A Garden Setting for a Castle – Un jardin pour encadrer un château

On our previous visits to Loches, we missed this park! What a lovely background for the castle and perfect for a picnic on the bike route. Pendant nos visites antérieures à Loches, nous n’avons pas vu ce parc ! Quel bel écrin pour un château et parfait pour un pique-nique sur notre tour de vélo.

Château du Moulin

This delightful castle near Mur-en-Sologne was built at the turn of the 15th century for Philippe du Moulin. It combines the features of the feudal castle of the Middle Ages and the seigniorial abode of the Renaissance: moats, loopholes, machicolations and a keep with a footbridge (as opposed to a drawbridge) are enhanced with mullion windows …

Château des Marais – Muides sur Loire

While we were cycling in Germany and Poland, regular reader Kees Van Dijk from the Netherlands was visiting the Loire and he sent me this photo of Château des Marais at Muides-sur-Loire. I was surprised I had never heard of it until I consulted google. it’s part of the 5-star camping ground where Kees was …

Postcard #19 – Krakow

Unlike Warsaw and despite the terrible extermination of 200,000 Jews who were confined to a ghetto, Krakow remained relatively undamaged at the end of World War II, sparing most of the city’s historical and architectural legacy. Above is the Renaissance Cloth Hall in the main Market Square, and below, Wawel Castle, which we intend to …

Postcard #18 – Lancut Castle

Today we stopped off in Lancut on our way from Zamosc to Krakov and I fell in love with this extraordinary castle. It’s nothing special from the outside but the inside is amazing. My photographs do not do it justice. We have seen so many castles in the last 20 years that we’ve become a …

Postcard #15 – Lublin & Zamosc

This rather strange castle in Lublin in eastern Poland was built in the 16th century and rebuilt in the English neo-gothic style after a fire in the early 19th century. From 1820 to 1945 it was a prison. Its saving grace is a Byzantine chapel which dates back to the 15th century. Ce château un …

Postcard #14 – Malbork & Warsaw (Varsovie)

Two entirely different experiences today – Malbork, the largest mediaeval castle in Europe, covering 21 hectares and home to the Teutonic Order and a statue of Marie Curie in Warsaw where we are having a one-night stop. Deux expériences totalement différentes aujourd’hui : Malbork, le plus grand château médiéval en Europe, avec une surface de …