Strasboug's Grand Island

Hi Everyone,
Today’s post will cover Strasbourg’s Grand Island and our visit there a couple of weeks ago. Strasbourg is a beautiful city, and I’m happy to have had the chance to visit and see this city. This is one of the best parts of being an expat in the Czech Republic—taking opportunities to travel to other places. You can travel from Prague to most of Europe at a reasonable cost. Prague offers many different ways to travel: by plane, train, coach buses, rental car and even by bike. Living in the heart of Europe has given me some wonderful opportunities to see and do things I never would have done. Strasbourg was another great travel opportunity, and I’m happy to have seen it.


The most ancient part of Strasbourg sits on the Grand Island, in the center of Strasbourg. This area has been inhabited since prehistoric times, and was once a Roman military outpost called Argentoratum. The first mention of Aregentoratum is in 12 BC. The center of Argentoratum was actually where the Notre Dame Cathedral now sits. This spot was once a Roman sanctuary, or holy place. After the Roman occupation, the area was occupied, in turn, by the Alemanni, Huns and Franks.


During our exploration of the Grand Island, Jiri and I didn’t mange to find any Roman ruins or other artifacts, but we did find houses and buildings very well preserved from Medieval times. Strasbourg did suffer some damage from Allied bombing during WWII, however many old, old buildings still exist. I was surprised at how well the old centrum of Strasbourg has been preserved. The Grand Island was classified as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1988. It is one of the best preserved cities I’ve seen in Europe (aside from Prague), even after being bombed during WWII.



We found a commemoration to WWII American soldiers in Notre Dame Cathedral—you can see it in the slide above. It was a nice surprise to see this in the church. The other picture is of the Pillar of Angels, a pillar standing near the astrological clock in the church. There is a legend about this pillar.  It is said two, rival architects were arguing over the pillar.  One said the pillar was not enough support to hold up the vaulted ceiling.  The second architect said the pillar would be strong enough.  The second architect won the job, and built the Pillar of angels.  Sure enough, the pillar is strong enough.  The first architect still lingers somewhere near the pillar.  He said he would stay watching the pillar to see when it would fall.  This first architect still watches the Pillar of angels, but now he has turned to stone.  He is a sculpture by a banister in an alcove overlooking the pillar.  I didn't see him, but read about this story.  The moral of this tale is faith in one's work, and possibly the angels are indeed reinforcing the pillar to keep it standing. The last picture is of old graffiti. This is real, and is from the 1600s. There was even older graffiti, but the years have made it hard to see, and it wouldn’t have shown up well in a photo.  Amazing to see century's old graffiti in Notre Dame.



The next pictures are from the rest of Strasbourg’s center. As you can see from the pictures, Strasbourg is preserved very beautifully. Many of the houses are still lived in today. I’ve lived here for almost five years, but this fact is still amazing. Houses built several hundred years ago are still being used. The only buildings this old back home are the Pueblos in Taos, and these have been continuously lived in for over a thousand years.  I seem to have some affinity for medieval houses.  They especially draw me--why, I don't know.  I never tire of seeing them.


The Grand Island is a busy place filled with many different types of shops—from butchers and patisseries, to clothing and shoe shops. There is a plethora of restaurants. As you can see from the pictures, we even found a couple of Mexican places. Mexican and Chinese food seem to be in most places in the world, along with McDonalds and KFC. We didn’t eat out too much, but I did some cooking in our kitchenette at the hotel. Shopping for produce was a wonderful experience. The closest grocery store, Simply Market (or something like that), had the most beautiful fruits and vegetables I’ve seen in a long time. Our stores, in Prague, are not known for excellent produce. However, you can find high-quality produce at the Farmer’s Markets around town. To see such fresh produce made me hungry. The dairy products were also great—butter and cheese. They actually have salted butter there! We don’t have that here, so it was a nice touch to enjoy in Strasbourg. Jiri was also able to enjoy fresh bread. The smell of that made my mouth water! I’m allergic to gluten, so I had to bypass that treat. But Jiri immensely enjoyed this French treat.


Strasbourg’s Grand Island also offers many museums. We weren’t able to visit those as my allergies were not cooperating, but if you visit Strasbourg, be sure to look up their museums. You won’t be disappointed.


Well, that’s all for now. My next post will be about the “new” part of Strasbourg, and some of the sites there.


Have a great day!


God bless,
Sher :0)
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Photo credit:  Sher Vacik
(c) 2011 by  Sher Vacik

Trip to Strasbourg, France

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Hi  Everyone,

Here is a continuation about our trip to Strasbourg, France a couple weeks ago. Jiri and I took an overnight Eurolines bus from Prague, Czech Republic to Strasbourg, France. It took around ten hours to travel, going across Germany most of the night,and  finally reaching Strasbourg around 6:30 Saturday morning. Our trip through Germany was mostly uneventful.  Our bus stopped in Plzen, and then crossed the German border where our bus was stopped by the German police.  

