Nantes

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Written by Graham

While staying in Angers I decided to take a day trip to Nantes which is about 90km away along the Loire River.  Nantes is the capital of the Pays de la Loire region and the historic capital of Brittany.  In addition to many old churches and the big castle of the Duchy of Brittany it also has a lot of newer buildings because of heavy damage inflicted by Allied bombing during German occupation during WWII.

I didn’t have any plan for the day or any background really so I grabbed a map from the tourist office and set out on foot to see the town.  Here are some of the things I found along the way:

Part of Cathédrale Saint-Pierre which is a massive church in the centre of the city
Elaborate entry way on the front side of the Cathédrale Saint-Pierre. I couldn't back up far enough to get a shot of the whole facade.
Château des ducs de Bretagne (Castle of the dukes of Brittany). The Loire river no longer runs beside the castle but did originally allowing the moats to be easily filled. Now the moat area is a public park.
One of the buildings that makes up the inside of the castle. In 1598 the Edict of Nantes was signed in the castle which most famously gave Protestants the right to freely practice their religion.

View south from the castle walls. The Loire originally flowed along this side of the castle. Off to the right you can see the domed LU factory that makes the distinctive biscuits with chocolate on top.
Castle neighbours
Saint-Clément Church
L'île Feydeau showing 18th century shipowner's houses. If you look closely you can see that the buldings aren't level and have tilted into each other. The ground underneeth isn't very stable so not long after they were built they started to shift. Jules Verne lived here as a young child.
Place Royale square with Basilique Saint-Nicolas in the background

2 Comments

  2. Thanks. Some days are good for pictures and that was definitely one of them. The subjects didn’t hurt either…

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