Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Yesterday we arrived in Nantes, former capital of Brittany and now in the Pays de la Loire region. Unfortunately it wasn't to the same sunny reception we have received elsewhere! Just as we made it to the hostel (which was closed over the middle of the day to our disappointment) and I found a place to look after the bags while Tom went to grab some food, the heavens opened and poor Tom was drenched while I scrambled to get out the waterproof covers for our bags in a small sheltered archway. Anyway needless to say it wasn't the most welcoming of arrivals.
After checking in we started our now typical exploration of the town and trip to the tourist office. Once we moved further from the station and hostel we found ourselves in a beautiful botanical garden, walking past a magnificent cathedral and into lovely little cobbled streets full of cafes and restaurants. Since Henrik introduced me I am now enjoying the beautiful rosés from the Loire and Provence, fitting in very well with the locals, as is Tom with his French beers. The best bit is that unlike the UK wine is cheaper than beer, much to Tom's disappointment though! He's now sampling more of the wine (whites and rosés at least) with me though which is fun.
Today we set about seeing all we could in Nantes beginning with the Cathedral St Pierre. It has had a long, illustrious and troubled history as part of Brittany and France. It houses the tomb of Francois II, father of the very famous twice queen of France, Anne Duchess of Brittany. She erected the beautiful tomb for her mother and father after her coronation as Queen of France. He died shortly after France's defeat of Brittany and Anne made the difficult choice of marrying her enemy, the King of France in order to save Brittany from further bloodshed and destruction. She is famous all over Brittany, with streets, shops, food, drink and restaurants named after her and statues of her everywhere.
Nantes, as the former capital of Brittany, was the home to Breton dukes and a home of French kings after its defeat and amalgamation into France.
After the cathedral we went on a sightseeing bus tour of Nantes, only to learn that there's not that many sights to see and there's not that much to tell. There were so few anecdotes and interesting facts that half way through they decided to start telling us Nantes' longitude and latitude!
After this thrilling tour of construction sites, banana warehouses, tramways and geographical facts we hopped off to finish the day at Chateau des Ducs de Bretagne. It is one of the few castles we have seen that has an intact moat and drawbridge! The Chateau was originally the Chateau of the Dukes of Brittany but when Anne married into the French monarchy it became one of their many palaces. When the French Revolution occurred years later it became a military barracks but it now houses a museum on the history of Nantes, with exhibits ranging from Roman times, the expansive slave trade, the Revolution and World War Two/French Resistance.
- comments