2026-03-19 France: May 12 – Fougères and it’s Chateau

We drove back to Fougères today and our first stop was the Chateau de Fougères. They bill it as the largest medieval fortress in Europe. Google says it is one of the largest. We thought the one in Caen was bigger but it probably depends on how the borders of the castle are defined. Regardless…this one is pretty big. It has three different enclosures and 13 picturesque towers.

The entrance gate was formidable.

And the second gate.

Just inside was a model of the castle when it was new.

The river surrounded the castle on one side.

There was a large inner courtyard, much of it in ruins but very picturesque.

We walked some of the walls and had great views of the castle yards.

It was amazing how many flowers were growing out of the rocks and around the courtyard.

There were some displays in one of the buildings.

There were good views of the surrounding town from the walls.

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More Fougères Chateau
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The Church of St. Sulpice was very close.

From the castle we walked up to a nearby garden where we got good views of the castle and its outer walls.

We found a nice creperie and had lunch. The creperie had the most interesting toilet seat (which was nice because in many restrooms in France they don't install seats on the toilets.

Photos from around town.

The castle actually set below the level of the high hill nearby. On that hill we had good views of St. Leonard's Church from below. Having finished with the castle and the area surrounding it we decided to get the car and head up to see St. Leonard’s Church.