|
6 Loire-Atlantique: Nantes, Clisson, Muscadet
country, and Bay of Bourgneuf
LA BAULE
Golf: Two courses - 18 holes and 9 holes - at St-André-des-Eaux,
north-east of the town.
Musée Aéronautique. Collection of old aircraft, gradually being restored to flying
condition by dedicated volunteers. Enthusiasts give guided tours of the
static machines, and organise a couple of flying days a year (in spring and
summer). Wed-Mon, afternoons (1 July-31 Aug, daily,afternoons). On the
south side of the aerodrome. Free, but donations welcome.
Tropicarium
Bonsaï. Spiders,
scorpions, turtles and giant frogs, plus exotic flora, on show in a large
glass-covered "amazonian" forest near Pornichet railway station.
Mon, Tues, Thurs-Sat, 9am-noon & 2-6pm; Sun 2-6pm (1 July-30
Sept, daily 9am-noon & 2-6pm). Route de Brédérac (tel: 02 40 61 20 30).
Bonsai displays free; tropicarium 30F, children 15F.
LA BERNERIE-EN-RETZ
Panorama. If you take the D97 north of Moutiers-en-Retz towards
the somewhat more strident resort of La Bernerie, you get a wonderful view
over the Bay of Bourgneuf from Crève-Coeur cliff, just beyond the village
centre. On the seafront are some cannons retrieved from the wreck of the Juste,
a French warship sunk by the English off Le Croisic in 1759.
BOUGUENAIS
Brocante: Emmaüs.
A larger branch of this chain of junk shops (profits go to the worthy cause
of down-and-outs, set up by the Abbé Pierre) has just opened (March 2006) to
the south of Nantes. Wed & Fri 2-5.30pm, Sat 9.30am-12.30pm &
2-5.30pm. Rue Emmaüs/Rue de la Guilloterie, Bouguenais, S of the Nantes ring
road near J49 Porte de Rezé (tel: 02 40 75 63 36).
CHÉMERÉ
Village 10km east of Pornic.
Festivals: Christ-Roi, passion play performed by
local actors, in the theatre of Sainte-Pazanne, 8km south-east of Chémeré,
Feb-April.
Forêt de Princé. Abour 2km north-east of the village, if you
turn left off the D66, you find yourself in a wooded area with a sinister
past. Many children from the surrounding area were abducted by the evil
Gilles de Rais in the 15th century; anyone who goes seven times on a moonless
night around the menhir on the left near the junction is supposed to glimpse
Hell; a little farther along the forest road, some 2,000 people massacred in
these woods between 1793 and 1796 are commemorated by a tall monument.
CORCOUÉ-SUR-LOGNE
The Logne river winds alongside the road on the south side of this
quiet village, 28km south of Nantes. The evil Gilles de Rais owned a castle
at nearby La Bénate.
Grissauland.
Serious karting and off-road centre 3km south of the village.
LE LOROUX-BOTTEREAU
A hilltop village 18km east of Nantes, overlooking miles of
Muscadet vineyards (ask at the tourist office for a map of some 35 producers
in the area). Outside the cathedral-sized church, a monument commemorates
4,500 Lorousains (as the inhabitants are known) who died during the
18th-century Vendée wars.
Église de
St-Jean-Baptiste. On the
north wall of the church, beneath an 18th-century bas-relief of Moses and the
Israelites, are a pair of frescoes rescued from an earlier church in the
village. Dating from around 1200, they are thought to show episodes from the
life of St Giles - a Greek who settled in France in the area of Nîmes. The
top one, a hunting scene, recalls the legend of King Flavius of the Goths,
who tried to shoot a deer that was under the saint's protection; the lower
one is said to depict St Giles receiving from the Emperor Charlemagne the
confession that he had made his own sister pregnant - on the left of the
picture the girl, Gisèle, is being married off to a nobleman. Look out, too,
for a 1926 wall-painting depicting a dying soldier of World War I, who sees
scenes from his village flashing before him. You can climb to the top of the
tower for a superb view over the surrounding vineyards (key obtainable from
the tourist office).
Festivals:
Brocante market, Place Rosmadec, second Sunday of the month.
NANTES
The former Palais de Justice is set to become a luxury hotel, with
an adjacent public art gallery.
Maison Jules Verne The house
that contains memories of the great writer has had an extensive remodelling.
PAIMBOEUF
On the Loire, halfway between St-Nazaire and Nantes, this faded but
once-important port has old quays and alleys left from its bustling
18th-century heyday as a shipbuilding centre before its industrial thunder
was stolen by the new port of St-Nazaire on the opposite bank. The town's
extraordinary Byzantine-style church, modelled on that of Santa Sofia in
Istanbul, contains 19th-century frescoes and an altar made of 14 different
types of marble. On Quai Eole, where one or two handsome old houses can be
seen to the west of the Mairie, is a table d'orientation, identifying
the sights that are spread out before you. The tourist office organises
regular guided tours of town in summer.
