By now it should not be news that I like cities on the water. This month I’m exploring cities on the Yonne and the Loire. Nevers is on the Loire, where two smaller rivers – the Nièvre and L’Éperon – flow into it, and where there the Canal Nivernais now flows as well.
Within a ten-minute walk from the train station, you start to see the stunning historic buildings of the town. The Palace of the Counts of Nevers and the Cathedral of Saint-Cyr-et-Sainte-Julitte are huge – and beautiful. There are other significant churches and medieval buildings that testify to an important past. It seems Roman buildings will remain covered up for centuries to come, as just a few pieces have turned up. All in all, I like the look of Nevers, as quite a well-built city. And yes, it has a theatre – although the programing seems to run along popular-entertainment lines.
Like Auxerre, Nevers has a free navette circling the downtown. I hopped on one day and ended up going round many times while talking with the friendly and very informative driver. While he told me about Nevers, and we talked about other towns I’m interested in, he strongly recommended I check out Vichy – so I think I shall.
Yesterday, the day of a national strike ruling out train travel, I toured on foot, and found a cluster of attractive restaurants and gourmet shops by the square Saint-Sebastien (which happens to be around Google Maps’ arbitrarily-placed green marker in the header map image here).
