Parc de l'Orangerie

Another impressive place in Strasbourg is the Parc de l'Orangerie. It's one of my favourite places, not only in Strasbourg, but of all the places that I have visited, possibly due to how fond I am of it, having spent a lot of time there, but all of my friends agree with me on this.

This park is outside of the historic centre of the city, but I still consider it to be in the city centre. If you come from Robertsau, passing by the European Parliament, you will find it.

It is both the oldest and the largest park in the city, spreading across 26 hectares. Before the twentieth century, it was considered to be a French-style park, but from the beginning of this century, it has fallen into the category of English-style parks.

In reality, it's a huge green area, that has beautiful places to see and diverse activities to get involved in. It has a diverse range of plants and trees, some of which are centennial; the ones that I have seen were of many different colours and shapes, and I love them all.

The heart of this park would have to be its lake, which seems to be divided into two parts and has lots of swans and ducks, as well as a fountain. At the lake, there is a boat hire service if you want to go around the lake and see the swans up close and personal.

Something that pleasantly surprised us is the free mini zoo within the park. Within it, there is a reserve with swans, which are the emblem of the city. Therefore, you will see that the typical souvenir here is a toy swan. Also, there are some beautiful flamingos, with beautiful colouring. In my opinion, the best thing is the enclosure with monkeys of various sizes, which are really fun to watch, especially seeing how they play with each other.

Another important thing, one you will definitely like, is that there are Mandarin ducks: it's a species of bright and beautiful colours, and, amongst all the ducks that I have seen, it's my favourite. The Mandarin duck originates from China, but thanks to its attractiveness, there are specimens of this species distributed across parks and zoos all over the world. The male would be the striking one (the photo of the duck included below is of a male duck), as the female doesn't have those same colourings and looks like a common duck. In China, a pair of these ducks are gifted to a couple at the country's most important weddings, as they are a symbol of both good fortune and love.

In addition to these, there are also peacocks, ducks, other birds, giant tortoises, etc.

In the part of the park that belongs to the European Council, there is a statue dedicated to Pierre Pfilmlin (1907-2000). This man is famous in France because, besides from playing many different ministerial roles, he was the first Prime Minister of France in 1958 - before Charles de Gaulle - and came to be President of the European Parliament in 1984 until 1987. At the base of the statue, there is an inscription in French that translates in English too: "I fight for a Europe united in peace and freedom, one that's capable of making the spiritual values prevail".

In the middle of the park, there is a beautiful little palace, the 'Josephine Pavillon', which dates back to the beginning of the eighteenth century and whose name comes from the empress, Josephine, who had the building, that served as a royal residence and an orange tree greenhouse, dedicated to her. In 1801, the State gave Strasbourg a collection of 138 orange trees from the gardens of the Bouxwiller Castle, although, they were confiscated by the Republicans during the French Revolution. I think that the park ended up taking its name from this collection of orange trees. Currently, I don't know what purpose this palace actually serves, but it gives the park a special and different touch, and its garden is decorated with lots of flowers; it makes for a beautiful panorama. Also, if you pay close attention, there are swan nests on the roof of the palace (as well as on trees and other things around the city). One day, I could see a swan close to me with a branch that it then added to its nest.

There is also a restaurant in the park - a typical, yet beautiful, Alsatian construction - although I never ended up going in.

The park has a bowling alley, a tea room and kiosks dotted around, where you can buy ice creams, waffles, etc.

At one of the park's entrance, another thing pleasantly surprised me (I guess because the idea of it in Murcia is unthinkable) is the little cabana that ended up being a free library! There were several books, and it wasn't guarded by anyone. You can leave books that you don't want, or take others and enjoy them, then later returning them; and, even without anyone watching over the library, people returned them.

For children, there are: play areas, a kind of driving course where they can play with toy cars (I think you have to pay for this), and green spaces where they can run around and play.

When you have a sunny day, a great idea is to go there for a picnic (you will find lots of other people doing the same thing); you can also sit down on the grass and enjoy the views, sunbathe, read a good book, etc. Another idea that I'll give you is to go in autumn with a camera and have a little photo shoot with friends; we did this, and now we have some good memories and keepsakes. We picked up handfuls of leaves and threw them over our heads while someone took the photo, and we enjoyed the autumnal colours; something that I have not been able to enjoy in my home city before.

The closest tram stop is Droits de L'Homme and is located on Line E. You can get around the Parc de l'Orangerie on foot or by bike, and I recommend doing it both ways! I hope that you like it.