LOCHES is the obvious place to head for in the Indre valley. Its walled Citadel is by far the most impressive of the Loire valley fortresses, with its unbreached ramparts and the Renaissance houses below still partly enclosed by the outer wall of the medieval town. Tours is only an hour away by bus or train, but Loches makes for a quiet, relatively untouristy base for exploring the Cher valley, or the much lesser-known country south, up the Indre.The old town is announced by the Tour St-Antoine belfry, close to the handsome place du Marché, linking rue St-Antoine with Grande Rue. Two fifteenth-century gates to the old town still stand: the Porte des Cordeliers, by the river at the end of Grande Rue, and the Porte Picois to the west, at the end of rue St-Antoine. Rue du Château, lined with Renaissance buildings, leads to the twelfth-century towers of Porte Royale, the main entrance to the Citadel.
Pages in section ‘Loches’: Practicalities, Citadel, Beaulieu-les-Loches.
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