Quai de la Loire

The Quai de la Loire is the riverside promenade of Nevers, on the right bank of the Loire, below the old town, which is built on a hillside above the river. Nevers is a small city in the Nièvre department of Burgundy, which for centuries was the capital of the dukes of Nevers, and its relationship with the river has always been close. The quay gives a way to see the Loire at its most natural, as a broad, shallow river flowing between sandbanks and islands, with birds such as terns and herons, and with a landscape that has changed little in places for centuries.

The quay in its present form dates from the eighteenth century. For a long time the town was bounded by medieval defences on the river side, and in the middle of the 1700s an urban renewal programme replaced the old fortifications with a quay and a series of public works, creating a direct link between the town and the bank of the river. This included a new stone bridge, begun in the 1730s and completed several decades later, which is still the main crossing of the Loire at Nevers, and which stretches across the river on many arches. The promenade along the quay was laid out as a place for walking, and trees were planted to provide shade.

Walking along the quay, you have views of the river and the bridge on one side and of the old town rising on the other, with its mix of roofs, towers and the Gothic and Romanesque outline of the Cathédrale Saint-Cyr-et-Sainte-Julitte. A short climb up from the quay leads to the Palais Ducal, a fine Renaissance castle built by the dukes of Nevers from the fifteenth century, and to the Porte du Croux, a fourteenth-century gate that is part of the old city walls. The Porte de Paris, a triumphal arch built in the eighteenth century, stands at the other side of town. The Basilique Saint-Étienne, a Romanesque church, is another landmark.

The quay is public and open at all times, with no charge. It is a good place for a walk, for jogging or for a rest on a bench, and the Loire à Vélo cycling route runs near it. In the evening the light on the river is particularly attractive.

The quay suits walkers, cyclists and nature lovers, and anyone who wants to see Nevers from the riverside. Allow an hour. The Musée de la Faïence et des Beaux-Arts and the Église Saint-Pierre-ès-Liens are within walking distance.