Tours / France
Tours ) is the prefecture of the Indre-et-Loire department and largest city in the Centre-Val de Loire region of Western France, although it is not the regional prefecture, which is the region's second-largest city, Orléans. In 2012, the commune of Tours had 134,978 inhabitants; the population of the whole metropolitan area was 483,744. Tours stands on the lower reaches of the Loire river, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. The surrounding district, the traditional province of Touraine, is known for its wines, for the alleged perfection of its local spoken French, and for the Battle of Tours . The city is also the end-point of the annual Paris–Tours cycle race.