Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Day 11: Wed 11 Sep – Tours

Ride/walk: 10km
Fine and mainly sunny 11 to 23 deg; a very pleasant day all round.

Today we explored another new city, Tours. It must have been their market day as there were all sorts of them at different venues around the city. And then there were the permanent ones inside "Le Halles" which made us drool quite a lot, with every type of gastronomical fair imaginable. We couldn’t go past the bread shop and ended up with a small loaf each, one of fig and the other olives, which we split in half and shared. As we walked, we nibbled, so simple but very nice. The “leftovers” were used with a banana for lunch.

The 10th century Saint Gatianus Cathedral is one of the best I’ve seen, the size is staggering, and the lead lighting is superb. The story behind each panel of lead-light is explained on a separate display board, culminating in just about the entire history of Christianity. A whole day wouldn’t be long enough to take it all in.

Right next door to the Cathedral is the Tours Art Gallery full of classic French artworks dating back centuries. The fact that it’s housed in a lovely old medieval building makes it so much more interesting. There was a small area dedicated to modern art; but I just don’t get it so that was a waste of time; for me anyway.


On the way back to the apartment we briefly called into the Saint Martin Basilica, which although huge and impressive didn’t hold the same attraction as the Cathedral. A quiet stroll around our neighbourhood, picked up some supplies for Le Chef and then we called it a day.

View from our staircase

Our street

Bric-a-brac (aka junk) market


Market Hall





Old fashioned transport

New-age transport

Our coffee stop, good!

Plant market

Town Hall gardens

Town Hall

Tours Central Railway Station

Fountain in front of Central

Leonardo's Vitruvian Man in plants at the Art Gallery entrance

The tower of the Cathedral, from the Art Gallery

A stuffed (literally) elly from the 17th Century at the Art Gallery

Art Gallery gardens


St Gatien Cathedral







A tower from an old fort on the river

Some more great cycling infrastructure


Tours Art Gallery






Opera House


Basilica




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