Hotel Saint-Yves

Cheap beer, cool atmosphere

by chess_machine about Coude a coude

The bar is in the heart of Nantes, near Place Graslin, and has one of the cheapest beer in town: 2€ for a half pint. The atmosphere is cool and the bar gets quite crowded during the weekend. A good place for starting drinking. The people there are mainly students. Its name: "coude à coude", means litteraly, elbow against elbow, which means there are so many people that your elbow touches your neighbourg's one. Casual

The town I want to get away from

by anthoslehardos

Nantes has been classified as "the most pleasant town in Europe" by the Times or something. Sure.



It has a good university with around 35,000 students, a castle, a year-round warm, oceanic weather and an interesting cultural scene. The transport system is very well developed, with tramways and bus evrywhere. The countryside around is gorgeous and it's not far away from great beaches in Vendee and southern Brittany.

"Me in Nantes"

I've always lived there and there was no problem until two years ago Ifinally learnt that you can also grab your backpack and see the world... from that time onwards I hated Nantes. After having spent a whole year abroad, I am currently trying to appreciate this place again, but for the moment it's still quite though. I think what I don't like about it is the feeling of never being able (or never being even willing) to go away, move and meet new people. That's a kind of feeling that makes you go all numb and I find it creepy now.
There's also the fact that every part of the town is brimming up with memories, and to me it's like living in a dead past every day. Living with dreadful shadows in a way. So now I am attempting at discovering nantes again by doing the things I never did before here, and hanging around places that I didn't feel like going to before.

I must finish my studies and then I will try to go away again. Eilian told me that the recurrent patterns in human life and mythic beliefs usually evoke the cycling pattern enclosing our existence, and basically it means that at one point in my life I'll be doomed to come back here and be happy. Mmmm. We'll see...

Nevertheless I am going to try to show you what makes Nantes an interesting stopover. I will include my experiences of the suburbs and the Pays de Retz (where I used to live), but also farther north, east, west and south. This will a purgating journey back into the past and my unconscious.