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SULLY-SUR-LOIRE lies on the south bank of the Loire, 7km east of St-Benoit and accessible by bus from Orleans. The grand Chateau here is pure fantasy (daily: April-Sept 10am-6pm; rest of year 10am-noon & 2-5pm; closed Dec-Feb; 30F/?4.57; guided visits only), despite savage wartime bombing that twice destroyed the nearby Loire bridge and caused incidental damage to the chateau itself. The interior is not particularly interesting, apart from the immaculate fourteenth-century chestnut timberwork of the keep, but from the outside, rising massively out of its gigantic moat, the chateau has all the picture-book requirements of pointed towers, machicolations and drawbridge. Whether sunlit or floodlit, it is a real treat. The castle originally belonged to one of Charles VII's favourites, La Tremoille, who infuriated Joan of Arc by encouraging the Dauphin to forget about the throne and loaf about in Sully eating nice dinners of deer and wild boar. After Joan's failure to liberate Paris in 1430, he attempted to ground her by virtually imprisoning her in the castle - to no avail. The castle changed hands in 1602, this time being snapped up by Henri IV's minister, the Duke of Sully, who added the moat and park, and pushed out the river bank to protect his glorious creation from the vagaries of the Loire. After Henri's death, the arrogant minister was forced into retirement, which he spent writing in his castle. In the eighteenth century young Voltaire, exiled from Paris for libellous political verse, also spent time at the chateau, sharpening his wit in the company of enlightened thinkers with whom the Duke of Sully of the time liked to surround himself. From May 24 to July 15 the International Music Festival features concerts of contemporary, jazz and classical music in the chateau's Salle des Gardes and in a medieval-style pavilion in the park (details from the tourist office ). More information on the attractions of Sully-sur-Loire are available from the tourist office on place du General-de-Gaulle at the southern end of the old town (April-Sept Mon-Sat 9am-12.30pm & 2-7pm, Sun 10am-1pm; Oct-March Mon-Sat 9am-noon & 2.30-6.30pm; tel 02.38.36.23.70, fax 02.38.36.32.21). If you wish to stay in Sully, try the Hostellerie du Grand Sully , 10 bd du Champ de Foire (tel 02.38.36.27.56, fax 02.38.36.44.54; 220-300F/?34-46), with spacious rooms. Alternatively, there's a serene municipal campsite (tel 02.38.36.23.93; April-Oct) in a great location by the river, practically in the grounds of the chateau.
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