There are actually two types of chateaux – a fort or
fortified stronghold and the gracious, expansive homes we most often think of
as chateaux today. We recently visited a
chateau, with AVF, that has been both.
The Lyon-Rhone International AVF team does a great job in
organizing classes, tours, etc. to enrich the experience of returning Frenchmen
and expats, like us. Our most recent “field
trip” was to the Château de Longpra about an hour and ¼ away from Lyon. Dominique, Roger, and Gerard had invited us
to ride in their car with them, which added to the enjoyment. Unfortunately, Dominique was feeling
under-the-weather so just the four of us rendezvoused with the other 15 or so
other AVF folks near the Château. (Actually,
it was a little more complicated than that.
You see Dominique is the one who can be relied upon to have a GPS and
map handy on these excursions. We
discovered on our way out of Lyon that NO ONE had a map or GPS or really
knew how to get there. Fortunately,
David had looked at a map the night before and somehow the three men discussed routes, consulted often, figured it out, and got us there on time. Meanwhile, Anna kept very quiet since she has a
well-acknowledged complete lack of sense of direction.)
But back to the Château…
The Château was originally built as a fort seven hundred or
so years ago and had crenelated walls, moat and drawbridge. In 1536, Charles Pascal acquired the Château-
It’s been in the same family ever since.
In 1755 Pierre-Antoine Pascalis took possession of property. He razed the fort, retaining just the
foundations, moat and drawbridge, and set about constructing the lovely,
neoclassical Château that exists today.
The Château and family were so respected by the people in the countryside, by the way,
that the building and contents were protected during the Revolution. Today it houses a number of historic
documents, paintings, furniture, china and silver, etc. and serves as a sort of
museum. This part of the Château is open
to the public while the Countess Albert de Franclieu and family live in the
private section. (After the tour, Roger,
David, and Anna were sitting in the car wondering what had happened to
Gerard. It turns out that he and a few
others had been hobnobbing with the Countess.)
So, with that background information, here are some
pictures (we were not allowed to take pix inside so all interior shots and aerial shots were shamelessly copied from their website):
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To give you an idea of the Château and grounds.
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View of the front, showing our tour group.
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Drawbridge and moat with one of the gates in the background.
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A sitting room.
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A bedroom - wall paper is copy of original.
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To show you one of the lovely collections on display.
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The four of us: left to right - standing - Gerard and David, sitting - Roger and Anna.
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Then it was time for lunch.
We all piled into our cars and drove to a picturesque restaurant on the
shore of Lac de Paladru. It is another
family enterprise, and the food, service, and atmosphere were great. One item on the menu was a mystery to us;
we had never heard of “fritures” before.
Turns out they are little, tiny fish that are scooped up, shaken in a
bag of seasoned flour, and deep fried to be eaten like French fries. Can’t say it’s high on our list of foods to
try, but lots of folks at are table were having them. Then we set off for Lyon with very full stomachs!
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The group having lunch. Notice the lake just out the window.
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Fritures
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