The best traffic-free bike rides around Angliers

Location: 46.907001, -0.002937 http://www.thegreenwichmeridian.org/tgm/location.php?i_latitude=46.907001

I love these roads!

In 1631, to thank his minister, Cardinal Richelieu, for his eminent services, King Louis XIII did him the favor of erecting "a town enclosed by walls and moats and building a market hall" and establishing four annual fairs and two markets per week. Thus emerged from nothing, an "ideal city" according to the precepts of the time which would bear the name of the Cardinal. Richelieu entrusted Jacques Lemercier, architect of the king, author of the Sorbonne and the Palais-Royal, with the task of building, on the site of the family property, a vast castle, a reflection of his grandeur and a new city, nearby. Nearly 2000 workers would work on the site. Inside the walls, the Cardinal gave the land to whoever agreed to build a pavilion within two years according to the plans filed with the city registry. The inhabitants will be exempt from tax and gabelle until there are 100 houses built. 4/5 of the project will be completed between 1632 and 1642, the year of the Cardinal's death. Contrary to the words of Jean de la Fontaine (who also ironically described the town as "the most beautiful village in the universe"), far from being deserted, the town had 4,000 inhabitants in 1690, compared to less than 2,000 today. This innovative project, which linked the construction of a castle and a town in the same program, foreshadowed the Versailles construction site that would open 30 years after the completion of the city walls of Richelieu. Adjacent to the walls, Richelieu Park, with an area of 475 ha, housed the vast estate of the castle of the du Plessis family (original surname of Cardinal Richelieu), of which only a few vestiges remain today. Richelieu is now a somewhat unusual town in the French landscape, with its three access gates and its two large symmetrical squares. Organized in quadrilaterals and perpendicular streets in the manner of American cities, it offers a unique testimony to urban planning of the Grand Siècle.

Story of the Knight Robin against the Basilisk.

Classified as a "Grand site du Val de Loire", the Château de Brézé is a unique historical monument built between the 11th and 19th centuries. The castle stands proudly in a magnificent neo-Gothic style, but it is actually beneath the surface that the building's particularity lies, since it houses an entire underground network that constitutes a real fortress hidden under the rock. Initially built to protect against Viking invasions, the fortress has one of the deepest dry moats in Europe. Under the castle, there is a 3 km network of tunnels and rooms. These were in a way the first protective bunkers known in history, and housed bakeries, stables, dormitories, kitchens, a barrel room and even a silkworm farm.

The Market Square is lined with houses whose construction dates from the 14th to the 19th century: the oldest house in the town (probably 1399) at no. 3, the old town house at no. 15 and the old Barony Registry (16th century) at no. 42.

The first mention of the château dates back to 889. In 1881, General Delaveau settled there and made architectural modifications. Today, the property belongs to the Marteling family, who have reconstituted the vineyard. The 15 hectares of vines benefit from clay-limestone soil and several forms of intervention – disbudding, de-suckering, leaf thinning, etc. The harvests are manual and the cellars are dug into a chalky stone called tuffeau. The result: renowned wines, including the red Saumur Cabernet Franc – the main grape variety.

Seen from the outside, this little church doesn't look like much, and you have to go through the front door to discover this hidden gem. Its walls, entirely covered with decorations and motifs painted during several campaigns over the centuries, restore the original appearance of Romanesque churches with a state of conservation that is quite rare in France. The Notre-Dame de Rivière church was built between the 10th and 11th centuries. Legend has it that Saint Martin founded the early church on a site already devoted to prayer. Today, it has a choir, a crypt and recumbent figures dating from the 16th century, as well as remarkable exterior sculptures. But it is above all the 11th century frescoes, recently restored, which add to the historical richness of this building. Legend has it that Joan of Arc passed there, but this is not corroborated by any contemporary testimony, however Charles VII made a pilgrimage there.