Did you know that every word has a favorite spot to take refuge? Yes, a hideout in which to hide when things are not going very well for it, where to take shelter if it has an identity crisis, the secret place in which to rest or that intimate corner that always welcomes it with the sweetness of home. Because words also need to travel, to step out of books from time to time where they remain locked away. It is then that they escape from the pages to reach their destination as best they can; sometimes they take advantage of the lines of a letter and other times we ourselves, without knowing it, help them when we pronounce them and they jump from mouth to mouth, eager to arrive at their refuge.
Words can choose as their favorite place a barely perceptible bend in any path, the bottom of a river where a waterfall ends, the lava lake of a restless volcano, the wisps of the fog, the delicate hollow between the branches of peppermint or the seductive leaves of a carnivorous plant.
But there are words with such force that they need more and require a city in its entirety, as is the case of Romanticism which chose Paris, of History which takes refuge in Rome or of Contrast that you can run into in the streets of New York. If you are lucky, you might find a word lurking in its corner during one of your travels, but please do not disturb it, simply observe it discreetly and continue on your way.
Not long ago I had that luck and, without knowing it, I discovered the city of one of those important words, one of my favorites, one of those you often have wandering through your mind. I am still fascinated by the place, where I too would go time and again to take refuge, and it is none other than Nantes, the lair of the word Creativity.
They say that Nantes was hotly contested by several words, which, it seems, Creativity had serious fights with none other than Magic y Story to claim this French city as its base of operations. However, in the end, it emerged victorious, so much so that it has become the mistress of the streets, its neighbors adore it, and it shows off its reasons for staying: art, culture and architecture scattered in every corner. Some nights, for example, it slips down to the banks of the Loire to create drawings in the sky with the illuminated rings of the artist Daniel Buren.
They say that when the muses abandon it, Creativity goes to Nantes in search of inspiration scattering its letters throughout the city so that they can observe and return soaked in new ideas. When one of them told of seeing an elephant of massive size strolling through the streets, the letter C responded with a laugh of disbelief that faded as E and T recounted their experience flying on the back of a giant bird, a cross between a heron and a stork that showed them its nest.
The letter R claims to have been eating a delicious Breton crêpe with a gang of animals in wigs. Just a couple of days ago the two Ds returned ecstatic with inspiration because they were jumping in one of the craters of the Moon that is currently visiting Nantes.
But when they all return from their expedition, they usually, before joining together again as Creativity, go to the Isle of Machines to take a few spins on the Marine Worlds Carousel among cuttlefish, octopuses, seahorses and other creatures from the imagination of Jules Verne, who was incidentally born in Nantes, and passed through the ingenuity of Leonardo da Vinci.
If you want to follow in the footsteps of the word Creativity, it’s very easy because this summer Le Voyage à Nantes is held, an open-air contemporary art festival, leisure offerings steeped in originality and the most irreverent urban furniture.
In 2022, Le Voyage à Nantes is held from July 2nd to September 11th and you will be able to enjoy this unique initiative that fills the streets, squares, and even the Loire River with fun and surprises, turning the city into a continuous party where you never know what you’re going to find.
The itinerary to ensure you don’t miss anything is marked by a line painted green on the ground that runs through the main points of interest along 12 kilometers.
In any case, each edition this journey reinvents itself by adding novelties and designing more artistic and architectural follies that you can discover at Le Voyage à Nantes. In other editions you could range from taking a walk on the moon to tasting delicacies at a secret dinner whose location is not known until shortly before, not to mention, of course, concerts and barbecues. Oh, and when you return, tell me if you found Laetitia Casta submerged underwater in a canal or if you got lost in the maze of undergrowth at the foot of the Castle of the Dukes of Brittany which you can access, for example, with the Pass Nantes card.
And after knowing all this… how could the word Creativity not choose Nantes as its lair?
If you want to fully explore everything there is to see in this beautiful French city, I recommend choosing between a guided tour of Nantes or a private tour of Nantes, in both cases with a Spanish-speaking guide.
Esta experiencia formó parte del viaje de prensa organizado en abril del 2015 por Iberia Express para inaugurar su ruta aérea Madrid-Nantes y que contó con el apoyo de Turismo de Francia
