Angers (8 June)

I’d never been game to do this before, but today I bought a pastry for breakfast at a patisserie, and took it into a cafe to have with my coffee.  Quite acceptable here.

The Chateau d’Angers is a big structure, with a series of drum towers.  As you’d expect, given that it was a feudal fortress, it dominates the landscape.

The fortress/chateau was built in the early 1200s.  In 1912 the Mayor of Angers came up with the good idea of filling the dry moat with gardens.

Great views along the river.

I do like these conical/pepper pot/pencil towers.

It was a joy to wander all around the grounds.  I walked along the ramparts as far as I could.

I wasn’t surprised to see grapes being grown up here

 and herbs.

The chapel was built in 1410, and the stained glass windows reminded me of patchwork designs.

 

One of the main reasons I wanted to visit this chateau was because of the Apocalypse Tapestries.  The lighting is extremely low, so I could get only an indicative picture.

What’s left now are just pieces – the tapestry was cut into pieces and some bits destroyed during the French Revolution.  Even so, it’s astonishing.  Woven in wool, the back is as perfect as the front.  It was completed in the 1300s and depicts the story of the Book of Revelation.  The surviving hanging is 103 metres long by about 4.5 metres high.  But the original was around 140 metres long and 6 metres high.  The detail is extraordinary and the colours are beautiful.  After the chateau I walked around the rest of the city.  The Cathedrale St-Maurice is impressive.

and there are plenty of old buildings in the shopping area.