Page 205 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Brittany

BRIT T AN Y REGION B Y REGION  203

LOIRE-

ATLANTIQUE

Between Ancenis in the east and St-Nazaire in the west, the
great Loire river winds lazily, cutting through verdant lands and
flowing through Nantes, the region’s capital, before broadening into
an estuary as it empties into the Atlantic. While the north of the Loire-
Atlantique is a region of lakes and woodland, the south is characterized
by mud flats, especially on the Guérande peninsula to the west.

Both in historical and in geographical The Loire-Atlantique is made up
terms, the Loire-Atlantique is assuredly of a mosaic of distinct areas. While the
Breton. Yet, incorporated into the Pays de Presqu’île de Guérande and the coastal
la Loire in 1969, the region is also oriented town of Le Croisic grew rich long ago from
towards the south and the Vendée, to salt-panning, La Baule and the surrounding
the southwest. coastal resorts came into their own in the
The central axis of the Loire-Atlantique is late 19th century. The industrial city of
the Loire estuary, which provides a link St-Nazaire enjoyed a golden age in
with the Atlantic. On it stands Nantes, the the first half of the 20th century.
former capital of the dukes of Brittany, While the Pays de Retz, to the west, is a land
and today not only the capital of the of pasture, beaches and mud flats fringed by
Pays de la Loire but also the largest city the sea, the Pays d’Ancenis, to the east,
in western France. Until the mid-19th is a major wine-producing area, where
century, the Loire was a major artery for hillsides are dotted with terracotta-roofed
the transport of com mercial goods: salt houses. The Forêt de Gâvre and the
from Guérande and fish from the Atlantic countryside around Châteaubriant, to
were transpor ted inland by boat. the north, offer yet more lush landscapes.

View over the bridge near the port of Le Croisic
Boats moored on the banks at Port St Martin

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