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My Favourite Hangout in Nantes in a Former Dodgy Hood

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).

Bridge to the Courthouse
Quai de la Fosse and the Trois-Mats Belem Boat
Isle of Nantes
The Buren Rings
Along the River
Along the River
The Titan Crane and the Isle of Nantes
The Machines de Nantes
The Maillé-Brézé Boat and The Titan Crane
The Maillé-Brézé Boat and The Titan Crane
The Isle of Nantes
By The River
Old Door To Nowhere
The Tip of The Isle of Nantes
Sign Fail, Nice Helicopter!
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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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