Tours - the City

Continuing along the route of the River Loire, we came to Tours. Built on the site of a Roman town and already a center for Christianity by the 4th century, Tours became the French capital in 1461, by decree of Louis XI. Later, under Henri IV, the capital left Tours for Paris and the city went into gentile decline. In the 20th century, WWII inflicted considerable damage on the city, after which most of the money left and the town degenerated to a slum filled with crumbling masonry. Fortunately, in the late fifties, an energetic and purposeful Mayor, in the person of Jean Royce came along, and over the next four decades, organized the renovation of the city to its present splendor – good job Jean! Tours also has a large university population and that too, has improved the city’s vitality. Checkout the slideshow