Nantes (Breton: Naoned; Gallo: Naunnt) is a city in western France, near the Atlantic coast, with 711,120 inhabitants in its metropolitan area at the 1999 census. Nantes is the préfecture of the Pays de la Loire région, as well as the Loire-Atlantique département. It is also the most important city of the historic province of Brittany, and culturally still remains strongly identified with it. In 2004, Time described Nantes as the "the most livable city in all of Europe".