There is a lot more than meets the eye in Nantes & Loire Valley France

We walked around Nantes on a cold and rainy day, but that didn't affect our great experience. On the first day, we went to the Talensac food market in the morning to do our food shopping for the next few days. You can find great seafood, all kinds of baked goods and boulangerie, and rare vegetable varieties grown with family-kept seeds from the old days. There was nothing more typically French than seeing local folks shopping at that market; I wish you were there to see it.
Nantes has three distinct areas—the Isle of Nantes, the downtown area, and Le Bouffay. The downtown area was bombed by the American air strikes during WWII (more on that later). You still find beautiful old buildings, but much of what you'll see was constructed after WWII. Some interesting shops and restaurants mainly cater to locals and do not appear to be geared to tourists like many other European cities.
Nantes is a city of readers and is filled with amazing bookstores. It also has a rich comic book and graphic designer culture. I've noticed a bunch of production houses, mainly in the Isle of Nantes. We walked into comic book stores that were just worth visiting, like the Mysteriouse Librairie Nantaise and the Story BD.
Le Bouffay, the older and preserved part of town, is filled with different flavors and things to discover; the old European charm is still there. You can still find the old medieval France on the facade of the buildings. You can enjoy poem readings and lectures at the Maison de la Poésie at Place du Change or walk by Porte Saint Pierre, the best-preserved remnant of the former battlements of the medieval city. Not far from Place Maréchal Foch, where you find the obelisk dating back to 1790, barring one of the rare statues of Louis XVI still visible in France.
Nantes is a city seeking to reinvent itself, and there are signs of that everywhere. Although Nantes is not a well-known city worldwide, it has impressive credentials. I'll throw some data at you again.
With over 650,000 inhabitants, Nantes is France's sixth-largest metropolitan area. It also has the third-largest population growth in France and is one of the youngest French urban areas, with two-thirds of the population under 40.
Nantes is the leading economic region in Western France, boasting 25,100 companies and 275,000 jobs. This financial strength is supported by traditional industries such as naval and aeronautic construction, agri-food, and services, innovative sectors like composites, health, biotechnology, information and communication technologies (ICT), and creative and cultural industries.
Nantes is also an active political partner in international climate negotiations and has a long history of botanical gardens and public parks. Being the Green Capital in 2013Â and encouraging all citizens to contribute to sustainability and climate actions. Nantes is creating major transformation projects in the metropolitan core around the Loire. With 100 parks, 250 km of waterways, and 417 km of bicycle paths, reinventing itself as the city in a garden. High-quality, accessible local public services facilitate citizens' everyday lives and involvement in city life, essential to social cohesion.
Nantes is relatively safe during the day. I didn't see any activity I consider dangerous, but it is known that certain night hours are unsafe in some areas. And you have to be alert, and maybe more alert than usual compared to other cities in Europe. We walked everywhere without any problems.
Nantes is also the home of the most celebrated biscuit buttered cookie makers called  Lefèvre-Utile (LU), famous for their petit beurre cookies established circa 1895. The factory is deactivated today, and only one of the iconic towers at the factory park entrance remains. But do not worry, because there is now a cultural center on the old factory grounds called Le Lieu Unique. A great and charming place to drink a beer and meet friends. Other activities include a restaurant, a Turkish bath, and a nursery. There are also music and art performances. The bar also becomes a venue for DJs and concerts on the weekend.
All of the walking made us hungry. We stopped by San's, one of the many Vietnamese restaurants in town. Only good things to say about this place.
Even though the Lieu Unique is a private entity, those who profit from it are the people of Nantes. They are committed to participating in city projects by offering their space, organizational capacity, and know-how. I don't think I've seen anything like that in the United States. It left me green with envy.
There is so much to see in Nantes; I try to discover a city by feeling its soul. From one angle, Nantes has an overwhelming history. However, we can easily detect the historical events that left their deep mark:Â for Nantes, it was the city's destruction during WW II and the slavery trade.
