Medieval Town of Beaugency

Begin at the Pont de Beaugency, one of the Loire's oldest bridges, where 24 arches span 460 metres of river and a local legend blames the Devil for its construction. Continue to the Château de Beaugency, an 11th-century castle reborn as Château de Lumières with immersive digital exhibitions projecting a thousand years of history onto medieval stone walls. Nearby, the Abbatiale Notre-Dame shelters Romanesque capitals and a wooden vault so finely crafted it passes for stone, in the very church where Eleanor of Aquitaine's marriage to Louis VII was annulled in 1152. End at the hollow shell of Caesar's Tower, a 36-metre keep from 1015 whose collapsed interior reveals every century of its construction at a glance. The château is closed on Mondays and operates seasonally from April to November; Caesar's Tower is accessible only via the Castrum guided tour (Wednesday to Sunday at 15:15 or 16:15).