Nantes, France and its amazing Les Machines de L’Ile – an unusual Jules Verne world

I have seen the Loire and its castles in the 1980’s before they became tourist attractions but never been to the western Loire area. Attending a friend’s wedding in La Rochelle, I decided to stop over in Nantes first. Its on the Loire river and its got many attractions including Jules  Verne's birthplace. So, five days in genteel no-rush sightseeing! Nantes has an excellent transport system; so each day, I would take one long route from N to S or W to E on the tram or the bus and see the city and its suburbs. Far better then the open top bus which Nantes does not have !! 

The one attraction which appears as #1 in every website of the city is Les Machines de L’Ile. Its not located in the city at all. Its quite far; across the river in one of the city’s former shipyards. I took one fast direct route by bus going in as I wanted to reach well before the crowds.  The return was more leisurely as I was exhausted and I decided on a boat ride / bus route back. A good decision as there are huge crowds and many children. 

Les Machines de L’Ile is a project created by Francois Delaroziere and Pierre Orefice – its where you find Jules Vern’s “Invented Worlds” – the mechanical universe of Leonardo da Vinci and the city’s industrial history at a shipyard ‘Parc des Chantiers’. The creators were inspired by nature and movement. From treetops to sea bed, they explore living forms and built a bestiary of living machines that escape the confines of their workshop. 

These machines came to life in 2007 with the Grand Elephant and the Galerie des Machines. In 2012, they opened the Carousel des Mondes Marins which features a vast range of sea animals. Then came the imaginary world of plants – a mechanical menagerie of the Arbre aux Herons. Its really a strange world of various creatures in large mechanical format which beggars belief. But really a great experience and worth the long trek to see it. 

From the main road, you walk about a kilometer to reach the site. The whole area is vast and its best to forget its size; better to take it in one display at a time. The first thing I saw was a huge hall and the Grand Elephant on one side. There was a very long queue for some activity which I did not understand and I was shooed away as I had no ticket!! In true French style, the ticket booth was far away near the Carousel!! 500 m away. So, decided to buy the ticket without the ride on the mechanical elephant as I have ridden live elephants many time in cities and jungles of India. 

This carousel is a sculpture dedicated to the sea creatures. The ticket office is on ground level and you access the different levels of the carousel from basement to second level. You discover the creatures from sea bed to sea surface. The carousel is 82 ft / 25 m high. It is 72 ft / 22 m in diameter. It’s a true carousel but instead of dainty pretty coloured horses, you sit on sea creatures. I decidsed to explore by walking each level first – your ticket allows you one free ride so I wanted to check out all the critters first.

There are many creatures to sit on. I could recognise a lobster, a crab, a prawn but not much else! I watched the tourists choose, I timed the careousel’s circling movement. I noted the best position from where one could see various movements of the creatures – each one has moving parts which the visitor is involved with – push/pull/ring etc. Parts move and the system creates sound. Fascinating even for a 75+ year old!! I chose a two seater unit so that I would not have other people sitting with me!! It turned out to be the larvae of a crab! We went round and round a few times and people watched us from the outer circle. Some waved, some just gawped! It was really good fun.

 

After the ride, I went up to the top from where we got a good view of the whole countryside – including the riverfront. 

When I came down and out of the carousel enclosure, I had timed it beautifully, by chance, as the elephant came rumbling by. It threw out a trunk full of steam and then trumpeted, elephant fashion. Quite a statement by a machine. The people came off, as this was a planned stop and new joinees went on board. I had a close up look at the beast – rather artfully and creatively crafted. 

Now back to the very first enclosure where I had sighted the beast. It’s a long walk back. I had to queue but for some reason, as I had seen the carousel, I was in a shorter queue and entry was fast. Suddenly, I am a vast room with various mechanical animals and insects on display. Vast means really large. The exhbits were all multiple sized large. Some could even handle a few tourists on board along with the crew of the exhibit.

The crowd co-operates with the crew and the guide speaks in French and sometimes in English. It helps that I speak and understand a modicum of French so its easier for me. The first beast is the sloth bear which moves up and down a fixed rail. The guide details out features of the animal and its habitat. 

The next is a giant spider which has a young lady handling the controls with other extras atop. Fascinating movements and we all move fast when we see it coming our way when it should go direct down the path ! Again it has lots of movements just like any spider in real life.

The heron has an 8 metre long wingspan. It soars gracefully when commanded by the crew. 

Now that we had finished with the mechanical creatures, the next stage was a tour of the branch of the heron tree – this stretches across the workshop’s façade. It’s a steel tree about 50m / 164 ft tall. Not much to see, hence avoided. I went to see the workshops where they repair and create new machines. It was totally empty – except for one decrepit lion type creature. Not a soul to be seen. Very disappointing as I was looking forward to learning how they conceive and maintain these wonderful creations. A long walk along the building, down a few steps and one is back downstairs near the entrance to the hall of the creatures. Then the long walk to the main road, a bus to the river bank, a boat ride across the Loire and a bus into the city centre. An eventful long tiring day but definitely worth the trip. Nantes did surprise me in its variety of attractions. 

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