Opposite the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud is Hostellerie La Croix Blanche with it’s limestone buildings it seems like a small village in it’s own right. In La Croix Blanche they have been cultivating the art of welcoming travellers since 1696 and you will be greeted by a relaxed and convivial atmosphere.
After creating the first monastery in Gaul at Ligugé, St Martin, bishop of Tours, arrived in Candes at the end of the 4th c. He destroyed the heathen temple whose remains can still be observed in the park of the château, baptized the inhabitants and founded one of the first rural parishes. One of today’s chapels in the choir was built on the exact location where St Martin died in 397. One of the vitrals tells his body’s abduction at night by priests while the guards were asleep. 16 centuries after his death, many legends still thrive about St Martin. The most endearing of them has it that the banks of the Loire blossomed in November as his body was shipped to Tours. It was the first « summer of St Martin ».
What to discover?
• Collegiale St-Martin: everyday 9h-19h.
• Sentier from patrimoine de Candes à Montsoreau.
Candes-Saint-Martin