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Thursday 30
thMay
Today was a public holiday for Ascension Day, and this would be a busy weekend in France, as a lot of people would ‘font le pont’ and take Friday off to get a four-day weekend.
My hosts planned an overnight trip for us to Nantes – we would be staying with friends of theirs. After lunch we headed off and after about an hour we arrived. The friends of my hosts took us out walking and we headed for the port. Nantes is on the Loire River, just about 10 or 15 km from its mouth at St Nazaire. Nantes is also one end of the Nantes-Brest Canal, mentioned previously. Hence Nantes was a very important port ands ship-building centre. The port is now primarily for pleasure craft, and there was an excited crowd down at the port as all the sailing boats for the solo trans-Atlantic yacht race were in port and preparing for the race start on Sunday.
After seeing the boats, we crossed the river to the old shipyards, which are now being redeveloped into residential and recreation areas. The big highlights here are Les Animaux de l’Île, the giant animated engineered creatures,
such as the Grand Elephant, and the Jules Verne themed triple-level carousel of the sea.
Before long we heard the trumpeting of the Grand Elephant, and positioned ourselves for a good view as it walked by. Very difficult to describe in words, have a look at the photos. I guess it’s about 12-15 metres high, moves realistically, trumpets, and sprays water out of its trunk over the spectators, much to the delight of the children. We watched it and followed it for some minutes, then headed off to see and ride the amazing carousel.
Again difficult to describe in words, the carousel has three levels of marine creatures and contraptions, representing the surface, depths and floor of the sea. They are all rideable, and most are animated, including pedal and lever operated features animated by the riders. Amazing, fascinating, and good fun. We all had a ride as well.
Following that, and another encounter with the elephant which was outside, we had a quick look at the creature construction workshop, then crossed back over the river to view the slavery memorial. This is a large riverside memorial featuring an underground gallery and a riverside walkway depicting the
names of all the hundreds of slave ships which departed Nantes in the 17
th-19
th centuries, carrying slaves to the Americas (mostly to the Caribbean, Central and South America). Very sobering, and the sheer numbers of slaves (millions), and deaths at sea (millions), were shocking.
We then had a walk through the city centre to the Bretagne Tower. Nantes was largely destroyed in WW2, and so nearly all the buildings are postwar, so it lacks the charm of many French cities. A few places have been rebuilt as they were before the devastation, such as the fountain and surrounding building facades of the Place Royale. Now the building is called the Bretagne Tower, but Nantes is not in Bretagne (Brittany), it is very controversially in Pays de la Loire, probably because it’s actually on the Loire. However, the people mostly seem to identify as Breton, and the culture is quite Breton, and I believe they would prefer to be part of Brittany. In any case, the tower is a thirty-something storey skyscraper with a bar at the top, and we went up there for a drink and the spectacular view.
Following that we walked a couple of km back
to our hosts’ place for a late 11pm dinner. Next morning we were up fairly early and drove back to Guipry.
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viviane
non-member comment
happy you finally saw the elephant ?
To hisit in Nantes : duchess anne castle , musee jules verne,see memorial about slavery, walk in old district "le bouffay" etc...