Saumur - Château

Saumur has one of the finest of the Loire Châteaux, built in the 14th C on a hill high above the Loire. King René called it the "castle of love". At the end of the 16th C it was converted by its Protestant owners into a fortress, and it still retains its defensive character. The Château, laid out round three sides of a courtyard open on the northwest, is entered through a large and imposing doorway. Obliquely opposite the entrance is a Late Gothic staircase tower housing a spiral staircase. The Tour du Guet, which towers over the southwest wing of the Château, can be climbed by way of a series of spiral staircases and passages, and affords fine views of the Château courtyard, the roofs of Saumur and the Loire valley. The Château contains