Roundabouts to Nantes
Brave Saturday brought a drive to Nantes. It is one of the largest cities closest to us, so we made a day of it. Having recently driven the ridiculous roundabouts in Lisbon and Porto, and now feeling like experts with blind corners, fast tailgating locals, and narrow streets not truly meant for cars, we were ready! Plus, the patience of French drivers noticeably exceeds the Portuguese drivers by leaps and bounds. We even figured out that a motorcyclist kicks out the right foot to say “Merci” when we pull over to let them pass.
The trip took us through the city of Cholet, a delightful series of big box shops and car dealerships along large daisy-chained streets with five-point roundabouts. It was stressful and chaotic. Every roundabout felt like the cornucopia scene of The Hunger Games. DON’T MISS THE TURN AHH WRONG LANE! Not one honk or crash! Whoop!
Nantes has lovely bridges over the river, light rail trains, four Asian grocery shops(!), and sidewalk cafes featuring bundled up smokers sipping espressos with adorably huge lapdogs. We arrived just in time for the Saturday market sectioned off into fruits & vegetables, meat & seafood, street food vendors, and textiles. It was a panoply of languages, colors, and wonderful smells!
We stumbled upon the friendliest Chinese cafe serving yummies. Our young server started with French and was delighted when we asked him to switch to Chinese. He shared he had come to Nantes from Beijing for university and loved France. We ordered dim sum and chow-mein topped with katsu. Delicious! Wandering the city after lunch reminded us of Paris arrondissements we’ve explored.
We said our goodbyes to Nantes when the rain began pouring. What a lovely city!
