Strasbourg France - REPOST

Updated Nov 11, 2026 - added details and photos

Originally published Nov 16, 2012

Oct 7 -8 Toronto to Amsterdam

Oct 9 - Amsterdam - Delft - The Hague - Madurodam

Oct 10 2012 - Amsterdam - MS Amadeus Princess

Oct 11 MS Amadeus Princess Amsterdam - Volendam

Oct 12 MS Amadeus Princess Dusseldorf  - Cologne Germany

Oct 13 MS Amadeus Princess Cologne - Cochem Germany

Oct 14 MS Amadeus Princess Koblenz - Ruedesheim Germany

Oct 15 MS Amadeus Princess Mannheim - Heildelberg - Speyer Germany

Oct 16 MS Amadeus Princess Strasburg France

This morning we cross into France and may choose to join an optional tour of the fascinating Alsatian capital of Strasbourg. Or there is an optional excursion which takes you on a tour of the scenic Alsace wine region, complete with the chance to taste some of the region's excellent wines.

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Originally we were supposed to spend the day in Strasbourg, which we were really looking forward to. That way you could do the city tour in the morning and then the wine tour in the afternoon. However, according to the tour director the locks going towards Basel were under repair so they had to arrange both tours for the morning with departure for Basel at 1PM. This was very disappointing as we had looked forward to stopping and dining in town.

Strasbourg, in eastern France, is the seventh largest city in France. Strasbourg has a rich architectural history - the entire city center of Strasbourg is classified as world heritage. Strasbourg makes a fine center for exploration of the Alsace region of France.
Strasbourg is the ultimate European city. It has flavors of both France and Germany, and sits right on the border of the two countries.

The historic center of Strasbourg, known as the Grande-Île, is a UNESCO World Heritage site centered around the Gothic sandstone cathedral and nearby landmarks like the Place du Château.
 

We began our tour of the city around the home of the European Parliament and the seat of the Council of Europe, something I was not aware of.
We finally had a bright sunny day a little on the cool side.

 "Human Rights" (Droits de l'Homme) by Spanish sculptor Mariano González Beltrán.

The Synagogue de la Paix (Great Synagogue of Peace) is the main place of worship for the Jewish community in Strasbourg.

 Built to replace the historic neo-Romanesque Quai Kléber synagogue, which was looted and burned by the Nazis on September 12, 1940.

We did a quick tour of the town and then we were dropped off and taken on a walking trip into the old pedestrian part of town.

A souvenir shop (one of many) selling toy storks.

Source for the following information.

Storks have been a part of the Alsatian scenery for many centuries. Once very numerous, they would return every year from Africa to announce the coming of spring in France. However it seemed they were becoming an endangered species in recent years. Luckily, efforts were made to help the storks return and establish their nests in the Alsatian trees and chimney stacks. This goal was well accomplished as they now have returned more numerous than ever. Since the inception of stork parks, some never leave, even during the winter months. They stay put all year long much to the delight of the Alsatian population, as storks are the symbol of happiness and faithfulness. As everyone knows, it is the stork that brings babies wrapped in bundles, firmly held in their beaks. Alsatian custom used to have a child who wanted a little brother or sister place a piece of sugar on the window ledge to attract the stork, in the hope it would leave the precious bundle in exchange for the treat.

Tomi Ungerer designed the Janus Aqueduct, a monument celebrating 2000 years of the city’s existence and symbolizing its dual culture.

Ungerer grew up in the mixed German/French culture of Alsace. He survived the Nazi occupation only to see the French attempting to stamp out the traditionally Germanic aspects of Alsacian culture after the war had ended.

Tomi Ungerer was born in Strasbourg in Alsace in 1931.

Tomi has lived and worked in Strasbourg, New York, Canada and Ireland and his work has been widely acclaimed with numerous honours and awards, including:

- Legion d'Honneur France (1990)

- Order of the Deutsches Bundesverdienstdreuz Germany (1993)

- National Prize for Graphic Arts France (1995)

- Hans Christian Andersen Prize for children's literature (1998)

- European Prize for Culture (1999)

- Officer of the Legion d'Honneur France (2000)

- Named Goodwill Ambassador for Childhood and Education of Council of Europe (2003)

- Erich Käistner Literary Prize (2004)

- Awarded an honorary Doctorate in Philosophy from the University of Karlsruhe (2004) 

You can read more about this fascinating man at his website. Here is a link to his movie Far Out Isn't Far Enough which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2012.

