. Castles and chateaux of old Touraine and the Loire country. still in the midstof vine-land, and finally appear the twin spiresof Angerss unique Cathedral of St. one realizes, if not before, that he is inAnjou; no more is the atmosphere transpar-ent as in Touraine, but something of the grimeof the commercial struggle for life is over all. Here the Maine joins the Loire, at a littlevillage called La Pointe: the Charenton ofAngers, it was called by a Paris-loving boule-vardier who once wandered afield. Much has been written, and much might yetbe written, about the famous Ponts de C
. Castles and chateaux of old Touraine and the Loire country. still in the midstof vine-land, and finally appear the twin spiresof Angerss unique Cathedral of St. one realizes, if not before, that he is inAnjou; no more is the atmosphere transpar-ent as in Touraine, but something of the grimeof the commercial struggle for life is over all. Here the Maine joins the Loire, at a littlevillage called La Pointe: the Charenton ofAngers, it was called by a Paris-loving boule-vardier who once wandered afield. Much has been written, and much might yetbe written, about the famous Ponts de Ce, whichspan the Loire and its branches for a distanceconsiderably over three kilometres. This an-cient bridge or bridges (which, with that atBlois, were at one time, the only bridges acrossthe Loire below Orleans) formerly consistedof 109 arches, but the reconstruction of themid-nineteenth century reduced these to a barescore. As a vantage-point in warfare the Ponts deCe were ever in contention, the Gauls, the Ro-mans, the Franks, the Normans, and the Eng-. -Si Anjou and Bretagne 285 lish successively taking possession and defend-ing them against their opponents. The Fontsde Ce is a weirdly strange and historic townwhich has lost none of its importance in a laterday, though the famous ponts are now remade,and their antique arches replaced by more solid,if less picturesque piers and piling. They spanthe shallow flow of the Loire water for three-quarters of a league and produce a homogene-ous effect of antiquity, coupled with the citysthree churches and its chateau overlooking thefortified isle in mid-river, which looks as thoughit had not changed since the days when Mariede Medici looked upon it, as recalled by thegreat Eubens painting in the Louvre. Sincethe beginning of the history of these parts, bat-tles almost without number have taken placehere, as was natural on a spot so strategicallyimportant. There is a tale of the Vendean wars, con-nected with the Eoche-de-Murs at th
Size: 1243px × 2010px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherbosto, bookyear1906
