“The Winter Wonderland”, “Fortress on the Road”, “Crossroads”
9th of December, 2012
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This was our second part of this trip. You can check the previous entry, Basel, if you want to know more information. We already planned to visit all those places in one go using the most of the weekend. At the end, landing in the middle of them all, it’s a horrible temptation not to resist and specially if you are such a fanatical about travelling as we are. Driving to Strasbourg is little over an hour, and believe me, it’s totally worth it!
The city has a greatly preserved Medieval old town, with many many beautiful wooden houses and grand Cathedral. And what it makes it so special about coming here in winter time? The Christmas markets and decorations! You need to come here to feel it and live it. Up to date, the best Christmas feeling in a city ever.
Getting lost is almost impossible, wander around the streets and the little ones by the river and Cathedral square area. Those are the best without doubt. Then there is what is called the Little Venice. This is also by the riverside, and you will find marvellous and bigger wooden houses and many coffee shops and restaurants in the area.
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As for food…well, if you happen to be when the Christmas markets are on, then you are in paradise. Hundreds of stalls making great food of all kinds at very competitive prices. In any case, whole year round you will find plenty of bakeries. Make sure you try “saucisse avec fromage”. That’s a hot dog with cheese. Delicious!
Moving on to Colmar, it’s pretty much like Strasbourg but smaller. Exactly same description as above applies. Hundreds of little and bigger colourful wooden houses, nice Cathedral square and nice food all around. It is just few kilometres from Strasbourg, and if you fly out from Basel, it’s on the way to towards this airport.
For more information about Strasbourg, visit Wikipedia and Wikitravel sites. Also for Colmar. Wikipedia, Wikitravel.
What to see and do in Strasbourg:
- Cathédrale Notre Dame With the Astrometric Clock in it
- Maison Kammerzell House from the XV century, right to the left of the front of the cathedral
- Place Kléber The largest square in the city
- Palais des Rohan
- Petite France district (Where many of the historical wooden houses are
- Ponts Couverts Medieval Bridge, symbol of city
- Place du Marché aux Cochons de Lait Beautiful square surrounded by little houses
- National Library
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What to see and do in Colmar:
- Old town Since the village is very small, it is easy to walk on almost all the streets
- Cathedral
- Maison des Tetes House of the Heads
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Transports:
There is seriously no need of any public transportation, unless if you are already tired or have not much time, a tram line. But beware this tram does not go to the old city centre.
If you have a car, park it near the Ponts Couverts. From there you will have the best walk towards the old town.
In Colmar there is no public transportation around the sightseeing area. Therefore you will not need to be in the hassle of finding your way. It’s just very easy to orientate and everything is pedestrianised.
Accommodation:
Perhaps because when we went was the high season for the Christmas markets made the hotels prices really up, Or maybe those are the normal prices, I don’t know. But we ended up some 15km away from Strasbourg, which was totally ok as we had a rental car. This saved us more than half of what we would pay to be in the city. At the end of the day, after such a busy day, all we wanted was to sleep in a quiet place and not going out at night.