Tourist day today. This is when our scooter really comes in so useful. A quick check of our map and off we went East along the south side of the Loire for 10 kms and then a right turn up to Fontevraud and L’Abbaye Royale. What an excellent choice for a visit. The guide literature describes it as ‘one of the largest monastic cities from the Middle Ages’ and it is certainly much more than one would expect to find in a normal abbey or chateau. It was founded in 1101 as a community of religious men and women to became a monastic city consisting of 4 priories, 3 for the nuns and another for the men. It enjoyed royal protection throughout its history and Eleanor of Aquitaine, husband Henry ll of England, and their son,
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