WS Loire River at sunset.

With bridge in centre frame. It is the longest river in France, rising in the southern Massif Central and flowing north and west for 634 miles (1,020 km) to the Atlantic Ocean, which it enters south of the Bretagne (Brittany) peninsula. Its major tributary is the Allier, which joins the Loire at Le Bec d’Allier. Its drains an area of about 45,000 square miles (117,000 square km). The picturesque valley is dotted with châteaus. (Contributed by Richard Hanson/First Freedom/Getty Images)