Chinon is a picturesque little town of 10,000, on the banks of the river Vienne, 45 kilometers south of Tours in the heart of Touraine, which is called the "Garden of France" and the "Cradle of the French Language".
It is also full of history,
once the residence of the King of England, Henry II Plantagenet, when that part of France was under English rule. And it became the residence of Charles VII, the heir of the throne of France in the early 1400's. It was in the Château de Chinon that Joan of Arc first recognized the disguised dauphin (later Charles VII) in 1429 and persuaded him to give her an army in order to drive the English out of France.
Chinon is also the birthplace of François Rabelais, the Renaissance man, monk, doctor, philosopher, and writer, creator of Gargantua.
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First a Gallic site, then Roman, the castle continued to be built during the X, XIII, XIV and XV centuries. The Platagenet kings of England had elected this castle as their favorite residence. Henry the II, Richard the Lionhearted and John Lackland all lived here from 1154 to 1204. This is where Charles VII received Joan of Arc in 1429. From the top of the castle is a magnificent view over the old city and the Vienne Valley. There is also a small Joan of Arc Museum.
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