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Half-Timbered Houses, Sweets and Quiet Streets in Angers

A day in Angers is a quick and easy change of scenery for a rainy day after a few weeks in Nantes and many trips to several seaside towns on the Atlantic coast. It’s only a 40-minute train ride but you’re still stepping into a different world—to a trained French eye, the buildings, the history, the atmosphere and the food are completely different.

It’s another département, for a start. Nantes is département 44, Loire-Atlantique, while Angers is département 49, Maine-et-Loire. I know, to-may-to-mah-to, départements are just arbitrary administrative subdivisions. The bottom line is that Angers is definitely not part of Brittany and Nantes kind of is, culturally and historically speaking (depends on whom you ask, it’s a touchy issue around here).

Both cities have a castle, but the one in Angers is massive. Both cities also have very old cathedrals and tons of churches but again, the ones in Angers are bigger, and sometimes older (like, really old). In Nantes, mascarons (faces carved in stone) adorn façades, it’s one of the visible legacies of the slave trade period. Angers still has quite a few beautiful medieval half-timbered houses with wood left exposed and there are many references to King René, Duke of Anjou and Count of Provence from 1434 to 1480, a historical figure virtually unknown in modern Nantes history.

And I’m guessing, people in Angers love macarons and chocolate, considering the number of fancy bakeries offering them.

Angers seemed to be a dynamic city before 2020, but the pandemic must have hit it hard because I noticed many closed businesses and vacant commercial spaces. It’s still a nice place to explore with many pedestrian streets and lovely views from the river.

Rue des Lices, Angers
Rue des Lices, Angers
Rue Saint-Aubin, Angers
Rue Saint-Aubin, Angers
Rue Saint-Aubin, Angers
Rue Saint-Aubin, Angers
Rue Saint-Aubin, Angers
Rue Saint-Aubin, Angers
Pl. Sainte-Croix, Angers
Pl. Sainte-Croix, Angers
Façade du Vieil Angers
Façade du Vieil Angers
Rue Freslon, Angers
Rue Freslon, Angers
Pont de Verdun, Angers
Pont de Verdun, Angers
Pont des Arts et Métiers, Angers
Pont des Arts et Métiers, Angers
Cloître et Abbaye du Ronceray, Angers
Cloître et Abbaye du Ronceray, Angers
Rue Lionnaise, Angers
Rue Lionnaise, Angers
Cloître et Abbaye du Ronceray, Angers
Cloître et Abbaye du Ronceray, Angers
Pl. de la Laiterie, Angers
Pl. de la Laiterie, Angers
Cathédrale Saint-Maurice d'Angers
Cathédrale Saint-Maurice d’Angers
Cathédrale Saint-Maurice d'Angers
Cathédrale Saint-Maurice d’Angers
Pl. Sainte-Croix, Angers
Pl. Sainte-Croix, Angers
Rue Saint-Laud, Angers
Rue Saint-Laud, Angers
Rue Saint-Laud, Angers
Rue Saint-Laud, Angers
Rue Saint-Laud, Angers
Rue Saint-Laud, Angers
Impasse de la Fourmi, Angers
Impasse de la Fourmi, Angers
Rue des Aix, Angers
Rue des Aix, Angers
Rue du Mail, Angers
Rue du Mail, Angers
Rue du Mail, Angers
Rue du Mail, Angers
Pont de Verdun, Angers
Pont de Verdun, Angers
Pont des Arts et Métiers, Angers
Pont des Arts et Métiers, Angers
Quai des Carmes, Angers
Quai des Carmes, Angers
Quai des Carmes, Angers
Quai des Carmes, Angers
Quai des Carmes, Angers
Quai des Carmes, Angers
Quai des Carmes, Angers
Quai des Carmes, Angers
Quai des Carmes, Angers
Quai des Carmes, Angers
Rue de l'Oisellerie, Angers
Rue de l’Oisellerie, Angers
Rue Saint-Aubin, Angers
Rue Saint-Aubin, Angers
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Zhu

French woman in English Canada.

Exploring the world with my camera since 1999, translating sentences for a living, writing stories that may or may not get attention.

Firm believer that nobody is normal... and it’s better this way.

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