Tours, France
Tours is a French city, the préfecture (capital city) of the Indre-et-Loire département, on the lower reaches of the river Loire, located between Orléans and the Atlantic coast.
Tours is called “Le Jardin de la France” (”The Garden of France”). There are several parks located within the city. Tours is located between two rivers, the Loire on the north and the Cher on the south. The buildings of Tours are white with blue slate (known as Ardoise) roofs; this style is common in the north of France.
The name of the city comes from the ancient Gallic tribe called the Turones. In Roman times it was known as Turonensis or Caesarodunum. The modern name, Tours, coincidentally corresponds to the French word tours, “towers”.
Tours is quite famous for the old part of the city called Le Vieux Tours, with medieval half-timbered houses, and Place Plumereau, a square with busy open-air pubs and restaurants. Boulevard Where Beranger crosses Rue Nationale at Place Jean-Jaures, is the location of weekly markets and fairs.
Touraine, the region surrounding Tours, is known for its wines, for the famous Battle of Tours in 732, and the perfection of its local spoken French.
The inhabitants of Tours (Tourangeaux) are renowned for speaking the “purest” form of French in the entire country. The pronunciation in Touraine is widely regarded as the most standard pronunciation of the French language, devoid of any perceived accent (unlike that of most other regions of France, including Paris).
The Battle of Tours (October 10, 732) was a significant event in the wars of the Islamic conquests. Charles Martel was able to defeat the Islamic army, and the battle has been remembered as the point in which Western Christians were able to turn the tide against the Muslim conquests in Europe.
Tours doesn’t have a metro rail system, so a rental car will be your best mode of transportation when perusing Tours’ streets and attractions.
Tours is on one of the main lines of the TGV (France’s rail system). You can travel down the Western coast to Bordeaux, or to the Mediterranean coast.
It takes one hour by train from Tours to Paris by TGV and an hour and a half to CDG airport.
Today, with its autoroute links to the rest of the country, Tours is a jumping off point for tourist visits to the Loire Valley and the chateaux of the kings.
When in Tours, be sure to hire a car and go to the garden of the ancient Palais des Archevêques (now Musée des Beaux-Arts), and see the huge cedar tree, planted by Napoleon.