The WWII destruction of Nantes
The Allies conducted bombings in Nantes, France, on September 16 and 23, 1943, targeting the city's port facilities. During World War II, these attacks were the deadliest and most destructive air raids in the downtown area of Nantes. The American bombing raids of 1943 severely damaged downtown buildings. The destruction of the city has undoubtedly left deep scars. The reconstruction of Nates with modern architecture created a clean slate for the town. But perhaps opened a new door to innovation and new possibilities. Another deep scar was the slavery trade; Nantes was deeply involved.
The slave trade
When people talk about African slavery, they think of the Americas or the Caribbean islands where kidnapped Africans were abused as enslaved people. And we think of Europe being the place that didn't enslave people, as if Europeans had nothing to do with it. But we know something doesn't add up.
After visiting Nantes, I reformated my ideas about slavery. Europe was responsible for modern-day slavery; yes, Sir! And I had no idea that Nantes was one of Europe's most important trading posts. It was a learning experience to visit the Museum inside Château des ducs de Bretagne where I found the pages of history exposing the European role in the largest kidnapping, transport, and sale of human beings operation in recent memory. We will veer off on a little tangent here, but bear with me; this is worth knowing.
The European Atlantic Trade
The Atlantic slave trade began in the 15th century when the Portuguese, during their exploration of the coasts of Africa, started buying men, women, and children. This practice was further expanded and organized by Europeans from the 16th to the 19th century, who extended their business to the West Indies, the Americas, and the islands of the Indian Ocean. An estimated 11 to 12 million people were trafficked in the Atlantic slave trade. The slave trade contributed to the economic prosperity of ports and cities in Europe, and Nantes was no exception. Most European nations participated in the Atlantic trade and contributed to colonial slavery :
Countries | Slave-trade Expeditions |
England | 41% |
Portugal | 39% |
France | 13% |
Holland | 5,7% |
Denmark | 1,2% |
Nantes and the slave trade
From the mid-17th to the mid-19th century, France organized at least 4,220 slave trade expeditions, many of them led by shipowners in Nantes.
Main Ports | Number of Expeditions |
Nantes | 1714 |
Le Havre | 451 |
La Rochelle | 448 |
Bordeaux | 419 |
Saint-Malo | 218 |
Lorient | 137 |
Honfleur | 134 |
Marseille | 88 |
Dunkirk | 41 |
Nantes' slave trade: intense but brief
The first slave trade expedition from Nantes in the 17th century was about 150 years after Portugal began their slavery trade. When Nantes withdrew from the trade in 1830, this was much earlier than other ports, such as Le Havre (1847). Slavery continued in Cuba until 1886 and in Brazil until 1888.
For this reason, Nantes does not owe its position to the duration of its slave-trade activities but to their intensity: The port of Nantes was responsible for 43% of the French slave trade (in other words, for 5 to 6% of the European Atlantic trade).
During the 18th century, 10-33% of the income from long-haul merchant shipping in Nantes was derived from slave ships, while another portion involved the plantation slave economy.
As the historian Eric Saugera has observed: « "More than any other place, Nantes adopted the main argument in favor of the slave trade: the colonies are essential for national wealth, Africans are vital for their growth, and slavery is essential for their preservation."
In just over a century, ships transported over 550,000 African captives from Nantes to the colonies. Source: (Mémorial de l'abolition de l'esclavage)
However, numbers are deceptive in the face of the scope and magnitude of this tragedy. But that ends when we walk over the Le Mémorial de l'abolition de l'esclavage along the banks of the Loire between the Anne-de-Bretagne Bridge and the Victor-Schœlcher footbridge.
A sidewalk covering 1.73 acres is lined with 2,000 glass inserts, 1,710 of which have the names of the slave ships and the dates on which slavers left the port of Nantes. After seeing that, you begin to grasp the scope of this disaster and the deep scars it must have left when you think of all the men, women, and children who suffered this atrocity. Source: Discover the monument : source: Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery - Nantes.
