Blois

Blois rises above the Loire as a compact capital of memory in the Loire Valley, shaped by river trade and centuries of royal presence. The Royal Château of Blois layers late Gothic, Renaissance, and Classical wings into a single political stage—home to kings and queens, marked by court intrigue, and shadowed by the 1588 assassination of the Duke of Guise and the death of Catherine de’ Medici here in 1589. Nearby, St Nicholas Church (12th–13th cc.) anchors the older monastic city, linking civic life to faith in stone.