March Wanderings - Snapshots of Angers

I mainly stopped at Angers because I had to change trains there and it was a convenient time to spend the night. The town is lovely though. There's plenty to see. It roughly marks the western end of the Loire Valley, at least the part with the highest density of castles and vineyards. Angers is at the confluence of several smaller rivers, which soon after flow into the Loire river. The Loire flows westward on to Nantes, where it finally joins the Atlantic.

Angers was the capital of Anjou, the stomping grounds of the Plantagenets in the Middle Ages. It has one of the most imposing and impressive fortresses in France, very dark and grim on the outside, brooding over the river with furrowed brow.

The House of Adam - late medieval timber house covered in amazing sculpture

The Cathedral of St. Maurice

The windows are a rare survival, stained glass from the 13-15th centuries

The mayor of Angers in the 1520s built himself this very stylish house.

It is built with the beautifully workable limestone of the Loire Valley and combines late Gothic and Early Renaissance styles.