The capital of the Alsace region in the north-eastern France, located in the border with Germany. The city's name is of Germanic origin and means "Town (at the crossing) of roads". Strasbourg is the seat of several European institutions such as the Council of Europe and the European Parliament.
("No, I haven't seen any Portuguese deputy." ;-)
We have begun our tour in the famous Petite France neighbourhood,
a name given by the former German inhabitants because of the numerous prostitutes who used to work there in the Middle Ages.
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| From Strasbourg |
The timber-framing houses we see on the photos are, perhaps, the best example of the Franco-German culture fusion in Strasbourg.
Although violently disputed throughout history, the city has been a bridge of unity between France and Germany for centuries.
The University of Strasbourg, currently the largest in France, and the co-existence of Catholic and Protestant culture are the main reasons for this enjoyable sfeer.
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| From Strasbourg |
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| From Strasbourg |
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| From Strasbourg |
Below, photos of Strasbourg's historic city centre, the Grande Île ("Grand Island"), classified as a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1988.
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| From Strasbourg |
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| From Strasbourg |
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| From Strasbourg |
After this gezellig moment, we went to Strasbourgh's Cathedral, today the sixth-tallest church in the world.
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| From Strasbourg |
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| From Strasbourg |
This Cathedral has a life-sized group of sculptures, "Christ on the Mount of Olives", in the northern transept...
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| From Strasbourg |
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| From Strasbourg |
and, in the south transept, a 18m astronomical clock, one of the largest in the world.
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| From Strasbourg |
This clock dates from 1843. Its main features, besides the automata, are a perpetual calendar (including a computus), an orrery (planetary dial), a display of the real position of the Sun and the Moon, and solar and lunar eclipses.
We didn't know that the main attraction was the procession of the life-size figures of Christ and the Apostles which occurs every day at 12:30pm. This walkabout also occurs at midnight.
In front of the Cathedral, we enjoyed this sweet moment...
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| From Strasbourg |
before the lunch in Maison Kammerzell, a 1427 building, in the Cathedral's Square.
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We toasted to the vacation with the Alsace typical glasses...Sante!!
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...because we were about 5 hours away home...
In the souvenir stores, I found these postcards with the typical Alsace costumes...looks familiar?? ;-)
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| From Strasbourg |
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| From Strasbourg |
By the way, my Quiche Lorraine was delicious... ;-)
The next entry will be about our journey from Almere to Portugal.
Have a nice week!!!
