During university I spent my year abroad - the third year of my French degree - in Nantes. It wasn't actually my first choice of city, but I didn't get assigned that one (Strasbourg) and ultimately I didn't mind in the end. Nantes was, and is, a great city. It has plenty of history and these days is leaning heavily into its old industrial heritage, as a centre for trade and the production of ships, sugar and biscuits among other things. I had a good year abroad, working 12 hours a week at a lycée upriver in Ancenis (more of Ancenis to come), and spending the rest of my time rowing, swimming and singing in a choir. When the school job ended I moved on to selling baby clothes and swimwear at a Decathlon for a few months.
But I've not been back since leaving in summer 2001, which in retrospect is a mistake. Nantes in 2025 is buzzing, there's tons going on and frankly a day hasn't been long enough to see it all.
After a mooch around the area I used to live in yesterday evening, and dinner in a crêperie in the old quarter near the castle, today I set off to see new stuff. I started at the memorial to slavery, which is a moving monument built underground, the river flowing fast next to it.
Then I crossed the river to the Ile de Nantes, which used to house the city shipyards and now houses restaurants, flats, the handball arena (sadly no matches on today) and the Machines de l'Ile. The Machines are a sort of steampunk artists collective, making vast puppet animals that move and interact with their audience. I'd left booking too late but did have a ticket for the Carrousel des Mondes Marines, where all the things moving are sea-themed - you get to pick what you ride on, I wanted a boat but a family got there first so I rode a dragon instead. Then I queued for a while to get into the Galeries des Machines, where they show a bunch more animals - the concept is that eventually they will build a "Heron Tree" with giant flying herons and other things, and there's a concept branch outside, but I have no idea if this will ever actually happen. Anyway, the machines are extremely cool and clever and it was worth the visit.
The best machine of the lot is one you can see without paying for, the great elephant that tours the site spraying water from its trunk at people. It's awesome.
Next stop was the chateau, which was renovated and reopened to the public in 2007 and has a really excellent, comprehensive museum of the history of Nantes which I enjoyed and which took the best part of two hours to visit. I especially enjoyed the WW2 bits, which talked about the Nazi occupation of the city and had some interesting photos and so on.
Then I toured the tower of the old LU biscuit factory, which is a proper Nantes landmark, and finished up with a wander through the botanic gardens. Dinner was at La Cigale, an iconic restaurant I visited with Mum and Dad all those years ago which is known for its gorgeous tiled interior. Will probably try not to splash out like this every night...
I'm glad I took the time to revisit Nantes. Would highly recommend for a long weekend from the UK, to be honest; there's an airport or it's only a couple of hours from Paris on the TGV, and there's tons to see and do. I barely scratched the surface. Hopefully it won't be another 24 years before I return!
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