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Administrative region of France
Photo: Neige19, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The Pays de la Loire is an extensive region of north-western France to the west and south-west of Paris. Pays de la Loire has numerous prominent monuments, such as the castles of Laval, and the Nantes Château des Ducs de Bretagne, the Royal Fontevraud Abbey (the widest monastic ensemble in Europe), and the old city of Le Mans. It also has many natural parks such as the Brière and the Marsh of Poitou.
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The castle of Angers shows in its rooms the tapestries of the Apocalypse, which are one of the world largest set of tapestries of the 14th century.
Museum of decorative arts.
Historical theme park created by right-wing politician Philippe de Villiers. With over 1.5 m visitors a year, this is one of the most popular attractions in the whole of France. It has 5 main attractions, including a birds of prey show and a Roman style gladiator fight and a number of smaller ones. All spectacles are in French, but for the main ones electronic translators are available. A large part of the workers are the park are volunteers from the local community. During peak season, there's a regular "Cinescene", a huge show depicting 700 years of history in the region, but you will need to book separate tickets for it.
By train
Le Mans is in the western branch of the LGV Atlantique line, about 1 hr from Paris Montparnasse (commonly known as the TGV service). Standard mainline track then runs onward to Angers and Nantes.
By plane
Pays de la Loire is served by two commercial airports:
The region has a good rail network, with the majority of services operated by TER Pays de la Loire.
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Nantes · International · NTE
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