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But let's dry our tears because Nantes wants to turn this dark page in history and move forward. We can't entirely judge a city for its past, only by what we see in the present. There is a lot more to this city.
The Isle of Nantes
Our first point of arrival was the Isle of Nantes. I didn't think this place was very charming, but it also shifted my point of view about European cities. The first thing I saw were modern buildings without the charm of the old European towns I love. Coming here in the dead of winter certainly made that feeling much worse. But soon, I found out there was way more to be discovered.
In the past, the Isle of Nates was an archipelago with several small islets. However, the channels were landfilled during the 19th and 20th centuries to form one single Island.
Isles of Nates then and now
In the morning, we walked around the island, the former home of a large shipyard no longer in activity. After the deactivation, the island became a wasteland. However, at the exact location of the old shipyard, a significant cultural revolution was to take place, financed and planned by the city of Nantes, which invested heavily in constructing a home for the new tech economy. Nates has a history of industry, rebuilding, and resilience, evidenced by how it attracts young people from all over Europe to join in.

The wasteland Island became ground zero for a social and artistic experiment: building new spaces to house a new generation of artists, tech start-ups, and the cyber economy, delivering modern world housing and office spaces. It was my first time seeing this kind of enterprise in Europe. It was not very appealing to me as a tourist seeking the charm of old Europe, but it is genuine and relevant to the real people of Nantes. Nantes appears to be a city that is not interested in living off the holy cash cow of tourism, nor do they loath tourism.
Les Machines de l’île, Jules Vernes, and the Burning Man
Little did I know I would find these three items in Nantes. It is easy to understand after you learn Jules Verne is a son of Nantes. The father of science fiction and one of the most influential French authors profoundly influenced Nantes's artists. The old defunct shipyard was to be the home of an art revolution that sprung right out of a Jules Vernes sci-fi book.
An art revolution that would gather the attention of the world. Awards in Los Angeles, Beijing, and Paris, and the art directors of Burning Man. In 2016, a $15,000 grant from the Burning Man Project was given to help support art installations and experiences. More exchanges were to follow.Â
Not only is The Isle of Nantes the living embodiment of the new technological cyberculture sponsored and planned by the city, but it is also the organic revolution assembled by young minds such as François Delarozière. Born in Marseille in 1963, François embraces fine arts and explores visual arts. He joins Royal de Luxe, a street theater company par excellence. He designs and leads the construction of giant mechanical creatures, some of the most notable ones: The Giant, The Elephant, The Rhinoceros, and a collection of others.
But François goes beyond the alternative world and gets involved in urban planning projects in Nantes. The city constructed Les Machines de l’île located on the Western point of Nantes Island, as part of the urban regeneration program in collaboration with celebrated architect Alexandre Chémétoff.Â
They created a show display of the animatrons in action right where the shipyard building grounds used to be. There are scheduled shows; parents take the children who soak up everything they see.
These fantastic mechanical creatures enchant the heart of Nantes and all tourists visiting the Island. They were partly created by François' La Machine, a nonprofit organization constructing theatre sets, carousels for children, and machines for production.Â
Not far from the old shipyard and across from the Musée Jules Verne, the Carrousel des Mondes Marins is located. This mind-blowing carousel inspired by the sea world has three levels. The 1st level is the seabed with giant crabs and seabed creatures; the 2nd five meters above the seabed level is the abyss with its fantastic creatures, and on the 3rd level, you find boats and flying fish and jellyfish. You have to see it and ride. It is a unique experience.
Visiting Nantes and the Loire Valley in France was one of my best European trips. It was a learning experience and a change of heart about France. The actual France, not the ones you read on blog posts or travel blogs. A place where I will want to go back and explore more of what is still hidden in this unique city. I know I've spent a lot of time writing about the slave trade, and I didn't want this post to be only about that, and I hope it wasn't. We then went on to the cities of Clisson and Guérande and visited the salt region in Le Croisic, which is subject to an entirely new post. To be continued...
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