Chartres (2/9)

Chartres Cathedral

Getting out of Paris was the usual mixture of some things going smoothly and others not so. We repacked so that we only needed to use the small case and our packs on a daily basis. To pick up the car at Orly (so Allan didn't have to deal with either Charles de Gaulle airport or Paris traffic) we took the train which took us to Antony from where a shuttle took us to the airport. Eurocar had issues because vehicles had not been delivered, but we finally got that sorted out and got the keys to a Renault Clio. We then plugged the satnav in and it didn't switch on as it had done in the UK. What to do?! We decided to head off and see what we could work out. Once our brains cleared, Allan used the gps on his phone and then Jill got viaMichelin up on her ipad. This made us turn 180 degrees, but we eventually got onto the road signposted Chartres and then we were fine.

We could see the cathedral from a long way off as it is a long way from anywhere, and for this reason it is probably not on the tourist trail as there were no buses in site.

Chartres Blue

As normal, parts of the cathedral are under scaffolding, both inside and out, and it is desperately in need of a clean. Chartres is famous for the blue in its stained glass windows and for the sheer amount of stained glass used in the building. Apparently the blue colour has never been able to be copied, so it is not known exactly how it was achieved.  A lot of the windows are difficult to see however due to the layout of the cathedral which is one of the earliest examples of gothic architecture in France.

The present cathedral is the last of five to be built on this site, so it has some parts in the Romanesque style of the previous incarnation as well as its current gothic manifestation. The current building was started in 1195 and completed in 1250, a very short time for a cathedral. This is why it is comparatively uniform in style, although the two towers with their spires are different architecturally as well as in height due to the influences of the previous building. It has remained largely untouched since it was built, surviving threats to blow it up during both the Revolution and WWII. We were actually unimpressed with it. It was not large, and it might have been the weather or the lighting, but the windows of St Chapelle in Paris impressed us more.

We went to look for the Tourist Information office and had a quick crepe and drink on the way. The girl at the desk suggested FNAC may be able to help solve our gps problem. The guy at FNAC just plugged it in and switched it on and it fired up. He thought the car might not have enough grunt to charge it quickly. That probably explains why the double adapter we bought in the UK blew up as the GPS seems to need a lot of power. (We therefore can only use the GPS in the car and not charge other items as we are travelling). Relief – at least we know where we are and we have our guide working again.

North door by day

North door by night

After finding a tourist hotel we went for a walk along the river using a guide Jill had picked up. This proved fortuitous in more ways than one. It took us along the river and through the medieval part of Chartres. We came across a number of old mill sites, covered laundries and what appeared to be landing stages. Our guide then took us away from the river and up towards the cathedral though the narrow, winding streets and past medieval buildings. It was time to eat so we decided on Italian for a change and by the time it was finished it was dark, and then we noticed that the small round markers we had been following were now glowing blue. What a better way to get back to our hotel than to follow them. The route took us up to the cathedral just in time to see a light show on the cathedral. There was a different one on the north and south portals and on the west towers. They were brilliant. The one on the north portal in particular was good in that it picked out all the figures on the archway in colour, possibly in the way some churches were painted in the past, while the one on the west at one stage had a cartoon depicting the building of the cathedral.

As we moved away from the cathedral precinct we came across more shows, but not as good. We had earlier noticed the permanent projection points on our walk, but hadn't realised that they would be showing each night. We were very pleased we went for this walk which made up for the earlier disappointments.