The Kammerzell House is a magnificent 15th and 16th century Renaissance house which has the most richly decorated half-timbered panels in the city. Built by cheesemonger Martin Braun, its medieval ground floor is made of stone and its upper floors, of Renaissance style, are made of sculpted wood. Its façade features 65 bottle-bottom windows, whose sculpted frames depict both biblical and mythological scenes.


The corner post sculpted in wood represents the three virtues: on the first floor, Charity (surrounded by two children and a pelican), and on the second and third floors Hope (a phoenix) and Faith (a griffin).

This often-overlooked and surprisingly cosmopolitan destination hosts France's oldest Christmas market and features a stunning cathedral. In fact, Strasbourg has often changed hands between the French and Germans over the centuries.

Germany or France?

It can be hard to discern which country you are truly in while visiting. The signs are in both languages. Beer and wine are both tremendously popular. It's common to find dishes like sauerkraut, but spelled in French ("choucroute").

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The architecture is distinctly German, yet the Ill River winds a Venice-like path through the city, and plays host to many cruise tours of the city.

Strasbourg is so huge, one could spend days exploring it. There are certain attractions here you don't dare miss, however, such as:

Strasbourg Cathedral is one of Europe's most beautiful example of gothic architecture. The stunning pink sandstone facade is quite unique and breathtaking. Be sure to wander inside, where intricate carvings captivate. Each day at 12:30 p.m., visitors can see the circa-1800s astrological clock with its lengthy show. 

Click here for more photos.

Check out the shoes I bought in Heidelberg!

The cathedral is also a hub of activity, with shops and restaurants nearby. The courtyard out front hosts the city's immensely popular Christmas market.

Our city tour included a canal ride, batorama tour. The boats are enclosed which is a good thing on a cool day but leads to terrible photos due to the reflection.

La Petite France is easily Strasbourg's prettiest and most enchanting neighborhood, and arguably one of the best neighborhoods in all of France. Stroll along its streets, along bridges over the Ill River. Breathe in the scent of fresh-baked gingerbread or the inviting aromas from the restaurants. Gaze at the timbered buildings, bursting with blooming plants that earned this city the prestigious four-flower ranking.



Au Pont Saint-Martin is a historic 16th-century tannery converted into a traditional Alsatian restaurant on the banks of the River Ill. Situated at the entrance to the Petite France quarter, the building is famous for its tiered, covered wooden terraces built on stilts directly over the water.
 Constructed in the 1500s in Strasbourg Renaissance style, the half-timbered building originally served as a tannery along the river's edge.

Built between 1894 and 1898 by the Danish architect Skjold Neckelmann. It serves as the main courthouse (Tribunal de Grande Instance) for Strasbourg.

The Barrage Vauban (Vauban Dam), originally known as the Great Lock (Grande Écluse), is a 17th-century defensive bridge and weir spanning the River Ill at the edge of Strasbourg's historic Petite France district. Commissioned by King Louis XIV following the city's annexation by France, the structure was built between 1686 and 1690 by French engineer Jacques Tarade using plans drawn up by the renowned military architect Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban. Constructed from pink Vosges sandstone, the 120-meter-long bridge rests on 13 arches fitted with massive sluice gates. Its primary military purpose was to block the river's flow during a siege, artificially raising the water level to flood the entire southern approaches of the city and turn the terrain into an impassable marsh for invading armies. This defensive strategy was famously put to use in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War, when Prussian forces besieged Strasbourg and the dam successfully flooded the northern section of the Neudorf suburb.

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5 Quai de Paris featuring an old painted advertisement for Groupe Centenaire des Assurances Alsaciennes — La Cité-Vie.

Originally known as a department store (such as the former Hermann Tietz store), the building was later modified in 1923–1924 by architect David Falk to serve as a Citroën garage, and has since been used for other purposes including hotel spaces.

The Caserne Finkwiller is an active waterfront fire station located at 15 Quai Finkwiller in Strasbourg, constructed between 1897 and 1898. It was originally billed as an "ultra-modern" facility designed to integrate land and river rescue operations.

The site previously held an 1876 fire pump depot (Feuerspritzenhaus n°4) before the current barracks were built.

The plans are widely attributed to Johann Karl Ott, who served as Strasbourg's city architect during the late 19th century.

The distinctive arched base extending over the Ill River functions as a built-in boathouse. It gives firefighters direct water access to launch rescue vessels and pump water during fires.

