One of my favourite places in Nantes is along the Loire River and the quai de la Fosse. The former dodgy neighbourhood was home to the shipyards and, at the time, prostitutes and brothels were known to satisfy sailors’ needs quai de la Fosse (there are still a number of strip bars along the quay today).
From the crooked buildings quai de la Fosse, you can see the Loire River, the massive brand new courthouse, the Île de Nantes (and its mechanical wooden elephant), the Titan Crane (left as a reminder of the chantiers Dubigeons, the shipyards). A number of historical ships are docked there, including the trois-mâts Belem (a 19th-century merchant ship) and the Maillé-Brézé (a destroyer of the French Navy). This is also where the Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery was built.
I grew up quai de la Fosse, and then moved a block away when I was a kid. It remains one of my favourite hangout places. Funny enough, the bourgeois of Nantes dislike the area and would rather gather on the infamous “Boulevard Guist’hau” (a rather dark and windy boulevard with almost no shops around) or in the Cours Cambronne (equally windy and dusty).
Nantes looks like a cool city, I know lots of Parisans looking for a better life-quality move there!
It’s often voted the “best place to live” in France, that’s true. It’s a pretty place, but it’s hard to get a job here though.
Some commute back and forth to Paris. 😉
You bet!
Maybe that’s just how helicopters are shaped in Nantes! 😛
😆 A local twist I guess!
Thanks for sharing this…the Buren Ring is interesting sight…is there any significance to the local people ?
It’s “just” a sculpture, it was set up there when the island was rehabilitated a few years ago. They light up at night!
Oh do I miss Nantes … I don’t think I could ever live there. But I miss walking in these streets.
I can’t live there either but it is a pretty city 🙂