France 4 Nantes - Riding high on an Elephant
- Caroline & Garry
- Jun 5, 2019
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 27, 2019
What a great few days we had in Nantes!
We arrived at City Camping Nantes a wonderful site as it turned out, located in a wooded valley a short tram ride from the city centre. The site had modern warm, very clean facilities, a pizzeria, café and a small provisions store with fresh bread daily. The office offered a full range of tourist information and we bought a Nantes City Pass for 48 hours, which gave us unlimited travel on the trams and discounted entry to a number of visitor attractions.
We had seen the Grand Elephant on Youtube sometime ago and agreed that we must go and see it and we weren’t disappointed. Les Machines de L’Ile Nantes is a collaboration between designer/engineer Francois Delaroziere and artist Pierre Orefice and their workshop is based on ‘the island’ in the Loire which once home to the Nantes shipbuilding dockyards.
They have created and are still building wonderful, anatomically accurate machines of many of the worlds most beautiful and endangered creatures. Not only can you ride on the fantastic elephant around the old dockyard (there is a hidden seating area inside if you don’t fancy the balcony height) but you can also ride on the vast Carrousel des Mondes Marins, which has creatures and boats that swim and ride on the ocean surface and fish, whales, crabs and squids under the sea. You can flap fins and snap the teeth as you go round and round. On Three levels it is an amazing vision. You can also visit the gallery where you will find a giant spider, humming bird, sloth, snail, heron and also watch a man ‘flying’ a plane in a storm. This place certainly brings out the child in you.
They are currently designing La Cite dans le Ciel - The City in the Sky, due for completion in 2021/2 and you can currently explore a prototype branch for the project.
It is the sheer size and complexity of these machines that takes your breath away and their anatomical accuracy is a wonder to behold. They are passionate about conservation and preservation of wildlife and you can explore some of the habitats of the animals. There is a shop and a café opposite where you can watch the promenade of the elephant if you don’t fancy a ride.
We did eventually manage to drag ourselves away from the Machines and visited the impressive Chateau des Ducs. Still as it was when inhabited by the last two rulers of Brittany in the late 15th century you can walk around the ramparts for free and admire the wonderful views and water filled moat and visit the exhibitions for a fee. Apparently its past famous visitors have included, amongst others, Bluebeard and Bonnie Prince Charlie.
We found many wonderful streets, parks and gardens to wander around and came across a couple of lovely Salon de The and some delicious cake as always. The Passage Pommeraye is a delightful fully restored 19th century shopping mall complete with marble cherubs and posh shops, so we spent a little time window-shopping here.
We also spent a couple of hours in the art gallery. They had an exhibition on of Vassily Kandinsky, which I really enjoyed and also had a couple of Tamara de Lempicka originals. The inside of this classical building was very modern and it was a real experience exploring all the artworks held here and two hours had passed before we knew it.
Unfortunately we ran out of time and energy and didn’t get to the Jules Verne Museum or hop on a river cruise or explore the various other museums, theatres and gardens that are in Nantes. Perhaps we will go back sometime around 2021/22 and take our Grandson.
Absolutely shattered but very happy we packed up and left Nantes and made our way for a few relaxing days on the Ile de Re.
Don't forget to watch us on Youtube, just search for campervanhygge.
Next time:- TinTin, Oysters and A lighthouse.
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