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This style of wall painting and sign is commonly found in traditional wine regions like Alsace (France) or southwestern Germany, depicting a Pfiffer (piper or flute player), often associated with local historic guilds or taverns (Winstub).

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Walking back to the bus.

The street gets its name from the Ancienne Douane (s'Kaafhüs in Alsatian), the Old Customs House that occupies the south side of the road. Built in 1358, it was once Strasbourg's most important civic building, where merchants paid taxes on transit goods like wine, tobacco, and fish.

Before it was called Rue de la Douane in the 18th century, the street was known in the Middle Ages as An dem Salzhof ("Near the Salt Court") and Am Kran ("Near the Crane"), referring to the massive treadwheel cranes that unloaded river cargo from the Ill.

Originally constructed in Gothic style between 1358 and 1389, it served as a medieval customs house and river port warehouse. The building was heavily damaged during Allied air raids in August 1944 and later rebuilt between 1962 and 1965 by architect Robert Will.

 It is classified as a historic monument (monument historique) and houses a restaurant along with a local producer-run market space (La Nouvelle Douane).

This stone carving is a mascaron—an architectural ornament in the form of a human face or mask, often carved above keystones of arches, entryways, or windows on historic European buildings.

7 rue du Dôme, located just north of the Strasbourg Cathedral in the historic city center (Grande Île). It depicts the Allegory of America, featuring a feathered headdress and pearl necklace, sculpted in local pink Vosges sandstone. Built starting in 1744 by master mason Jacques Gallay, it is one of five mascarons on the first-floor facade representing the Four Continents (America, Europe, Asia, Africa) alongside an Allegory of Architecture.

The Monument de la Marseillaise stands on Place Broglie. The sculpture sits in a small, tree-lined garden space right next to the Hôtel de Ville (Strasbourg City Hall) at the corner of Rue de la Comédie.

Across the square stands the Banque de France building, which marks the former home of Mayor Philippe-Frédéric de Dietrich. Commemorative plaques on its facade note that Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle sang "La Marseillaise" there for the very first time in April 1792.

The architecture reflects a blend of French and German influences typical of the city. The steep, multi-tiered clay tile roofs with rows of rounded, copper-clad dormer windows (lucarnes) are a classic feature of Strasbourg's historic townhouses, particularly around the Grande Île and Neustadt districts.

Built to shed heavy winter snow and maximize attic storage or living space across multiple levels.

Beaver-Tail Tiles (Tuiles en queue de castor). The flat, rounded clay shingles seen on the roof and mansard wall are traditional across Alsace and southern Germany.

Rounded eyebrow or barrel dormers with patinated green copper hoods bring natural light into the multi-level attic floors

French and German.

Built in 1385 and named "Zum Widderer" (At the Ram).

Burned down in 1564, rebuilt in 1565 and renamed "Zum Vogel Strauss" (At the Ostrich).

       The image shows a view of Rue des Orfèvres (Goldsmiths' Street).  Historically known in German as Goldschmidtgass, the narrow pedestrian street is famous for its fine shops, chocolatiers (such as Weiss), and traditional architecture.

That is NOT an Irish pub! It is actually the official coat of arms for Cleebourg, a small winemaking village in the Alsace region of France.

The white shield features a green three-leaf clover (trèfle in French) with the name CLEEBOURG printed across the top. In German and Alsatian dialects, Klee translates to "clover." The clover on the shield is a traditional heraldic pun (armes parlantes) representing the village's name.

Back on board and we have lunch as we set sail for Basel. 

Sailing upstream from Strasbourg to Basel takes you through 8 locks over roughly 130 kilometers (80 miles), lifting your ship nearly 100 meters in elevation. Because you are traveling against the current and climbing toward Switzerland, each transit takes about 25 to 35 minutes from approach to exit.

On our TV.

On most Rhine cruises, ships sail from Strasbourg to Basel overnight, leaving passengers asleep during the steepest part of the river. In the autumn of 2012, however, annual lock maintenance turned our transit into a rare daytime journey.

Because French waterway authorities drain one chamber at each lock every autumn for pre-winter servicing, single-chamber bottlenecks slow down river traffic behind commercial barges. To stay on schedule, our captain departed Strasbourg early at 1:00 PM, giving us a front-row seat to all eight locks—and a nearly 100-meter climb—in daylight.

Aboard ship.

Later in the day we were given our instructions for disembarkation tomorrow in Basel. We will be staying for a couple of nights there.

The Captain's Farewell Dinner was held tonight with the requisite Baked Alaska that every cruise line seems to serve on the last night.