A Day in Strasbourg

I visited Strasbourg the first time in 1979 and fell in love with it.  That "affair" has now lasted over 40 years.  It is a magical city for many reasons and it a wonderful combination of old medieval buildings and the modern complex where the buildings of the EU Headquarters are located.  The Grand Ile and Neustadt, together, are a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site.  

Over the years, I have driven into the city and parked in one of the underground parkades under the main squares like Place Kleber or Place Guttenberg.  Then, a few years ago, following the advice of my friend who lives here, I started using the "Park and Ride" where the fee to park was very reasonable and included tram tickets for the driver and passengers to go into the city.  Another option my friend has been using - which makes significantly more sense, particularly because of gas prices - is to take a train into the city.  So, yesterday, we drove to Benfeld, about a 15 minute drive from Rhinau, parked the car for free and took the 10:14 train to Strasbourg.  That is about a 25 minute ride.  We bought the tickets online using the SNCF app I have on my phone.  Also of note, masks are still required to be worn in train stations, on the train platforms and on the trains.  Taking the train was also good practice for next Friday when we will be taking the same train to connect with a TGV train to Paris.

Before I go into what we got up to during our visit, here is some background information on Strasbourg taken from the Internet with some edits by me.

Grand Ile is enclosed by the boundary of the Ill River and the Canal du Faux-Rempart, the “Grande Ile” island is connected by 21 bridges and footbridges to the rest of the city, of which it comprises the historic core. It features a remarkably high-quality collection of monuments:  the cathedral‘s single spire towers over the city’s steep roofs, with their quaint dormer windows on several levels; the churches of St. Thomas, St. Pierre-le-Vieux, St. Pierre le Jeune and St. Etienne, the buildings of the Oeuvre Notre-Dame, the former Grande Boucherie (slaughtershouse), the Neubau  (the current Chamber of Commerce and Industry), the Palais Rohan and the Aubette all fit together as pieces of a very intricate urban fabric.

Neustadt, the other part of the heritage site, is so named because it was the “new town”, built from nothing between 1871 and 1914 after the Prussian annexation.  This development tripled the city’s surface area and became the gold standard of the Reichsland in Alsace-Lorraine.  As a whole, it is characterized by the unity and exceptional quality of the architecture and urban planning, which integrates it beautifully into a setting of wide-open views of artfully designed landscaping.  Thus, Strasbourg emerged a modern, functional city, representative of the technical advances and hygiene policies at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries and enabling it to compete with the major transformations that cities such as Berlin and Paris were also experiencing at that time.  

Neustadt was also called the German quarter or the imperial quarter) and is the extension of the city carried out by the German authorities during the period of the cession of Alsace Lorraine.  Its construction, from the 1880s until the start of the First World War, enabled Strasbourg to triple its area. 

We arrived just before 11 and started to explore the city.  The famous cathedral is about a 20 minute very easy walk from the train station.  Our first stop was the Tourist Information and then we went to the Batorama office next door to buy tickets for the uncovered extended boat tour leaving at noon.  There are two boats tours, one which includes going to the area where the EU parliament and associated buildings are located.  The last time I was here, I made the mistake of doing the shorter tour.  That new area is not to be missed.

On our way to the boat dock, we stopped to take photos of the exterior of the cathedral.  The doors close 11:45 to the general public and only those who have tickets to see the astronomical clock do its thing at noon are admitted.  We went into the cathedral after the boat tour and our lunch.

Cathedral Square with the famous Kammerzell House

The boat tour goes along the Ill River, basically making a circle around Grand Ile.  It starts by heading towards La Petite France, a district of the old town where the tanners were located.  Along the way, you pass several historic buildings including churches and a building where the original slaughterhouse was located. To get there the boat has to go through a lock because the water level is over 1 metre higher.  That took about 5 minutes.  Petite France is the city's lively tourist hub, known for cobblestone streets, canals, and well-preserved half-timbered homes like the Tanners’ House, built in 1572.  After La Petite France is the 17th-century Barrage Vauban, a covered bridge and dam with a terrace offering panoramic views. In the same area are some of the towers that represented the original fortifications of the old city.   

Dock for the Batorama

The Original Slaughterhouse

The Tanners' House

Barrage Vauban (covered bridge)

The tour continued going through another lock to lower the boat to a different water level.  At that point, we were in the Neustadt area.  The architecture here is considered the best surviving example of the Imperial German period.  After that, we saw the EU buildings including the parliament and the centre for human rights as well as the ARTE building, the bi-lingual TV station,

The European Court of Human Rights

The EU Parliament Building

The ARTE Building

The boat then made its way back to the dock.  Next up was lunch as it was after 1 and we were getting hungry.  We stopped at a restaurant in the little square between the boat dock and Place de la Cathedrale and ate at a restaurant called Muensterstuewal.  I ordered spaetzli with a mushroom cream sauce and enjoyed Riesling wine (sis had beer) sitting in the sun.  It is so nice to be able to eat outside again!  

After lunch, we visited the cathedral and, from there, walked to La Petite France to take some photos of that iconic part of Strasbourg.  

The pulpit

The organ case

The famous astronomical clock

In La Petite France

The Tanners' House

A new take on street begging!

As luck would have it, we got back to the train station with one minute to spare to get on our train back to Benfeld.  It had been a great day.  As a side note, I think it was the first time I have ever been on a regional train here when our tickets were checked.