48h in Nantes

Two days in Nantes, former capital of the Dukes of Brittany turned laboratory of urban art. The trip opens at the Machines de l'Ile, installed in the old shipyards, where a twelve-metre mechanical elephant carries passengers and a marine-worlds carousel turns across three levels. The Chateau des Ducs and its history museum, the Passage Pommeraye with its monumental nineteenth-century staircases, the Ile de Versailles and its Japanese garden, then Trentemoult, a former fishing village of brightly painted houses facing the city, complete the stay. Each summer, Le Voyage a Nantes paints a green line on the pavement linking the artworks. The elephant must be booked online and weekend slots go quickly. Trentemoult is reached by Navibus ferry from the maritime station.