Chenonceaux (France) (AFP)
Visitors timidly flocked Sunday to the Château de Chenonceau (Indre-et-Loire), the day after the reopening of one of the most visited monuments in the Loire Valley.
Open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on this Pentecost weekend, the "Chateau des Dames", built on the Cher in the 16th century, can be visited with the use of a mandatory mask during this period of deconfinement.
A one-way route has been set up for all the interior spaces and some too cramped rooms are closed to the public but remain visible. The visit to the kitchens is limited to ten people at a time.
"We make sure that people do not meet," said communications manager Caroline Darrasse. "The idea is to put in place measures to keep all employees, hoping that the summer season will be saved as much as possible," she added, because "this is the disaster for the Loire castles, as for all tourist places in France ".
"We are really counting on the fact that the French want to revisit France. Chenonceau is the most international of the Loire castles, with Chambord. We are 50% international visitors. So you can imagine what two and a half months are doing stop at a castle like Chenonceau which has a significant payroll, "continued Ms. Darasse.
During a usual long weekend, 5,000 to 7,000 people flock to Chenonceau every day. Much less this year.
In Amboise (Indre-et-Loire), the Clos Lucé castle, where Leonardo da Vinci spent three years of his life, reopened on May 20. "We did everything to reassure people," said François Saint-Bris, director of the castle, to AFP.
Similarly, at the royal fortress of Chinon (Indre-et-Loire), reopened on May 21, only 450 visitors had made the trip for the Ascension weekend against 3,800 in normal times, according to Marie-Eve Scheffer, responsible for the fortress.
The Château de Chambord, which attracted 1.1 million visitors in 2019, will not reopen until Friday June 5, but its park has been accessible to visitors since May 11.
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