![]() ![]() It’s also another great area for gardens. Its riches include the attractive towns and château of Blois with its amazing sound and light show in the courtyard, the massive, impressive Chambord and charming Amboise where Leonardo da Vinci spent the last years of his life at Clos-Lucé. It was here that French history was made and Kings and Queen planned their campaigns and plotted their futures. The part between Sully-sur-Loire (Loiret) and Chalons-sur-Loire (Maine-et-Loire) is rightly a UNESCO World Heritage Site.įrom Orléans, the Loire goes southwest through the most famous part, the glorious valley where châteaux line the banks. ![]() It passes through some of the best-known Loire Valley wine regions, through Pouilly and Sancerre up to Orléans. It flows through Nevers and up through the less well-known eastern part of the Loire Valley, an area full of surprises and some wonderful gardens. The river starts modestly, flowing northwest, first through Le Puy-en-Velay which was one of the main pilgrimage routes in France in the rugged, remote Auvergne where it’s really very modest, before turning north. The Loire flows through a large part of France before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean. The source is 1,350 meters (4,430 ft) above sea level at the foot of the bleak Gerbier de Jonc. It rises in the Massif Central in the Ardèche department, high up in the Cevennes mountain ranges. The Loire is the longest river of France at 630 miles (1,013 km). ![]() If you add the parts of rivers that flow partly in France and partly outside, the list would run like this: The Rhine would lead the list, followed by the Loire, Meuse, Rhone, Seine, Garonne, Moselle, Marne, Dordogne, and the Lot. Please note: This list deals only with the French section where the river flows into the sea. There are hundreds of fleuves, but many of them are tiny, like the Arques which is just 5 km long and flows into the English Channel. The French have two types of rivers: une fleuve which flows into the sea, and une rivière which doesn’t. You’ll come across many you’ve never heard of as you drive through the French are very good at signposting their bridges at each river or brook you pass. Nearly all of the French départements (the administrative level between the local communes and the national regions) are named after one or two rivers that flow through them. France has beautiful rivers that flow through its cities and villages, giving us those unmistakable images of glorious water rippling under old bridges, and past riverside terraces and imposing châteaux. ![]()
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