Fantastic Voyage
EDWARD SYERS discovers Nantes in France, a Rugby World Cup host city and birthplace of one of the world’s best storytellers
FRANCE is a master of seduction with its good food, fine art and storied history.
Travelling there, by ferry or flight, can be so quick you barely have time to finish a chapter of your book.
When you step out on to French soil it’s easy to get swept along with the nation’s joie de vivre.
While many Brits stay put on the historic coast of Normandy, head for the bistros of Paris or the beaches of the Cote d’Azur, they miss out on some of the most interesting cities and the prettiest villages. Rather than retracing welltrodden steps, I base myself in a place that offers everything from art and wine to giant mechanical elephants – Nantes.
Located on the banks of the Loire river which flows to the country’s Atlantic coast, Nantes – a host city of the Rugby World Cup this autumn – gave the world Petit-Beurre biscuits, Muscadet wine and the famed novelist Jules Verne.
And like Verne, this city tells a colourful story, narrated by a green line that weaves past its most eyecatching historic and artistic sights. Every year, the route is redrawn and a new line, fittingly named Le Voyage a Nantes, is painted on to pavements, to guide curious sightseers past artworks like a bookmark in the city’s constantly-changing story.
It feels wrong to do anything in France on an empty stomach, and luckily Nantes is teeming with gastronomic delights.
My first stop is Le Coin des Crepes, a delightful creperie in the heart of the city. I order a savoury galette with a local cider, a perfect light lunch that leaves me wondering why crepes with fillings of cheese, ham, salmon and mushrooms are so overlooked outside France’s borders. I then meet guide Margaux and we begin our journey at the Jardin des Plantes.
Watched over by the bearded bust of our old friend Verne, these botanical gardens offer one of the largest collections of natural species in France, and give city-goers like me the chance to pause and appreciate the natural world.
This is a space that welcomes art with the same enthusiasm as the city outside its gates. Every summer the gardens, along with the rest of Nantes, allow artists, designers and gardeners to bring eye-catching exhibitions to its already scenic landscapes as part of the city’s Summertime Voyage event. Now in its 12th year, it includes illustrated characters Verne would have been proud to create.
We set off following the green line out of the gardens and past the Musee d’Arts towards the heart of the city.
Passing through the ancient Roman gates we take in the towering cathedral before emerging in the shadow of what is surely Nantes’ most recognisable landmark – Chateau des Ducs de Bretagne.
Built in the 15th century by François II – the last Duke of Brittany – and later by his daughter, Anne of Brittany, who was twice Queen of France, the elegant castle now houses the Musee d’Histoire. This takes visitors through the history of the city chapter by chapter, from Brittany’s unification with France to Nantes’ role in the transatlantic slave trade.
The museum is one of many covered by the handy Nantes City Pass, which allows visitors access to 50 attractions around the city and offers unlimited transport to get to them. The pass lasts for up to seven days, meaning we have time for a bite to eat at Aristide.
The restaurant is just a five-minute walk from where I’m staying, the Oceania Hotel. It’s on Place
Edward Syers
Graslin where, as part of the Summertime Voyage, visitors can lace up their roller skates and enjoy a super-sized rink overlooked by the square’s impressive neoclassical theatre.
For now, though, we have to make do with walking to dinner.
I pluck up the courage to try my first steak tartare. The fresh and slightly spicy raw beef with herbs left me pleasantly surprised. If you have room, order the profiteroles for dessert – they are heavenly. When dinner time comes around, France simply can’t do wrong.
Well rested and ready for more, we head towards the Ile de Nantes, an island surrounded by two branches of the Loire, via the city’s Memorial of the Abolition of Slavery. It’s a sombre reminder of the darker side of Nantes’ history, one that saw its port claim responsibility for nearly half the country’s transatlantic slave trade in the 18th century. The port here was once the largest in France, and its maritime heritage is still woven into the city’s fabric.
It’s here that its industrial past meets its artistic present. In fact, you can’t miss it.
Sitting on the former shipyard is a giant carousel bursting with mechanical sea creatures, inspired by Verne’s classic novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Seas.
My city pass gets me a ride on a mythical sea dragon and, before the fun is over, a new character emerges. Like something straight from the pages of Around the World in Eighty Days, a colossal mechanical elephant strides towards us, carrying delighted passengers on its back and spraying water at unsuspecting spectators below.
It goes to show that, like any good story, you can never predict what will happen next.
My next excursion takes me to one of France’s best kept secrets, Clisson. Barely 20 minutes into the countryside on the train from Nantes, I step from the station into a charming Tuscan-inspired dreamworld. As I head for a riverside lunch at La Villa Saint-Antoine,
Like Jules Verne, this city tells a colourful story
every turn on my stroll reveals a more picturesque scene, and it’s by design. Having been devastated by war and fire during the French Revolution in the late 18th century, Clisson was redesigned by Lyon-born Frederic Lemot after his exile from Italy during the revolutionary wars.
He did so with the landscapes of Tuscany and the paintings of Baroque artists in mind, the result being a village worthy of being held in the Musee d’Arts, which fittingly has its origins here. I follow tour guide Thierry up steep steps and medieval streets, passing under the 14th century covered market, one of the oldest in France.
Its breathtaking wooden roof miraculously survived the battles on account of it being an important resting post for republican troops.
Next I saunter up to the castle, which was left in ruin by Lemot after the civil wars so it could form an element of the scenery.
From here I look across the babbling river to the 32 acre English gardens that surround Lemot’s perfectly preserved La Garenne Lemot, an Italianate villa built to be his home.
Back in Nantes, I stroll through the stunning Passage Pommeraye, a threestorey Art Deco-style shopping arcade, before heading back to my hotel just around the corner. The hotel bar at the four-star Oceania, an 18th-century former private mansion house, has a glamorous buzz about it, with velvet chairs, ornate gold lamps and zebra print wallpaper.
Its central location is ideal for those travelling here for the Wales and Ireland Rugby World Cup matches at the impressive Stade de la Beaujoire this autumn following the hotly-anticipated Summertime Voyage à Nantes, this year from July 1 to September 3.
This gem of a city won’t stay off the tourist radar for long, especially when that influx of rugby fans discovers it, and perhaps that’s for the best. After all, good things can’t stay hidden for ever. The same can be said for any great story – it’s wasted if nobody opens its pages.