Tours - Roman Caesarodunum & Loire Wine Hub

Roman Caesarodunum was the Loire Valley's wine capital. The amphitheater ruins lie beneath medieval streets. Today Tours is still the gateway to Loire wines - Vouvray, Chinon, Bourgueil. Romans planted the first vines on these limestone slopes 2,000 years ago.

What to do there

4 things to do

1. 1 Decode the Curved Street That IS a Roman Arena History · Free

   Where: Start at the southern side of Tours Cathedral, then walk onto Rue du Général-Meusnier, which curves gently to the northwest. The amphitheater ruins are accessed via Rue Manceau (GPS: 47.3954, 0.6964), roughly 100m behind the cathedral apse.

   What: You are walking the ghost of one of the ten largest amphitheaters in the Roman Empire. When Caesarodunum was expanded in the 2nd century, this arena measured 143m x 124m — nearly the size of the Colosseum. It held an estimated 34,000 spectators. Then it disappeared. Not destroyed — simply forgotten. By the Middle Ages, houses were built directly on top of the seating walls, and medieval people lived inside the ruins without knowing. It wasn't rediscovered until 1855, when someone noticed that the curve of the street grid was too perfect to be coincidence. Stand at the top of Rue du Général-Meusnier and look down. The ~5-meter drop in height you're standing on? That's the minimum surviving height of the ancient Roman cavea — the seating bank — still holding up the houses above it. The cellars of those 19th century buildings sit directly on Roman masonry. When Caesarodunum built its 4th century defensive walls, they literally quarried the amphitheater facade for stone. Layer upon layer upon layer.

   How: Walk slowly along the full curve of Rue du Général-Meusnier (it makes a quarter-circle arc — follow it all the way). Also walk Rue Racine and Rue de la Bazoche, which each trace other segments of the arena's oval. The full oval was 122m x 94m in its first phase. You can pace it out. Look up at the house facades — the way they step with the terrain reveals the buried Roman structure beneath.

   Backup: If you prefer context first, the Tours tourism office (78bis rue Bernard Palissy) has Roman city maps showing the full amphitheater footprint overlaid on the modern street grid. Alternatively, Google Maps satellite view shows the curved street pattern clearly before you arrive.

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2. 2 Find the Tomb of the Man Who Taught Europe to Prune Vines History · Free

   Where: Basilica Saint-Martin, Tours — GPS: 47.3892, 0.6763. Enter from the main door on Rue Descartes. Open daily 9am–6pm (often earlier); FREE entry. Descend into the crypt via the stairs on the left side of the nave.

   What: The man buried in this crypt — Martin of Tours, died November 8, 397 AD — is the reason Loire Valley wine exists. Here's the actual story: Martin was a Roman soldier from Pannonia (modern Hungary), stationed in Gaul. In 334 AD at Amiens, he cut his military cloak in half with his sword and gave it to a freezing beggar. That night he saw Christ wearing the half-cloak. He was baptized at 18, eventually forced — against his will — to become Bishop of Tours. In 372 he founded Marmoutier Abbey, 3km upstream on the north bank of the Loire, and planted vines. Then his donkey got loose. The animal ate through the monastery's vineyards. The monks were devastated. But when those 'ruined' vines produced the next harvest, the wine was extraordinary — better than anything before. The monk-farmers had accidentally discovered vine pruning. That practice, born from one runaway donkey at Marmoutier ca. 380 AD, spread across all of Europe. Every winemaker who has ever pruned a vine in Burgundy, Bordeaux, Rioja, Tuscany, or Napa — they are all downstream of that donkey. Martin is the patron saint of winemakers. Every November 11 (his feast day, Martinmas), France traditionally opens the new wine. That tradition is the direct ancestor of Beaujolais Nouveau. In the crypt: the mosaic tomb is ornate — carved wooden capitals, ten columns with bronze capitals, openings to see the relics. This is a 1,600-year-old pilgrimage site. The Via Turonensis, one of the four main routes to Santiago de Compostela, begins here.

   How: After descending to the crypt, stand at the tomb and ask yourself: how many people in history have accidentally launched a global agricultural practice? Find the carved inscription identifying the tomb. Look for the openings where relics are visible. Outside the basilica, look left and right — the two surviving medieval towers (Tour Charlemagne, Tour de l'Horloge) from the original 12th-century basilica destroyed during the Revolution still flank the site.

   Backup: If the crypt is temporarily closed for a service, the two medieval towers are always visible from the street and free to photograph. The Musée Saint-Martin nearby (3 rue Rapin, free) holds Roman-era artifacts including early Christian items from Martin's era.

