Normandy, Brittany & the Best of the North_ With Paris (Fodor's) - Fodor's [90]
Walking tours of Strasbourg’s Vieille Ville are directed by the tourist office for €6.80 and depart at 2:30 every Saturday afternoon in low season, daily at 10:15 in July and August; many enjoy taking the Strasbourg minitram tours (03–88–77–70–03 | €5.20); they leave from Place du Cháteau, by the cathedral.
Strasbourg is a big town, but the center is easily explored on foot, or, more romantically, by boat. Fluvial Strasbourg (03–88–84–13–13 | www.strasbourg.port.fr) organizes 70-minute boat tours along the Ill four times a day in winter and up to every half hour starting at 10:30 during the day from April through October (plus nocturnal tours until 10 PM May–September). Boats leave from behind the Palais Rohan; the cost is €8.
Visitor Information
Strasbourg Tourist Office (17 pl. de la Cathédrale | 67000 | 03–88–52–28–28 | www.ot-strasbourg.fr | 4 pl. de la Gare | 67000 | 03–88–32–51–49); there’s also a city tourist office at the train station.
EXPLORING STRASBOURG
The Romans knew Strasbourg as Argentoratum before it came to be known as Strateburgum, or City of (Cross) Roads. After centuries as part of the Germanic Holy Roman Empire, the city was united with France in 1681, but retained independence regarding legislation, education, and religion under the honorific title Free Royal City. Since World War II Strasbourg has become a symbolic city, embodying Franco-German reconciliation and the wider idea of a united Europe. The city center is effectively an island within two arms of the River Ill; most major sites are found here, but the northern districts also contain some fine buildings erected over the last 100 years, culminating in the Palais de l’Europe. You can buy a one-day pass for all the city museums for €8 or a three-day pass for €10.
Note to drivers: the configuration of downtown streets makes it difficult to approach the center via the autoroute exit marked STRASBOURG CENTRE. Instead, hold out for the exit marked PLACE DE L’ÉTOILE and follow signs to CATHÉDRALE/CENTRE VILLE. At Place du Corbeau, veer left across the Ill, and go straight to the Place Gutenberg parking garage, a block from the cathedral.
THE HISTORIC HEART
This central area, from the cathedral to picturesque Petite France, concentrates the best of Old Strasbourg, with its twisting backstreets, flower-lined courts, tempting shops, and inviting winstubs (wine taverns).
TOP ATTRACTIONS IN THE HISTORIC HEART
Cathédrale Notre-Dame (Astronomical Clock).
Dark pink, ornately carved Vosges sandstone masonry covers the facade of this most novel and Germanic of French cathedrals, a triumph of Gothic art begun in 1176. Not content with the outlines of the walls themselves, medieval builders lacily encased them with slender stone shafts. The off-center spire, finished in 1439, looks absurdly fragile as it tapers skyward some 466 feet; you can climb 330 steps to the base of the spire to take in sweeping views of the city, the Vosges Mountains, and the Black Forest.
The interior presents a stark contrast to the facade: it’s older (mostly finished by 1275), and the nave’s broad windows emphasize the horizontal rather than the vertical. Note Hans Hammer’s ornately sculpted pulpit (1484–86) and the richly painted 14th- to 15th-century organ loft that rises from pillar to ceiling. The left side of the nave is flanked with richly colored Gothic windows honoring the early leaders of the Holy Roman Empire—Otto I and II, and Heinrich I and II. The choir is not ablaze with stained glass but framed by chunky Romanesque masonry. The elaborate 16th-century Chapelle St-Laurent, to the left of the choir, merits a visit; turn to the right to admire the Pilier des Anges (Angels’ Pillar), an intricate column dating from 1230.
Just beyond the pillar, the Renaissance machinery of the 16th-century Horloge Astronomique whirs into action daily at 12:30 PM (but the line starts at the south door at 11:45 AM): macabre clockwork figures enact the story of Christ’s Passion. One of the highlights: when the apostles walk past, a likeness of Christ