What to visit in Strasbourg
Translated by 
Nadia Abukar
— 4 years ago
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Tags: Erasmus experiences Strasbourg,
Strasbourg,
France
I am finally dedicating this post to a trip to the city of Strasbourg. As promised in the previous posts, I am dedicating this post to things that must be done and places that must absolutely be visited if you are in Strasbourg. This concerns both Erasmus students and tourists.
Firstly, the city can be visited well in three days, but I haven't visited any museum, even though I have been told that they are very interesting, so perhaps four days are more than enough to visit literally everything. However, you might need five days if you would like to be part of special tours, like visiting the city by boat or by taking one of those huge electric scooters. And one more day if you would like to visit the neighbourhood, like the Haut-koenigsbourg castle, which I believe it needs to be absolutely visited! From its historical point of view, the castle has a breath-taking beauty and it is surrounded by a large green area. You can't miss the view of the green space and the river from one of the castle's windows. But if you are not staying for six days and you would like to visit every street, museum and every zone present in the city of Strasbourg, you may not be able to visit the castle, even though I would recommend to visit it instead of the museums. This is simply because if you don't see the things in a museum in person, you can always see them (or just a part of them) online, but the online pictures of the views from the castle or of the castle itself will never be enough to experience the feelings that you would experience when seeing this green space in reality.
Things that need to be absolutely visited if you go to Strasbourg:
- the cathedral
- Place Kléber
- the Christmas Market
- the European institutions
- the Orangerie Park
- the Alsatian Museum
- Petite France
- Barrage Vauban
- Place Gutenberg
- Place de la République
- the botanical garden
In reality, there are many more things that need to be visited, but in this list, I just wanted to include the things that I believe can't be missed for any reason in this world, the rest can be more or less interesting for you, you may want to visit other things as they represent better your passions, so feel free to do so, but this list includes all the main places, which cannot absolutely be missed and I would also add the Haut-Koenigsbourg castle. But let's see in more detail some of this beauties that you will visit in Strasbourg.
Source:https://www.iha.it/Case-vacanze-Affittacamere-bb-bed-and-breakfast-Strasburgo/shP/
Notre Dame Strasbourg Cathedral. The visit of Strasbourg must start from the beautiful Notre Dame Strasbourg Cathedral, which is known to be one of the most important expressions of gothic art in Europe. The cathedral is around 142 metres high, which includes the tall, sharpened and gothic peaks.
From the peak you can enjoy a splendid view of the city, and as mentioned in previous posts, you need to climb up around 300 stairs to reach the highest peak. Once you're there, you can see the Grande-Ile and of course, all the city of Strasbourg. As far as I know, the gate of the cathedral's facade is considered to be one of the biggest representations of the Medieval Bible, because of its particular narrative and symbolic strength. Indeed, some of the episodes from Jesus life are engraved on this gate and there are many more scenes represented all around the cathedral. The inside is simpler than the outside.
The inside is very spacious with three things that can be absolutely considered the absolute characters of the cathedral:
- the coloured glass
- the astronomical clock (a clock dating 1572, every day at 12:30, then the clock looks being late because it marks 12 o'clock and it starts up a mechanism which sees as a character Christ Blessing with the procession of the Apostles and at the end, there is a rooster who sings three times.
- The Pillar of Angels with three orders of statues located in front of the astronomical clock.
Well, once you have visited the cathedral, you have to visit the Cathedral Square too. That is where the junction of Strasbourg old town is and it overlooks some of the most important buildings of the city. Apart from the cathedral, which gave its name to the square, the Kammerzell House (Maison) also attracts the square, it is one of the most beautiful houses of Strasbourg. A rich cheese merchant wanted the Maison Kammerzell and I think that his name was Bronn. This man requested to build some small shops with stones, which are still quite visible. The top of the house, where Bronn used to live and had his store, is made of wood and it is decorated with some animals, soldiers and with some unnatural figures. As it can be noticed today, the house was named after Kammerzell, a grocer who bought the house in 1806, and not after Bronn who requested to build it. Today the house is a restaurant and it is not hard to tell that as the square is the most touristic and crowded place of Strasbourg, indeed it hosts a lot of restaurants, which at the end, they are the most expensive and less typical of the city as it is a very touristic zone.
Place Kléber
This square is one of the most beautiful squares in Europe, indeed it was nominated by Unesco heritage. The square was dedicated to the general Strasbourgeois (this is how the citizens of Strasbourg are called) Kléber. The square is exactly in the middle of the old town, it was conquered thousand of times by the Germans and then again by the French, it has some majestic buildings, a statue of Kléber and some typical houses of the Alsatian region. During Christas time, it hosts the Christmas tree and there are many libraries, shops, restaurants and coffee shops. The radio RBS 'Radio Bienvenue Strasbourg' is located exactly in this square. I have already spoken about this radio as I did a programme about the frequency of RBS.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_Kl%C3%A9ber
Thetrong> Christmas Market
Strasbourg is known to be the capital of Christmas, /strong> since 1570, when it hosted the first Christmas Market (or better known as Le Marché de Noël) in the world. The Christmas markets are not a tradition in the Alsace only, but in Germany, Belgium and Holland too, so in the Nordic countries. The evenings are the most fascinating and festive moments of the tradition as that is when the markets are invaded by thousands of magical lights and by the crowd of tourists. Of course, the chaos may not attract you, but the atmosphere is fantastic and unique. You must absolutely taste: the vin chaud and the traditional cakes which are everywhere in the stalls. The souvenirs are expensive but very floristic, so really, you could break the law and buy at least one.
