Marché d'Amboise — Friday Morning Market
Every Friday morning the Place du Château and surrounding streets fill with one of the Loire Valley's liveliest weekly markets, drawing farmers, cheese makers, wine producers and charcutiers from across Touraine. Arrive before 9 am to beat the crowds and catch producers still setting up their stalls.
What to Buy and Taste
Look for Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine, the elongated ash-rolled goat's cheese with a straw through its centre that carries an AOC designation — you'll find several producers selling direct, and many will let you taste before you buy.
The charcuterie stalls are laden with rillettes de Tours (a coarser, more rustic cousin of pâté), andouillette sausages and terrines. Pair a wedge of cheese and a slice of rillettes with a baguette from one of the boulangerie stalls for an instant Loire picnic.
Wine, Produce and Flowers
Vouvray and Montlouis-sur-Loire producers often park a van at the market's edge and pour samples of their chenin blanc — still, sparkling and the gloriously honeyed moelleux style. It's one of the best free tastings in the valley.
The flower and vegetable stalls reflect the season with beautiful precision: white asparagus in April, fat strawberries in June, golden mirabelle plums in August. The market wraps up around 1 pm, so plan your morning around it.
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