Chateau du Clos Luce | Leonardo Da Vinci's Home

London loved playing with all the inventions

As part of our trip to the Loire Valley (read about our other stop here), we visited the Chateau du Clos Luce, Leonardo Da Vinci's final home.

Leonardo Da Vinci moved here in his final years, from 1516 - 1519. This chateau is located only 500 meters from the Chateau de Amboise, where King Francois I lived (he is the one who asked Da Vinci to relocate to France). While we didn't have time to check out the King's residence, we had a lovely time visiting Clos Luce.

A bed similar to the one Da Vinci would have slept in

 First we toured the house. It was neat seeing and reading about how Da Vinci lived his last three years.

An original painting by one of Da Vinci's students

 At the end of the house tour, there's a room with miniature versions of his inventions along with explanations of each. We also got to see the underground tunnel that connected Da Vinci's home to the Chateau de Amboise.

Both of our girls did great as we walked through the home.

 After seeing the house, we had lunch right outside at the La Terrasse Renaissance. The food was great - I had a galette crepe (savory crepe) with tomato and cheese and some other good stuff. We got to overlook some beautiful rose bushes while we enjoyed our meal outside.

The best part of our day though, was roaming through Da Vinci's garden. All throughout the park were life size replicas of Da Vinci's inventions. The whole area was very family friendly. Our toddler had a great time running around and checking out how everything worked and our baby took a nap in her stroller as we enjoyed the lovely weather outside.

Replica of his Flying Machine

 While we were able to see a large part of the grounds, I do wish we could have spent longer seeing everything. This is definitely a place I would like to visit again!

Replica of his idea for a tank

Many of Leonardo Da Vinci's inventions could not be made during his time due to the lack of technology available. It's neat to see how throughout history, humanity has made use of his ideas as they have become possible. 

The chateau is open year round (with the exception of Christmas and New Year's Day). Adults are between 12 and 14 euros and children under 7 are free.

For more information, check out the following sites:
http://www.vinci-closluce.com/en/
https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/amboise-charming-visitors-since-leonardo-da-vinci
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clos_Luc%C3%A9