Nantes (pronounced “Nawnt”) is a French city nestled in the Loire Valley 20 miles from the Atlantic coast in Brittany, the thriving commercial hub of the “Loire Atlantique”. This port and industrial city is approximately 350 miles southwest of Paris. Nantes is the eighth largest city in France, with 790,318 inhabitants (2007 estimate). Nantes twinned with Jacksonville Florida in 1984.