Every
morning when travelling in France should start with croissants. As such, we
started our down at Atelier 116, a boulangerie right in the heart of the town,
for croissants and freshly squeezed orange juice. Then, we began our walking
tour which began right alongside the Danube. One of our first stops was the
covered bridges, where you can head upstairs and actually walk along the terrace
on top of the bridge – very cool.
We
followed the brick streets to ‘Petite France’, a very picturesque area with
quintessential Alsatian design and the homes of fishermen, millers, and
tanners. This area is home to the Maison des Tanneurs, built in 1572, and
apparently the most beautiful building in Strasbourg!
The highlight of our walk was undoubtedly the Notre-Dame de Strasbourg cathedral, an imposing structure situated in the central square. There seemed to be no better way to see the city than from its spire, so we paid our 8 Euros and begin the climb. Three hundred plus steps later (with beautiful views all the way up) and we’d reached the viewing platform just below the main tower.
I
loved how this area was set up – you walk through a small museum explaining the
construction of the cathedral (there were originally meant to be two towers!)
and then out into the open air. There is fairly open fencing surrounding this
area for safety reasons, but you can still get an excellent vantage point. I
particularly enjoyed the cones that dotted the fences which, when looked
through, pointed out some of the most important buildings in Strasbourg. Well
worth a visit.
Back on ground level, we checked out the equally impressive inside of the cathedral. Next to sunsets, my favourite thing of beauty has to be stained glass windows, and the Notre Dame had them in spades (little did I know one of them would appear later!) The cathedral is vast and glorious, and brought back sweet memories of another of my favourite buildings in the world, Durham Cathedral. As well as the stained glass windows, you must make sure to check out the organ, without a doubt the largest I’d ever seen. The cathedral is open to visitors, but ensure you don’t go at lunchtime when it’s shut!
Speaking of lunch, it was about time to get something to eat, and what better to eat than macarons. Right next to the cathedral, you’ll find Le Lautrec and its vast array of flavours. I took my time choosing, eventually settling on mango, passionfruit & raspberry; sakura & cherry; vanilla, caramel & pecan, and pear & combawa. All utterly delicious, and quite frankly better than those I’d had in Paris!
Croissants? Check. Macarons? Check. The only thing missing on my French foodie list was, of course, chocolat chaud, so we rested a while on the steps of the Opera House, where a café was set up overlooking that day’s market. Glorious. We crossed the canal to the Jardin de la Place de la Republique, a tranquil area that would make a great stop on a sunny afternoon, and surrounded by even more gorgeous buildings like the Palais du Rhin and University Library.
There is so much fantastic architecture in Strasbourg, and you could easily spend a day just hopping from one beautiful building to the next. For us, however, that evening was spent hopping from restaurant to restaurant, because they all seemed full! Everywhere we went, we were told there was no space, and had walked 3.5km before we finally found one that was a) good and b) had available seats.
Our choice: Le Bistrot Des Cocottes. The menu was large, but not particularly vegetarian friendly, so I ended up having a starter as my main - vegetable ravioli with ‘perfectly cooked eggs’ in a saffron sauce. But guess this: it was big, and it was delicious. I was perfectly happy with that as my main course, and couldn’t even bring myself to look at the dessert list, I was so full!
Last on our checklist – a place to stay. Was I expecting something amazing from the Best Western Monopole Metropole? No. Did I get it? Yes. The hotel was a pinnacle of modern design. Sleek, expertly lit corridors leading you to upmarket hotel rooms a dash more exciting than your average white-walled room. I honestly think I must have had the best room in the whole hotel – the entire wall behind my bed was taken up by a huge lightbox illuminating one of the stained glass windows from the cathedral. Strasbourg through and through.
Tips from visiting Strasbourg:
- Come on an empty stomach. As far as I’m aware, Strasbourg isn’t necessarily known as a ‘food capital’, but I think it should be. We sampled a tiny selection of what the city had to offer, but had we had more time there, you’d best believe I would have been trying anywhere and everywhere.
- On the topic of food, book a restaurant! We were there mid-week, off-season, and still struggled to find somewhere to eat. Bearing in mind we had to walk 3.5km and check out probably a dozen restaurants before we found one, save yourself the trouble and reserve a table at one you’d like.
- Work off all that food by walking up the cathedral. If you don’t have time to do full walking tours of the city, this is also a great way to see everything you need to all at once, and also get a unique view of the cathedral itself that many others would miss out on.
I hope you're enjoying all of my Eurotrip blogs! There's still more to come, so make sure to stay tuned on Twitter @CiarasCountry to be the first to know when the next one is posted, and let me know where is on your travel bucket list! Thanks so much for reading!
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