Though there is nothing to show for them, the town has a few historical
details: In 1810 a ship called the Méduse was launched from Paimboeuf;
six years later she was shipwrecked off Africa and her survivors took to a
raft - immortalised in a famous painting by Théodore Géricault. During World
War I the town was chosen as the location for an explosives factory. In the
mansion of Pasquiaud at Corsept, 2km south-west, wall-paintings by
Jean-Baptiste Corot, a forerunner of the Impressionists, who stayed there
with Gustave Doré in the early 19th century, were uncovered in 1983.
(Unfortunately the building is not open to the public.)
From November to April, registered eel-fishermen set out at night to scoop up
the precious harvest of elvers (civelles) that make their way from the
Sargasso Sea up the estuaries of western Europe. Those they net will fetch
almost £100 a kilogram.
Market: Tuesday and Friday.
Maison des Lavandières. In St-Père-en-Retz, a village 11km south
of Paimboeuf, alongside a pretty, restored lavoir, or wash-house, set
among gardens on the river Grésilon, is a museum about the life of
washerwomen. 15 June-15 Sept, 3-7pm. St-Père-en-Retz (tel: 02 40 21 71
45).
LE PALLET
Chapelle Ste-Anne. Romanesque
chapel on the site of Abélard's castle; nearby is a fine view over the Sèvre
Nantaise river.
Monnières church.
In the village on the opposite side of the river, the importance of local Muscadet
production can be seen in the depictions of vines and wine in the modern
stained-glass windows that decorate the 15th-century church.
LE PELLERIN
Canal de la Martinière. A
couple of kilometres downstream from this town on the south bank of the Loire,
14km west of Nantes is an interesting industrial relic, a 15km canal that was
opened in 1892 to allow sailing ships to reach Nantes by bypassing the sandy
shallows of the Loire. The arrival of steam-driven dredgers made its
usefulness short-lived (it closed to navigation in 1914), but today this
man-made waterway is a vital link in controlling the water system for the
marshes, a paradise for walkers, birdwatchers and fishermen and at Buzay,
just west of the village of Martinière, offers 19th-century locks and
hydraulic works that are showpieces of industrial archaeology. Martinière
(tel: 02 40 04 68 01).
PORNIC
La Fraiseraie. Strawberry cocktails, ices, jams and sauces on sale
in a shop/café near the foot of the château. Daily ........ Place du Petit
Nice (tel: 02 40 82 49 51).
In summer, for a close-up view of production you can visit the fields and
factory - with a tasting afterwards. 1 July-31 Aug, 2-5.30pm (closed 14
July & 15 Aug). Les Terres Jarries (north of the golf course); tel: 02 40
82 08 21. 12F, children free.
Dolmens. Well
signposted among the villas to the west of Pornic, is the Dolmen des
Mousseaux, a impressive stone funeral chamber thought to date from 3500BC. On
the south-east side of town is the Dolmen de la Joselière, where walkers can
also enjoy a fantastic view over the Bay of Bourgneuf.
Ranch des Bisons.
An unexpectedly Wild West flavour permeates this corner of the Pays de Retz,
4km north-east of Pornic. A bison farm, it offers displays of riding and
roping, archery sessions, and a restaurant, plus lunchtime or evening
entertainment. 1 July-31 Aug daily2-7pm. Route de Nantes, D751 (tel: 02 40
64 86 67). Daytime 45F, children 30F; extra charge for lunch and dinner
entertainment (reservation essential).
ST-BREVIN-LES-PINS
Forêt de la Pierre Attelée. Unspoilt area of pine and holm-oak
forest just inland from the Plage de la Roussellière, which gets its name
from a large menhir located on the south side. A farmer is said to have
harnessed (attelé) his oxen to the stone and tried - but failed - to
pull it out. The oxen mysteriously died within 12 months, and their owner a
year later. Paths are laid out to prevent walkers from trampling the fragile
dunes, and plans are afoot to convert a former holiday centre into a Maison
de la Nature, to explain the local flora.
ST
ETIENNE-DE-MER-MORTE
Picturesque village perched on the side of a hill above the
Falleron river, 13km north-east of Challans.
Ferme aux Escargots. The enterprising Jean-Gilles Thomas offers
guided tours of his thriving snail farm (signposted off the D13 between Paulx
and Touvois). The young, produced in February, are fattened until September
in large concrete pens. If you can't quite face preparing them yourself, you
can buy ready-made products in the form of snail pâté and tiny, snail-filled
vol-au-vents either here or in the markets of Challans or St-Gilles. 1
June-mid-Sept, Sat 3-6pm (1 July-31 Aug Mon-Sat, 3-7pm). 7 La Chevalerie
(tel: 02 40 31 10 49). 15F, children free.
|
