Rich at the Quai de Versailles of the Erdre River in Nantes.
Yes, I admit straight off that we will need to visit Nantes again. We first came through in September 2023 and spent two nights mostly taking care of business and exploring the old town streets. We went to Les Machines de l’Île which is a fun steam punk type attraction. This time we spent two nights mostly taking care of business (laundry, blogging and travel planning) and exploring the new transit and bike improvements, and a trip to Trentemoult, a small fishing village turned art village.
But first things first. A beer and a glass of wine. Le Chemin De Traverse Bar à Bières. In the USA, beer focused places frequently do not have wine, that’s almost never a problem in France.
After a good night’s sleep, despite some fellow hotel guests being inconsiderate until a big American opened the door and scowled at them, we headed out to visit Trentemoult. Best part? You get to take a little ferry boat across the River Loire.
So much work going on in Nantes. A new bridge, the Anne de Bretagne bridge, is being built for two new tram lines, bikes, and “Beyond its practical function, the bridge was primarily designed as a place for strolling.”!The towers of the new bridge, connecting the city to the Île de Nantes.Our ferry terminal.The N1 Navibis.Yes, it’s raining a bit but that doesn’t stop anyone.Electronic ticket validation.The new ferry terminal on the Trentemoult side. It’s a short walk to the town from the new terminal and you have a few things to see. La Pendule. Yes, that pendulum is swinging – except in high winds.Ador, a Nantes street artist with a lot of works in Nantes.Good thing about cloudy skies? Nice light to take photos. That’s the river Loire, we’ve now cycled our missing link of the Loire and we can head off the river.The narrow car free streets of the little village are very atmospheric. Especially in the mist.Our bright cycling jackets fit right in.I looked at this photo about five times before I realized it’s the zebra’s stripes hanging on the laundry line. Around every corner- more murals.Steampunk seahorse.Yellow submarine, or bathyscaphe?Coffee and hot chocolate break. Heading off to walk back to town.
Our day in Nantes was technically a rest day. But with so much to see and do we end up walking about 20,000 steps anyway. Is that really a rest day?
Crossing the construction zone and seeing that Nantes is working on three new tram lines. Go Nantes!Tram construction is catnip for the engineer and the transit advocate. Street art and a bus built into this building.The Île de Nantes is full of fun artistic delights.
An afternoon of laundry and chilling left us needing more walking, so off to the Jardin des Plantes we went. One advantage of early spring bike touring is the blooms.
Peak bloom.Tulips in time for Easter.I love these flame tulips.
The tram system, which Nantes is expanding, is already quite impressive. Not only for its free flowing movements, unhampered by car traffic, but also for the fun color schemes on the trams.
Colorful tram number one.And another great artistic tram.Rich added for scale in front of yet another patterned tram.
We were also very impressed with the intersections on one of Nantes’ main streets, Cr des 50 Otages. The name of the street is another reason for us to come back to Nantes, to visit the history museum. The name of the boulevard pays tribute to the 50 hostages or victims of a WW2 event.
The intersections along this street have been redesigned with traffic circles unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Almost zero markings. Here it is from the view of a cyclist biking through.And from the Google street map view of a double circle. Tram tracks and pedestrian plaza space to the left, Bus and car lane, bike lanes in the middle, another bus car lane, and then more sidewalk space.
We rode this street on our way out of Nantes towards the Nantes Brest canal. It took us to an area we hadn’t visited and gave us another reason to come back to Nantes- the basin of the Erdre River with the Île de Versailles and live aboard boats and loads of quai side attractions.
Leaving our hotel. The Best Western Nantes Hôtel Graslin, with good nearby bike parking.Yes, there was the obligatory boulangerie stop.So many pastries, so difficult to choose.Always a sucker for a cute bike. Rolling out of town. Happy travelers sitting on the steps of the opera house enjoying the evening scene.
After decades of living and working in wonderful San Francisco we gave it all up to travel the world. Not owning a car allowed us to save money and live hyper-locally. Now we’re living around the globe. Follow along to see where we are and what cats I manage to pet.
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Less Car, More Life 