The post On the Scene: Travel Daily Media Experiences Europe with Avalon Waterways – Day 3 appeared first on TD (Travel Daily Media) Travel Daily Media.
TDM’s Gary Marshall takes a snap within the nave of the Strasbourg Cathedral
It’s now the third day of Avalon Waterways’ northward Romantic Rhine sojourn aboard the Avalon Envision, and guests got a taste of the good life as only the French know how as they made their way into Strasbourg.
The capital of the province of Grand Est which was originally known as Alsace, Strasbourg is also the seat of the European Parliament given its close proximity to the German border.
The eighth largest metropolis in France, Strasbourg has been occupied since Paleolithic times, but first made it into the history books in 12BC when a Roman military encampment known as Argentoratum was established in the fertile lands of the Upper Rhine Plane.
Today, it is occupied by over 671,000 citizens, accounting for 14 percent of the total population within the Grand Est.
Cycling into Strasbourg
For Travel Daily Media CEO Gary Marshall, Strasbourg is a city best experienced on foot or on a bicycle as opposed to seeing it through the windows of a tour bus, no matter how panoramic they may be.
Indeed, there is much to be said for the city’s impressive architecture which has withstood the test of time despite having been built as far back as the First Millennium AD.
As Gary puts it: “We took on a gentle three-hour morning cycle through Strasbourg which led us to the magnificent Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg, a Gothic masterpiece steeped in history.”
Referred to in German as Liebfrauenmünster zu Straßburg, the Cathedral has occupied the same place in the city since 1015, but was not completed until 1439, more than 400 years later.
For all the beauty travellers can see when they enter the Cathedral, it is sobering to know that it was used as a pawn throughout the interfaith conflict of the Reformation Years, with militant Protestants destroying parts of the church in their iconoclastic fervour.
One such artefact lost to the destruction was the famed high altar which has been recorded by art historians to be a prime example of Renaissance architecture and craftsmanship; its fragments may be seen today in the nearby Musée de l’Œuvre Notre-Dame.
Strasbourg’s astronomical clock
Catholics and Protestants will, however, agree on one thing: the Strasbourg Astronomical Clock is one of this storied city’s crown jewels.
The timepiece in question is actually the third to be installed in the Cathedral, and was inaugurated on 31st December 1842, the masterpiece of artisan Jean-Baptiste Schwilgué who also made the clock at the Freiburg Cathedral in 1851.
The astronomical clock was something of a passion project for Schwilgué and it took him the better part of five years to craft his masterpiece.
What is interesting about the clock is that it has two sets of hands: one in gold to show mean solar time, and another in silver to show Central European Standard Time.
Another curious aspect involving the clock hands is that mean solar time is around 30.4 minutes behind standard time during the winter months.
The clock’s visual appeal is further boosted by a planetary calendar showing the positions of the sun and moon throughout the day, as well as a whimsical mechanical rooster.
At half-past noon every day since the clock was first installed, the metal rooster crows, summoning Christ’s 12 Apostles who make their way in a grave procession around the clock.
Elsewhere on tour
Throughout the Avalon Envision party’s trak through Strasbourg, they were also fascinated by the number of storks that appear to have made their home in the city.
While these fine feathered creatures have long symbolised Strasbourg and the Grand Est, they nearly went extinct in the 1970s.
Today, thanks to a regional feeding programme, their numbers are back at healthier levels.
But Strasbourg is more than its cathedral and its storks; indeed, the city is famous for its rich foie gras and the richly-flavoured geese from which it is derived; the excellence of its vineyards, as well as gastronomic delights with a distinctively Germanic flavour.
For those interested in more contemporary history, the Avalon Envision tour also included a trip to the Maginot Line which served as Northeastern France’s strongest defence against its aggressive German neighbours throughout the Second World War and well into the 1960s when many of its fortifications were decommissioned and now serve as museums.
After a day within Strasbourg’s historic perimeter and the surrounding areas, guests headed back to the Avalon Envision to prepare for their next stop: Ludwigshafen am Rhein.
Catch up with Gary’s earlier adventures aboard the Avalon Envision from Day 1 and Day 2.
For those looking into a European experience of their own on the water, get in touch directly with Avalon Waterways’ Asia team at https://www.avalonwaterways.asia/contact/ or contact their country-specific call centres at the following numbers:
All photos: Gary Marshall on Instagram
The post On the Scene: Travel Daily Media Experiences Europe with Avalon Waterways – Day 3 appeared first on Travel Daily Media.
Source: traveldailymedia