Nantes is a wonderful city in which to spend two days, or longer if you have longer. This is just a taste of many hours of walking. Do visit!
The Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul…
The Erdre River and the Loire are important in the history of the city, bringing trade, shipbuilding and wealth, and both have been redirected as late as 1926-46.
There are many parks and gardens in Nantes but I only saw two – the Botanical Gardens, which dates to the 1830s, (although there was a Botanical Garden on the site a century earlier) and the Japanese Gardens on the Ile de Versailles which was only created in 1983.
The Fine Arts Museum in Nantes is wonderful…
Every large French town has a covered market…
As you walk around the town there are interesting sights around every corner: The Passage Pommeraye, the Opera, and the memorial in recognition of slavery…
And finally, the mechanical animals!
I must return – a wonderful town which has recovered from the loss of its ship-building industry to become vibrant and interesting.
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