Twinned with Cardiff, South Wales

Nantes (town of Jules Verne)

Formerly the capital of Brittany, Nantes was separated from the region by the Vichy government in June 1941. Although the city has been part of the Pays de la Loire région since 1971, the feeling that Nantes belongs to Brittany is still solid nowadays. For cultural and political reasons, many people still identify with Brittany.

Nantes is France's 6th largest town, located on the Loire Estuary, 50 km from the Atlantic coast. The metropole has an airport and is central to tourist destinations such as the Atlantic coast, Brittany, Anjou and the Vendée.

Nantes is a fascinating city which mixes high-tech industry and modern tower blocks with Art Nouveau squares, canals and a lively medieval centre.

The Nantes Fine Arts Museum is built around a square inner courtyard, which has natural lighting. This museum houses a great collection of European paintings starting from the 13th century. Italian, Flemish and French schools are widely represented in it's collection

Three paintings of Georges de la tour, portrait of Madame Senonnes by Ingres, and The wheat sifters by Courbet are a few examples to judge the museum's collection..

You can also well admire Monet, Kandinsky, Max Ernst, Gerhard Richter and there is a lot more.Many interesting temporary exhibitions are organized here. Kandinsky and Turner were recent themes.

The museum's collection is chronologically divided into Ancient art, XIX century, Modern art and Contemporary art. This museum building, opened in 1900, was designed by Clement-Marie Josso and reflects the eclectic approach of this period.

The ground floor houses modern and contemporary arts and a bookshop. The first floor is dedicated to the ancient and XIX century collections.

The Jardin des Plantes is of noteworthy praise with beautiful flower-beds, fountains and duck ponds that date back to the 19th century.

There is also a children's playground to keep younger family members amused.

Picture to the rights shows the Graslin Palace.

Tram System

Just as many other cities did, Nantes got rid of its tram system in the 60's, but it was the first French city to decide to reintroduce it and the decision to re establish it was taken in 1985

Today in Nantes, there are two tram lines: one runs 12,6 km on an East-West direction, the other 14,4 on a North-South direction.

The tram is mostly located on dedicated tracks, which enables an average speed of up to 22.3 km/h

Information terminals can be found at all transfer points between bus and tram. Electronic screens inform passengers about the arrival times for the next tram or bus.

The center has been turned into a 30 km/h speed limit area divided in several sectors that inhibit through traffic. Public transportation has the right of way over private cars with the help of bus lanes.