Travel Guide Ménétréol-Sous-Sancerre

2 kilometers from Sancerre.An important village in the Middle Ages, Ménétréol is one of the most typical villages of Sancerrois thanks to its houses with roof roofs and its very traditional appearance. The vineyards of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have kept their external stairs and their semi-buried cellar. This lovely little winery is discovered from the top of the steep coast when we descend from the Piton of Sancerre. In addition to its vineyards and cellars, the village has developed an important activity around caprine farming and cheese.You can also admire the church of Saint-Hilaire whose bell tower was part of the Middle Ages of the priory of Ménétréol, which was one of the main priory of the Abbey Saint-Satur.The islands of the Gargaude form a wooded site, a place of walking and relaxation, which owes its name to its past when it was detached from the berth and the main bed of the Loire. The small marina on the side canal in the Loire River, a nautical stop, between the locks of Bannay and Thauvenay, is open from Easter to November. The Château des Aubelles was built on an ancient island of the Loire, for the Earl of Sancerre, on an uncommon model in the Middle Ages. The two former railway viaducts built in the nineteenth century were reserved for trains from the strategic line linking Bourges' armaments to Cosne-sur-Loire (in Nièvre). From these bridges it is possible to observe the village, the vineyard, the castle and the dungeon of the old fortress of Sancerre and the Loire Valley. The former water mills of Ménétréol-sous-Sancerre complement these tourist attractions.