Nantes – Bouffay area

Escapade in Nantes: places to visit

The Bouffay area, the Saint-Pierre cathedral and the castle of the Dukes of Brittany

The district Bouffay, mainly pedestrianized, continues to reveal himself as the soul of the city of Nantes. The names of streets and alleys there evokes the ancient guilds of the Middle Ages : Street of Small Stables, Place du Change … According to his journey, you will come across half-timbered houses and the remains of an old Renaissance fireplace. On the square Bouffay tempted to be held tournaments, fairs and even executions ! All this has now been replaced by students who come to invest the café terraces in the first rays of sun.

In the middle of this medieval area, you will leave yourselves envoûter by five centuries of history by discovering the Castle of the Dukes of Brittany. Last castle of the edges of the Loire before the Atlantic Ocean, this Breton monument with its remarkable buildings of the XV to the XVIII centuries will involve you in the magic of a true voyage in the history. Built by François II, last Duke of Brittany, then by his daughter Anne of Brittany: twice queen of France, the strong castle shelters a residential palate with the frontages refined with her Renaissance loggias.

 Not far from there, you will discover splendid Cathédrale Pierre Saint whose construction was spread out over four centuries (1434-1893): behind a frontage with two white stone turns draw up vaults higher than those of Our-Lady-of-Paris, i.e. with 37,5m. In the right brace the masterpiece of this sanctuary is, the tomb of François II and Marguerite de Foix.