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3. 3 Taste the Wine That Can Be Four Different Wines From One Grape Wine · Price: moderate

   Where: Cave des Producteurs de Vouvray — 38 rue de la Vallée Coquette, 37210 Vouvray. GPS: 47.4166, 0.7803. Vouvray is 8km east of Tours — a 15-minute drive or 20-minute bus. Guided tours run March–December at 11:30am and 4pm in English. Book ahead: 02 47 52 75 03 or visites@cavedevouvray.com. Cost: ~€14.50/person (€29 for two) — includes 3km underground + tasting of 4–5 wines + aperitif board.

   What: There is no other appellation on earth that does this. One grape (Chenin Blanc, planted here by monks in the 13th century, possibly tracing back to Martin's vines at Marmoutier in 372 AD), one hillside, four completely legitimate wine styles — and the style is decided not by the winemaker's preference, but by the weather that year. A warm autumn with noble rot gives moelleux (sweet, honey-gilded, can age 50 years). A cooler year gives sec (dry, mineral, electric). The same parcel. The same vines. A different wine every vintage. The four faces of Vouvray: — Sec: dry, <4g/L sugar, mineral and long — Demi-sec: off-dry, 4–12g/L, honeyed but still fresh — Moelleux: sweet, concentrated, apricot and wax — Pétillant/Mousseux: sparkling, made by traditional method, made in cooler years when acidity sings This cave has 40 winegrowers, 500 hectares of vineyards, and 6 million bottles aging underground at 12°C in galleries carved from tuffeau limestone — the same soft stone the châteaux of the Loire are built from. The caves maintain that temperature year-round without any technology. That's why Vouvray can age: slow, dark, cold, and constant since the vines were first planted.

   How: Ask the guide specifically to taste all four styles in sequence — sec to moelleux to sparkling. The sec often has a distinctive flint-and-wet-stone quality that surprises people expecting sweetness. Ask about the tuffeau terroir: why this particular limestone produces this particular wine. If you taste a moelleux from a great year (ask about 2018, 2015, 1997), it may be 20+ years old and still evolving.

   Backup: If the cooperative tour is full, head instead to Domaine Huet (13 rue de la Croix Buisée, Vouvray, by appointment: 02 47 52 78 87). Huet's Clos du Bourg parcel has a 9th-century stone wall encircling it. Free tasting with appointment.

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4. 4 Assemble the Loire Picnic at the Market Where Romans Once Shopped Adventure · Price: low

   Where: Les Halles de Tours — 1 Place Gaston Paillhou, 37000 Tours. GPS: 47.3920, 0.6808. Open Monday–Saturday 7am–7pm, Sunday 7am–1pm. FREE to enter. The market is a 10-minute walk from the amphitheater ruins and 5 minutes from Place Plumereau.

   What: The covered market sits on the heart of old Caesarodunum — the ancient Roman forum was somewhere in this neighborhood. Today it has 38 artisan vendors. Your mission is to assemble the perfect Loire Valley picnic: 1. Saint-Maure de Touraine — the AOC goat cheese of this region, shaped like a log with a straw through the center. It's the cheese that Loire Chenin Blanc was born to be drunk with. 2. Tours rillettes — slow-cooked shredded pork, spreadable, richer and rougher than the pâté de foie. The local equivalent of knowing a secret handshake. Go to Maison Clément (the landmark delicatessen stall) — they also sell pears tapées (dried pears, another Touraine specialty), Loire fish terrine, and regional wines. 3. A bottle of Vouvray sec or demi-sec to drink with it — ask for a producer from the caves you just visited. Then carry everything 10 minutes west to Place Plumereau — the 15th-century half-timbered square that Lonely Planet voted most beautiful in France to have a drink (2014). Sit at one of the terrace tables (the square belongs to the bars and cafes, so a drink or two earns the table), arrange your market goods, and raise a glass. You're at the intersection of Roman history, medieval architecture, and Chenin Blanc — all earned by walking.

   How: Budget €8–15 per person for cheese, rillettes, bread, and fruit from the market. A bottle of local Vouvray at the market runs €8–15 depending on producer. Wine by the glass at Place Plumereau terraces: typically €4–6. Go early on Saturday morning when the market is at its loudest and freshest. Sunday stops at 1pm — plan accordingly.

   Backup: If Les Halles is closed (Monday mornings can be quiet), several épiceries fine (wine and food shops) cluster around Place Plumereau and the adjacent streets of Vieux Tours — you'll find Vouvray by the bottle and Saint-Maure de Touraine at any one of them. The square works at any hour.

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Insider tips

• Amphitheater ruins are visible at Place de Châteauneuf

• Les Halles covered market has excellent wine shops and local produce

• Place Plumereau has lively wine bars in medieval timbered buildings

• Use Tours as base for Loire château and wine day trips