On Friday we also visited Richelieu on our way north. You may have heard of Cardinal Richelieu? From the Three Musketeers? He was also a real Cardinal and at the same time a politician. It all seems to have been a bit more complicated back then or maybe it was simple economics. In a nutshell his mother needed one of her sons to become a bishop. There was money promised to her husband from the king but it was in the church budget so she needed a bishop in the family to get at it.

Richelieu’s older brother was already a priest but he was not keen on the plan and he became a monk instead. The younger Richelieu was keen and agreed to become a bishop for his mother. He studied what he needed to study and became a priest and then a bishop in 1607. The money was now safe.

Sometime in the 1630’s the Cardinal bought land (near his original home) where the town now stands and had the architect, who designed the Sorbonne, design a walled town on a grid.

You might remember the town of Monpazier was also on a grid? But while Monpazier is beautiful Richelieu is tidy and neat. Kinda like it’s pretending to be old. Of course it is old but not old-old. (Have I become an old snob now?) There’s also a park and there was a big chateau but it’s gone. Oh and the bishop built a smaller chateau a few kilometers outside the town, for his mistress… as you do.

It was a hot day and we went in search of ice creams but it was not to be. The ice cream signs outside the cafe were just for decoration, not to be taken too seriously.

We travelled on until we found motorhome parking for the night on the banks of the Loire in a village called Turquant. The village is built into caves of Tufa stone. There are miles of tunnels in the caves and it’s possible to take a tour of the homes. We were still in travel mode so left early the next morning.