Loches: Market & Dungeon

The weather continued to be dreary, cool and rainy. We decided to head towards Loches for the morning market and caught the tail end of it. Then we walked around the old medieval village begun by Foulques Nerra in the 10th century and famous for Joan of Arc’s visit where she encouraged Charles VII to head north and take the French crown. The views from the citadel were beautiful and we appreciated that there were some activities targeted to younger people to help them understand what life was like for those who once lived here. Another highlight were the dungeons (or keep as they refer to it), and underground passages where we could see names scratched into the walls by the prisoners of long ago. There was also the fascinating cell that was used to cage up Cardinal Balue, who betrayed Louis XI. This cage supposedly dangled from the ceiling in one of the chambers, similar to a bird cage but with Cardinal Balue inside – apparently the Smurfs weren’t the first to hang from the ceiling in a cage!

G lifting a cannonball & a proud older brother photo-bombing

Game to earn points playing with a medieval weapon set up

Boy in cage similar to the one that hung from the ceiling and housed Cardinal Balue

That evening Mom made a favorite family soup that was complete comfort food for this cold night as our family welcomed in the start of June! Afterwards Sally and Tony, the fun owners of our property, came over for dessert. We enjoyed hearing about their lives in London and their family connection to the area we were staying in that led them to purchase this beautiful property. In addition, it was a treat for Mom and Dad to have some other adults to converse with!