Châteaudun
This is a typical country town in the wheat belt and wouldn't be particularly noteworthy except for its magnificent château, whose immense frowning bulk towers up on a promontory, but tressed and belligerent. It is one of the largest in France, and one of the most interesting to visit. The voluble custodian, a wounded veteran from World War I, takes you through its immense Renaissance halls for a puny fee. If you visit châteaudun. you will find good food at the HÔTEL SAINT-LOUIS, a three-story building in the heart of the town. The hotel isn't beautiful, but the cooking atones for any aesthetic lack. Monsieur Guérin serves an escalope de veau au cari which is a delight, and he will prepare canard à l'orange or poulet à la crèome if you aren't in a rush. Both are worth waiting for!
Cloyes-sur-le-Loir
This is a Crossroads town near Châueaudun, bordering on the river Loir. It's confusing to have one river called La Loire and another Le Loir, streams arbitrarily given a gender by some map-maker, but you'll have to put up with this peculiarity throughout these pages. In Cloyes you will find a simple country hotel near the river called the HÔTEL SAINT-JACQUES. It has a nice rustic garden and we found the country cooking to be honest, delectable, and without pretense. The cool bottle of Bourgeuil will be remembered for some time.
Two towns in the departément of the Loir-et-Cher seem particularly interesting; Vendôme and Blois. The latter, known so well to the doughboys of World War I and their G.I. successors, possesses one of the greatest of French châteaux, and one that few travelers miss. Blois suffered from bombardment, and the area near the bridge had to be completely rebuilt. It is a new type of French architecture rising up here—not ultramodern, but pared down to essentials and quite handsome. After visiting the town and its châteaux, would you enjoy a quiet luncheon in a country auberge by the river's edge? If so, you will probably enjoy the RESTAURANT VAI. DE LA LOIRE, a calm, unruffled place about a mile and a half from the heart of Blois, on the river road to Tours. On a flowered terrace or under a pergola you can sample the capable cooking of Madame Fouquet, who specializes in the classic fish dishes of the Loire. The faithful friture is almost always at your beck and call, and often she is able to prepare salmon, shad, and pike for you. accompanied by that beautiful white butter sauce. The prices are reasonable, and there are a few rooms for those who become captivated by the tranquility of it all.
Vendôme
Vendôme is another pleasant country town, beribboned with small streams and suitable for an overnight stop. Parts of the town were leveled by bombardment during the war, but its famed Eglise abbatiale de la Trinité remains intact. This extraordinary church, whose façade is conceived in the laciest of late Gothic and whose freestanding Romanesque tower is so reminiscent of the south tower at Chartres, is worth a long detour. You will find comfortable rooms and praiseworthy fare at the GRAND HÔTEL VENDÔMU, near the heart of the town. One of Monsieur Normand's specialties is coq au vin, and he more than docs justice to this classic dish. His cellar holds a local vin rosé from Vendôme which proves, once again, how wise it is to ask for the vin du pays.
Beaugency
“Can you tell me about a pleasant, unspoiled French town where I can forget about traveling for a week, find a country hotel with good food, and just relax?” If you are inclined to pose such a question, there are dozens of tailor-made answers, and some of them are in the Orléanais. A vivacious lady from London, who writes cookery books and articles, asked me precisely that question last summer, and my answer was “Beaugency.” She tried it, too, and loved it. Beaugency has a few curiosities—an old dungeon, a rambling château. and a subtly unsymmetrical town hall containing some exquisite embroideries, but essentially it is just a simple, relaxed, radiant French town. The forms of entertainment are limited. You can stroll along the embankment of the Loire and watch the imperturbable fishermen. You can sit in the opaque shade of the public garden and read those bon voyage novels which have been cluttering your luggage, and before dinner you can install yourself on a very countrified café terrace for the preprandial Picon citron or vermouth cassis and observe your fellow travelers.
It's the simple life, and it is made much more pleasant by two good country hotels. Oldest of these is the HÔTEL DE L'ECU DE BRETAGNE, a village inn in the fine old tradition, if there ever was one. Facing the place Martroi in the heart of the old town, the escutcheon of Brittany welcomes travelers onto its broad terrace for an apéritif and into its simple old dining room for some very handsome local cooking, Again you will find the slender pike of the Loire served with that molten white butter. Again the delectable coq au tin appears, cooked in the native wine of Beaugency. And here you will find that dry pinkish wine known as Gris-Meunier.
If you yearn to be at the water's edge, a most agreeable hostelry has been installed in Beaugency on a terrace dominating the Loire. This is the HÔTEL DE L'ABBAYE, recently restored in the half-forgotten confines of an aged monastery. It's a little forbidding on the outside, but the entrance and interior are more than hospitable. There is a small bar adjoining a monumental feudal fireplace, in case you want your apérisif indoors. The food is well prepared, and the atmosphere will linger with you lung after your departure.
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