Wednesday is market day in Loches, one of the small, beautiful towns in the Loire Valley. It sits on the River Indre and is a medieval town with a citadel and a medieval complex within its walls. A citadel is the central, most heavily fortified part of a city, such as a fortress or castle, that serves as a defensive stronghold and command center. In Loches, there is a castle keep, a royal residence and a collegiate church. The medieval town is below.
The keep (or donjon) is the strongest and most secure part of a medieval castle, often a tall, tower like structure, which erved as a refuge for the castle’s inhabitants during an attack, as well as a residence for the lord. The lower levels generally housed storage rooms and perhaps a prison, and the upper floors were the lord’s living quarters, a chapel and other essential rooms. They can be any shape but all had thick walls and limited access points, for example a single entrance on the first floor accessed by a removable staircase.
Below are some of the rooms in the keep, which included prison rooms and latrines which drained down to the bottom floor of the castle (no pipes). The view from the top though was excellent!
Loches Castle has been home to several historical figures, including
English kings like Henry II and Richard the Lionheart, French kings such as Charles VII and Louis XI.
Outside the keep in Loches are the old city, narrow streets lined with shops and homes and centuries ago there was a city wall surrounding the medieval town, which no longer exists.
The River Indre flows through the town and in parts has walls topped with flowers.
On Wednesday there’s a market from about 8am-1pm and it sells everything from prepared food (paella, curries, roasted chickens and potatoes) to all kinds of fruits and vegetables, lots of cheeses and sausages, pates, and honey, and you can get the bread and wine for your picnic in the stores along the market. In the non-food department there are stalls selling clothes, mattresses, knives, pots and pans and more.
Shops close around 12:30 or 1 till 2:30-3:30 for lunch so if you do want to shop in town, keep that in mind. We walked up to the castle and toured it during that time, then finished our shopping afterwards. It was a really fun day.