in this era
Lucky girl, Lorraine. What a wonderful and elegant place to visit. Glad you allowed us to travel with you. Ciao, Carina
What a stunning place, full of so many interesting things to see. I love the Louis Vuitton chair, must have been difficult to sit there! Fascinating fact about the little pinkie!
Well, for once I can say, been there, done that. I spent a week in Loire Valley in 2010, can’t wait to get back to regional France. Love it!
Wow! We are doing a Europe trip next year and I’d love to make a stop to visit out here- I’ll bookmark it for future reference. You’ll have to tell me all the great places to eat since we are spending a week in Paris after our tour! Ps. How do you remember all this finer details? Notepad? Walk with your laptop?
Rum based custard tart. Well, no wonder they are called wells of love. I can happily drown in one of those.
What an absolute delight! Apart from the tourist attractions and history – my goodness – the food!!
The breakfast looks like a place I’d sit untill mid morning just tasting bits…
Your tasty tidbits of knowledge (whether true or myth) are lovely to read and know. I love those little bits of info!
I love to see and hear of the sweeties that you see, but I’m not much of a sweet tooth at this point, so I just nod my head and smile at the thought of them. However, your desert of chocolate cake that was like cake in the middle and biscuit on the outside piqued my interest. Aside from the overly sweet sauce – any ideas on the makeup of the cake??
Yours is the only blog that I read every time, you just have the right tastes and combos for me. Keep it up sister!!
What a trip, fantastic! I don’t get food anxiety, I get a airplane travel anxiety: that keeps me from eating in general. I enjoy living in present era, but wouldn’t mind picking into 19th century…
How beautiful, I think I need to add Amboise to my travel list!
I had a short stay in Amboise in 1963 on my way from Paris to Cassis while hitchhiking throu Europe. Lovely little place
Hi Eva-Yes I had no idea about that connection before I visited but it made it very special
Oh dear! That’s ghastly! 
Serving spoiled food sounds horrible!
Hi Hannah-Yes it makes for interesting storytelling isn’t it! When I checked it when I got back, there was a lot of controversy re the bbq but they spoke it
as if it were definite
Hi marion-Thank you so much Marion!
Hi Judy-Ahh that’s fantastic! WaSn’t it gorgeous there? I did too
Hi Roz -Haha indeed! Who knew to make a chair of one?
Thank you so much!
Hi Debra-Well if you are sick anywhere then it isn’t a pleasant experience but I can’t say that I experienced any of what you did. The people were charming
as was the city!
Hi Bec-Oh that’s strange, that shouldn’t be the way at all? Are all of the stories like that?
Hi Cakelaw -Oh that’s a great idea!
HI Daisy-I know, isn’t that funny?
Thank you so much! I’d love to go back there too 
I like your choice too!
HI Angela-Oh how fabulous! And I bet Mr NQN wants to go for the cycle tour
I know, I was excited about that!
Hi Claire_
I know! Aww you’re so cute! 
Hi Bronnie-hehe you know I just realised that we wouldn’t have the internet!
Eeek!
Hi Lucy-Have a fabulous time in Europe! Are you going to France?
Hi Blond Duck -Haha really?
Hi Carolyn-I am very fortunate yes
Haha thanks! 
Hi Eha-Yes I loved learning more about the Renaissance! I knew you’d have a great pick!
Hi Sarah-I know, I wish I could have gobbled one up then and there!
Hi Julie-That must have been a great experience though!
Hehe yes there’s internet (which I’d miss dearly)! 
Hi Carina-Thank you so much!
Hi Matthew-I know, I loved it too!
I perched on it-I couldn’t resist! 
I know! I always wondered where that came from!
Hi Christine-How fabulous! To have a week there would have been heaven!
Hi Bek-Oh you should, it’s gorgeous
I keep notes but my photos also remind me of things! Definitely do a Meet The French tour, they’re fantastic!
Hi poorna-Indeed! I’m drooling right now thinking about them!
Hi Lorelle-Yes I wish I had longer there!
It was really quite an unusual cake and I’m not sure how he did it to be honest! Aww thank you so much for your
very sweet comment, thanks lovely!
Hi Marina-Oh you poor thing! That must be hard!
Yes I think dropping into other eras would be nice but staying perhaps not 
Hi Laura-What a good idea!
It was one of my favourites!
Hi Ulrich-Ahh has it changed very much Ulrich?
What amazingly beautiful places you travel to Lorraine, this is absolutely gorgeous – the beauty, the history, the food – it has it all. I have a number of books, both recipe books and memoirs on this exquisite part of France, re-reading them often and one day would love to visit as well. You must have the best job in the world definitely!!!
I love historical dinners, and researching why we eat the way we do. Sounds like the meal was great fun- even if there were a few iffy items
That chair is just totally amazing too, I’d love one for my bedroom please!
Ohhhh…I had a flashback, my mind turned back to the Loire Valley, long, long time ago. Now I’m thinking, how long? I mean, just years or I remembered my other life???
Charm, luxury, fascinating history, glorious food–this has it all. so many times to choose from, but maybe late Medieval…
Oh my goodness – these photos Lorraine! I’ve never visited this area of France, now I must!
The place exotic, the food delicious, and the photographs, as usual, outstanding. Missed your posts Lorriane
Wish you a Very Happy New Year!!!!
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