The European institutions
Visitors can assist to one of the four monthly plenary sessions and observe the democracy taking place in the European Parliament. The entry is free of charge, but you need to book at least two months in advance and the sessions are available in different languages, so don't be afraid if you don't speak French. You could also visit the Court of Human Rights and the Council of Europe. All the other institutions, including the other headquarters of the European Parliament, the European Union Council, which is not the same one as the European Council, are in Brussels, which is 6 hours by bus or 2 by train from Strasbourg.
Le parc de l'Orangerie
A huge park which hosts museums, a zoo (if you want to visit it without entering), a lake and a lot of fun. You have to absolutely visit the park, and if you have time, have a picnic in the park as it is a unique and a peculiar tradition in the French culture of this region. The park is in the north of the city, so it is not part of the circle which surrounds the centre, but it is worth visiting the park, ideally when you are in the European institutions zone, as it is far away from the centre of Strasbourg.
La Petite France
The super romantic people that want to make the most of Strasbourg to make a good impression on someone in particular, or simply those that want to do it for themselves, they have the possibility to do it by visiting the zone of Strasbourg, known as the Petite-France, it has the least touched part which is left from the old town and it is perhaps the zone most used for postcards which represent the city. In fact, the district has been for many centuries the district where millers used to live in as well as tanners and fishermen. Today it offers a French atmosphere where people sip a coffee in one of the coffee shops in front of the river, this is one of the most relxing things to do.
The houses remained almost exactly the same as when they were in 1500, what makes them special is the sloping roof and the little balconies with the geraniums. Some of these houses have substituted what used to be shops with handcrafted laboratories or with souvenir shops that are very popular and make a profit in the Alsatian capital. The Petite France remains a popular zone to photographs who try to take different pictures from different corners, known as "Ponts Couverts”, which are the covered bridges. Despite the name, these bridges lost their covering around the 1700s, yet they are still named covered bridges. In the past, they were used as a strategic point for defence in the city, so they had a military purpose, because they were used from the towers from which you could see the enemy just in case of an attack.
Source: https://bananie.wordpress.com/2013/06/02/conference-week-in-alsace/
The Alsatian museum
As the Petite France offers some historical remembrances, the Alsatian museum, located in the historical helmet of Strasbourg, hosts a collection of traditional objects original from Strasbourg history, including military objects.
Barrage Vauban
The Vaudam Dam also has a military purpose.
The place was named after its founder, an engineer who wanted to create this dam to flood the city of Strasbourg, mainly the south area, in case of an attack from enemies. So once again, the strategical position represented from the city of Strasbourg is still visible today through the monuments who remain very lively inside the city and they can be used in case of future wars, which of course none of us would wish it, but having seen the current European climate, it is also fair to be a bit realistic. On the tip of the dam, there is a panoramic viewpoint, which is the Barrage Vauban where you can enjoy a view without having any previous clue of the city.
La Place Gutenberg
Source: http://www.wikiwand.com/fr/Place_Gutenberg
Place Gutenberg, dedicated to the anonymous man who invented different things, and if I am not mistaken, he was the first one who published something through the invention of the press, or was it him who invented it? You can't know everything in this world. Well, the square is very special, especially in the evening, and especially during the Christmas marketperiod. In 2015, there were stalls dedicated to Belgium, so they were making Goffres and they were selling the Belgium chocolate. Every year, there is a country in particular which is represented in the Christmas market of Strasbourg, and the square is in the south of the city and place Kléber is more in the north, you will experience it whether you like it or not.
La Place de la Répubique
The square is part of the quarter called the new city, so it is in the modern city. There are 5 buildings in this majestic square and they all need to be visited at least from the outside because they are beautiful. My favourite one is the National and International Library, then the National Theatre of Strasbourg, the Palace of the Rhin 'Rhine' and finally you will find the Monument of the dead.
All around it there is a circular garden. The square is in the north of the city, more to the south than the Orangerie Park and close to the Sciences Po University, which I talked about earlier. Here you can find one of the university canteens, known as 'Resto U' in all the city. There are many of these university restaurants and as the name suggests, Resto U, you can eat here if you are a student from any French university. Very Cool!
Here's the link, if you want to know more about it. Here's where you can read about Science Po Strasbourg University: http://erasmusu.com/it/erasmus-strasburgo/erasmus-esperienze/erasmus-a-strasburgo-397410
Botanical garden
Let's end with the botanical garden. The botanical garden of Strasbourg university offers the Astronomicall Observatory. It is also in the corner of Strasbourg Science Po University. Although in my opinion it is enough going past the observatory, if you are interested in it, you can spend longer than expected in the vegetable garden. I took advantage of the fresh and clean air and relaxed on one of the benches available there.
Here's what needs to be visited if you go past Strasbourg city and if you need any other information, do not hesitate to contact me privately or just leave a comment down here if you want.
Here's a final ink if you want to read something more about Strasbourg city, the link brings you to my post about my Erasmus experience in Strasbourg:
http://erasmusu.com/it/erasmus-strasburgo/erasmus-esperienze/erasmus-a-strasburgo-398281
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- Italiano: Cosa visitare a Strasburgo
- Español: Qué visitar en Estrasburgo
- English: What to visit in Strasbourg
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