Border Inspection

There is an interesting procedure Czech tour buses must undergo before traveling too far into Germany.  The German police typically signal each tour bus to follow the police car to a rest stop area.  At the rest stop, the police board the bus and check everyone's passports.  The police are looking for illegal immigrants, drug sellers, and who knows what else.  It's always funny for me when the police finally take my passport.  They see I'm an American, and immediately become very animated.  I guess they become excited at the prospect of finding an illegal American in the Eurozone.  

This has happened to me a couple of other times, but the police are quickly disappointed once they review my passport and find I have a legal residence permit for the Czech Republic, and I am not an illegal traveler in the Eurozone.  On this trip, the German police took away what looked like at least of a third of the passengers' passports, taking them to their police car to verify all the information. Thankfully, everyone seemed to be legal and the bus had no problems going on with the trip.  We were stopped for about thirty minutes with the police at the rest area.  

A Long Ride

After that, our trip was uneventful and long, and we finally pulled in to Strasbourg early on Saturday morning.  It was cold, but it felt very good to finally be out of the bus when we reached Strasbourg.  Jiri got our luggage and we began the long walk to our hotel.  We stayed at the Victoria Garden Appart'Hotel (point A on the map below). Thankfully they  had a luggage closet where we could put our suitcases till check-in time rolled around.  Check-in time was around 10:30 that morning, so we had some time to become acquainted with the central part of Strasbourg Saturday morning.

Our Hotel

Grand Island & Notre Dame Cathedral

The central part of Strasbourg is called the Grand Island, and is an UNESCO World Heritage site.  You can see the Grand Island on the map above--it is the part of the city that looks like a ring.  The ring is formed by the canals that surround the Grand Island.  The city center is the oldest part Strasbourg, and is a wonderful mix of new and old architecture, parks, canals and more.  The city center offers a very lively shopping district, along with restaurants, museums and more.  One of our first places to visit was the Notre Dame Cathedral.


Before the city of Strasbourg existed, it was the site of a Roman city called Argentoratum.  The current site of the cathedral was first used as a Roman sanctuary or holy place.  Later, Christians used the site to build the cathedral.  The Notre Dame Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church dedicated to the Virgin Mary.  The first church of this name was built in 1015 and was of Romanesque style, but was later destroyed by fire.  Renovation of the church began in 1176 and was completed in 1439.  At this point the cathedral was redone in the Gothic style.  One interesting note is that the church stands at 142 meters (465.879 feet), making it the tallest building in the world from 1647 to 1864.  The church is a beautiful mixture of French and German influences.  We actually visited the church twice in order to take it all in.

The cathedral has so many things to see and treasures to appreciate.  Some of the stained glass windows in the church are from the 12th to 14th centuries, there is an exquisite astronomical clock from the 17th century Renaissance period, and precious statues and tapestries all over the sanctuary and side chapels.  The organ in the church is huge and overwhelming, but beautiful.  Part of the organ dates back to 1385, and the organ works to this day.

The Astronomical Clock

One interesting note about the astronomical clock--it seems they have the same legend we have about our astronomical clock here, in Prague.  Both legends say that the city managers hired a clock maker to construct the clock and its works.  Once the clock was built and running, the city managers hired a bad guy to attack the clock maker, blinding him, so he couldn't make similar clocks for anyone else.  I feel sorry for the clock makers in Strasbourg and Prague!

That's all for today!

God bless,
Sher
Photo credits:  Jiri Vacik

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Hazards of Travel and Strasbourg, France

Strasbourg, France

Hi Everyone,

It’s been very busy here at Czech Off the Beaten Path since my last post.  Jiri and I took a trip to Strasbourg, France last week, and we are finally back home after a good trip.  We had a good time, but I was sick for most of the trip.  When you have severe allergies and asthma, traveling is always an adventure.  You never know exactly how conditions will be at various hotels and cities. 

Allergy mask and prednisone--two things 

I can't live or travel without.

Jiri and I do as much research ahead of time as possible, reading many reviews of hotels, while also taking in time of year (seasons), etc.  Even with all this prep work, you occasionally run into problems, as we did on this trip.  Unfortunately our hotel had a mold problem, which caused me some trouble.  Mold is one of my worst allergies, and can be one of the most challenging to deal with when traveling.  The other trouble at our hotel was the detergent they used for washing towels and bedding.  Our first morning at the hotel, I woke up with a very red, somewhat swollen face.  I looked as if I’d spent the night crying—which I hadn’t.  But I was definitely having an allergic reaction, and developed a good case of contact dermatitis. 

Aside from the mold  and the detergent issues, Strasbourg is a beautiful city in the Alsace region of France.  The city is a wonderful mix of old and new, French and German.  There is a mix of architecture all around, with many preserved medieval buildings and homes still in use today.  We very much enjoyed the time we were able to spend in Strasbourg, and I’ll share more about our trip in the next post. 

Have a great day!

God bless,

Sher :0)

PS I’m also working on the questions raised my MiGrant and will have those in another post, too!

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