"A surprising city" a Nantes Travel Page by chess_machine

Nantes is the town I am coming from, and where I have lived, all periods added, around 20 years of my life. I am 28, so it is a quite important part of mine! ;)

I have spent around 18 years while living at my parents place. When very young, the city was limited for me to around 3-4 blocks and distances to go not so far away from my home seemed huge at that time. I was living in le Quartier Graslin, in the city center. Going to Bouffay seemed far, far away when little. Now, it takes me 5 minutes walking;)

When a teenager, I hated Nantes. Thought it was boring and just dreamt of going to Paris, where there seemed to be much more excitement and entertainement. So that's what I did.

And then came back again a few years later to Nantes and now that I had lived away, started to see it differently and actually started to appreciate the city.

Nantes is not the most beautiful city in France. Clearly. It just lacks major sightseeings, which explains why there are still few tourists. HOWEVER, the city has a real personnality, is beautiful and above all is changing very quickly and transforming into a quite avant garde place.

Over the last 10 years, many artistic and architectural projects have emerged in Nantes. You may have heard from les Machines de l'Ile, those huge animals in metals from the artistic company Royal de Luxe. They were built in Nantes. Lieu Unique is also a major artistic place in Nantes, with sets of famous DJs, very modern exhibitions and... the biggest hammam in France. Several naval warehouses have been transformed in clubs, bars and restaurants and the city is focusing its effort in recentralizing the city center around la Loire, France's main river.

Nantes is not a city with oustanding beauty, such as Venize, Firenze or Amsterdam, where you turn your eyes at every corner. Though, it is more a city quite humble architecturaly speaking, but that you have to discover by yourself.

I recommend Nantes for people who like cities where water plays a major role and where there is artistic innovation. Even for some who dont recognize themselves in this description, Nantes is still a very nice place to wander a few days, visiting the wonderful Passage Pommeraye, going to have oysters at one of the most beautiful brasserie in France: la Cigale, or going into the Cathedrale and the Chateau.

If you stop in Nantes and have some time, there are plenty places very nice to visit on the sea side: La Baule bay, Noirmoutier, Vendée, etc.