Located 12 km to the south of Tours, Montbazon is a favourite stop along the Route d'Espagne. This important fortified town controlled the valley of the Indre and belonged to great feudal families. Foulques Nerra, earl of Anjou, built here a small wooden fort, which was rebuilt in stone towards 1050, and subsequently crowned with a statue of the Virgin. Following a long period of renovation, the donjon is now open to the public.
A valley beginning at Montbazon and ending at the Loire River unfurls here, seeming to lurch beneath the châteaux that rest on its double hills: a magnificent emerald basin along whose bottom the Indre River sinuously winds its way.
