Walk:12km; total: 206km
Breakfast was not until 7:30am today so we had another sleep-in. After breakfast we headed back into the city for another Starbucks coffee and treat. We then hit the other side of town that we did not do yesterday, another church (Notre-Dame des Miracles) and a tower (Tower of Saint Paul). Greg suggested we visit the Museum of History and Archaeology. It was still a bit too early to go home, so we walked to the other side of town to see the Collegiate Church of St Aignan, stopping along the way to see the Church of St Donatien. We think we have done pretty good by seeing five out of the ten churches/cathedrals there are in Orleans. We wandered home via the Carrefour and Paul boulangerie for lunch and dinner stuff.
The Notre-Dame des Miracles is not the prettiest church on the outside , but inside has a relatively low roofline and when the sun shines through the stained glass, it casts colourful shadows over the pews. The altar area was also very pretty. It began life as a simple church in 1170-1180, was ruined by fire in 1562, rebuilt and again ruined by fire in 1940. The current building dates to 1966.
Built at the beginning of the 17th century, the Tower of Saint Paul was originally part of a church of the same name. Not sure what happened to the church.
The History and Archeological museum is small but had some interesting pieces. It is housed in the Cabu Hotel, that allegedly is one of the most beautiful Renaissance monuments in the city. It displays Gallic and
Gallo Roman bronzes, as well as objects and works relating to Joan of Arc, products used a long time ago, but still in good condition, and products relating to former industrial activities here in old Orleans.
The Church of St Donatien was in an awkward spot and hard to capture from the outside. It was very dark inside so we only got the one photo. It is one of the oldest churches in Orleans having been built in the 12th century.
And finally the Church of St Aignan, another massive structure that was hard to capture with the humble iPhone. Unfortunately, it was closed so we couldn’t go inside, but Greg had been inside when he was last here and says is was well worth the visit.
After 12km we found ourselves back at the hotel where we had our lunch then a rest, it is supposed to be a rest day after all. Apart from Greg checking to see if his new tyre was holding fast and gong for a walk to recce the route out of the city tomorrow, we didn’t do much else.
Tower of Saint Paul
Interesting accommodation, an old disused market with units above
Notre-Dame of the Miracles, outside and in
Museum of History and Archeology
Spiral staircase in the museum; they have a lot of these in France
Joan of Arc
Brutal
Port of Orleans
Fine porcelain crockery from 1757-1782
Incredible detail in this porcelain sculpture
Bronze horse
Wild boar
Stag
A grand dancer
The God Esculape
Bull
A fragment of printed canvas
View of Orleans from Arrault island
Entrance to the ancient grand cemetery of Orleans
Athena
The old City Hall
Plastic cakes and cookies
A disused lock
Inside of the Church of Donatien
Church of Saint Aignan
The old Post, Telegraph and Telephone building
Dinner, the smaller beer can is 1664 zero, hard to find but Greg says it is good
