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Le Voyage à Nantes (VAN) is the perfect excuse to visit the city. It is a permanent itinerary that reveals all the historical, architectural and creative wealth of Nantes. This cultural fabric is united through a green line drawn on the ground that the visitor is discovering the essentials of the city and that every year is reactivated with a recreational-cultural festival.
A mechanical elephant walks through the old shipyards, a soft boat tries to escape - as if it had a soul of its own - from an estuary and an old biscuit factory (the legendary LU) becomes a bubbling and atypical cultural center with Hammam included
In Nantes the thing goes from contemporary art, surrealism and a lot of creativity , geared perfectly with the urban landscape and nature.
URBAN LABORATORY
The most daring cultural proposals of the VAN bring life to the Island of Nantes, an old industrial estate converted into the most creative neighborhood of the city. When you walk through the streets of this kind of urban laboratory, located between two arms of the Loire , you still run into an old banana store turned into a cultural and leisure center; with a large yellow crane port symbol of Nantes; with a giant measuring tape in the garden of an office - Lilian Bourgeat's work; or with a cool pop-up restaurant: La Cantine. Overlooking the Loire, protected under a detachable structure and inspired by a greenhouse, it serves farm chicken, vegetables grown in its surrounding orchard and local products.
But the crown jewel of the neighborhood is Las Máquinas de la Isla, an amazing artistic project inspired by the imaginary worlds of Julio Verne , the mechanical universe of Leonardo Da Vinci and the industrial past of Nantes .
In addition to the spoiled child , the monumental 12-meter-high elephant that walks along the Loire's docks with 50 people on its back, surprises the great roundabout that transports you to the sea abyss, with those retro-futuristic fish wagons that seem to have their own life .
CREATION UNIVERSE
The VAN transforms the city with an urban poetry that permeates everything. Lovers of history must follow the green line in the Bouffay neighborhood, whose streets trace traces of medieval times.
In the middle of its square stands Éloge du pas de côté, a sculpture of a man with one foot in the air that pays homage to the city's daring. That audacity is represented in the surrealist bet of the Paysage Glissé , the slide that adorns the castle of the Dukes of Brittany.
A few streets away, we planted ourselves in the largest park in Nantes, The Garden of Plants. Intervened every year by the artist Claude Ponti, it is one of natural lungs that will allow the capital of the Atlantic Loire to become a city in nature. His project The Green Star is a commitment to sustainability that was born as a result of being named Green Capital of Europe in 2013.
Already placed in the neighborhood of La Estación, you have to drop by the Museum of Arts (remodeled in 2017), which houses works by Kandinsky, Monet and Picasso, in addition to impeccably mixing classical art and contemporary art in the same room.
FLUVIAL SURREALISM
That elegance that characterizes the building that houses the museum also moves to the Graslin neighborhood, famous for its boutiques and coffee shops such as La Cigale, with more than 120 years of history and decoration that attests to the modernism that surrounds this neighborhood. Of course, the splendor of the nineteenth century comes from the hand of the Pommeraye Passage, an exquisite gallery covered with three levels, with a staircase not to be missed.
All this creative deployment had to be transferred also to the Loire, another of the great protagonists of Nantes. The result is amazing: 60 kilometers and 32 outdoor works guide the visitor through the exceptional natural, maritime and industrial heritage of the city.
A Chimney Villa over 15 meters high, a seven meter pendulum installed in an old concrete mixer, a 120 meter long snake , a house that drowns in the river, the famous luminous rings of the Island of Nantes .. All perfectly combine the essence of Nantes: dynamic, modern, sustainable and surreal.
Practical Guide
How to get
Air Nostrum flies from Madrid to Nantes every day of the week.
Where to sleep
Located right in the center, the Hôtel La Pérouse blends architecture, comfort and design perfectly. Classified in 2011 as architectural heritage of the twentieth century. From 76 euros / night.
Where to eat
Pickles , a neo-bistro run by an English chef who fuses Nantes ingredients in creative dishes. Le Nid is the bar of the Tower of Brittany on the 32nd floor, inside it houses a huge stork.
More information
On the web www.loira-atlantico.com
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