PHOTOGRAPHS BY CÉLINE CLANETWEEKEND
ABOUT SIX months ago, my Parisian
friends Gregory and Delphine told me
they were leaving the French capital
and moving to Nantes, a Cincinnati-
size city in western France, near
where the Atlantic meets the River
Loire. This sounded like odd
behaviour. Paris is Paris; Nantes is the
birthplace of author Jules Verne and...
remind me what else?
I may have considered Gregory
and Delphine’s move harebrained,
but it turned out they were far from the
only hares. In recent years, I learned,
the city has become a go-to for young
professionals fleeing the high rents and
(relatively) noisy streets of Paris. Not
only has Nantes become a flourishing
start-up hive (Gregory quickly foundwork as a creative director at a digital
ad agency); it has also completely
retooled its identity. Shipbuilding, long
the main industry, declined through
the 1970s and 80s—destroying the
livelihoods of many Nantais. Over the
past 10 years, I was told, a deliberate
effort has been made to replace ships
with art. Splashy installations are
supported by hefty municipal spending
and a fun-loving populace with a
taste for public spectacle.
Before long, it began to seem
like a good idea to pay Gregory and
Delphine a visit. So my wife and I took
the two-hour TGV (Train à Grande
Vitesse) from Paris on a Friday
afternoon, curious to find out what
all the fuss was about.Your Next French Cit y
Move over, Marseille. It’s time to add Nantes—just a two-hour train ride
from Paris—to the must-visit list. Josh Levine discovers a former industrial
backwater transformed into a powerhouse of culture and cuisine.The historic Château
des Ducs de Bretagne
houses the Nantes
History Museum.
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