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Little streams known as les mauves flow between the houses in the village of MEUNG-SUR-LOIRE , 14km southwest of Orleans on the Blois rail line. During the summer months they leave slimy green high-water marks, but the sound of water is always pleasant, and Meung is an agreeable place to spend an afternoon. Meung has accumulated a number of literary associations over the years. Over seven hundred years ago one Jean de Meung added 18,000 lines to the already 4000-line-long Roman de la Rose , written half a century earlier in 1225 by Guillaume de Lorris. This extended tale of courtly love, all very formal and allegorical, inspired Chaucer, who wrote his own version before moving onto more material topics. Most recently, the town featured in the works of Georges Simenon - his fictional hero, Maigret, takes his holidays here. The town's most notable and imposing building is its grisly Chateau , built for the bishops of Orleans in the early Middle Ages (daily: April to mid-Sept 9.30am-12.30pm & 1.30-6.30pm; rest of year 10am-noon & 2-5.30pm; 35F/?5.34). The exterior of the chateau on the side facing the old drawbridge looks suitably spooky, retaining its thirteenth-century pepperpot towers, though much of the interior was remodelled in the nineteenth century. The highlight of the guided tour is the dreaded dungeon , where you're better off with minimal imagination: it was here that the poet Francois Villon (1431-85) - originator of the much-quoted line Ou sont les neiges d'antan? ("Where are the snows of yesteryear?") - was imprisoned and supposedly wrote his famous Grand Testament . He is the only known survivor of this monstrous dungeon, where people were abandoned to die. If you feel inspired to pen a few poetic lines yourself while loitering over lunch , head for the Cafe du Commerce , on place de l'Eglise, which provides the ideal atmosphere (Tues-Sun; menus from 75F/?11.43).
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