Saumur in pictures

The little town of Saumur is in the Loire Valley region, southeast of Paris.  The area is mostly known for its wine production, food, and nicely preserved chateaux, and consequently it's a favored spot for wine tours, bike tours, and short stay vacations.  It's also in the historical territory of Anjou, and close to both that province's capital, Angers, and Fontevraud, the little abbey town where Alienor d'Aquitaine, Henry II of England, and Richard the Lionhearted of England are buried.  Since Fontevraud was the main object of my trip and I wanted to see Angers, I thought Saumur would be a good base.

Although I stayed there overnight I was only in Saumur for a few hours of exploring so I don't have too much to say about it.  Also it was very rainy while I was there and I didn't do too much.  So here is what I saw of the town.

A lot of this is from my walk from the train station to my hotel.  You cross two bridges - this is the first, I guess sometimes this is an actual river.

And the next is over the Loire.

In the distance is the Saumur town center.

That castle in the left back is called the Castle of the King of Sicily - I didn't go there but I assume it's from when in the late Middle Ages the dukes of Anjou acquired Sicily due to some weird inheritances.

The rest are taken from the bus window as I went to Fontevraud so forgive the weird angles and glare!

There are late medieval structures all around when you get outside of the town proper.  

There are also these cave dwellings - if you look you can see windows and doors built into the rock face in the background.  These aren't ancient; people built and lived in these regularly through after the Renaissance.  For all I know they're still used today.

Outside the town there are also lots of vineyards and various farm type things.  This is a mushroom growing place - "La champignonniere du saut aux loups."

And that's it for Saumur!  It was a really cute town and there are actually a lot of things to do: they have several museums, the castle, a handful of old churches done in a very specific style, and a few wine caves that give tours and samplings.  It's a stop on a lot of those bike tours around the Loire, and I think it would be perfect in that setting.  It appears to shut down around 7pm even on a Friday, though!