Travel blog
On our way to the village Dambach-la-ville in the Alsace, we stopped in Strasbourg for the flea market and a bite to eat.
A quiet corner belonging to some private property – amidst thousands of tourists streaming by.
We had a to-go lunch sitting on a bench by the river Ill, and watched swans and party boats drifting by.
Sélestat is a relatively small town of about 20.000 residents. We spent many hours just walking around, and most of the town (so it seems) is an array of historical buildings, half-timbered houses, towers, etc. The church tops in the center of town gave us a good sense of orientation. Without them, we would have gotten lost once an hour. At least.
This is the Ritterturm (Knights’ Tower) in 2019.
and many years ago…
This is an usual view of the St.Georg Church (from left to right), the empty facade of a half-timbered house, a residence with laundry hanging outside, and a very modern glass addition on the Maison du Pain d’Alsace Museum.
The Witches’ Tower in 2019…
and a long time ago…
We had dinner at the ‘Brasserie Chez Youpel’ and my husband actually managed to eat all of his Choucroute platter.
Beatus Rhenanus, a German humanist, religious reformer, classical schoolar and book collector died in Strasbourg at the age of 62. When he first noticed his failing health, he made arrangements for his personal library to go to his hometown, Sélestat.
In 2011, this collection was added to the UNESCO ‘Memory of the World’ register. The library – not only for its rare content, but also for its beautiful interior design – is amazing.
Tickets are € 6 per adult. Be prepared, they also ask for your ‘code postal’, which to my ears sounded like ‘carte postale’, and I said, ‘Non, merci.’ 🙂
For more information, write to: contact@bibliotheque-humaniste.fr
One of my fairly new hobbies is collecting historical postcards. I like to browse at Akpool Postcards, especially for cards in the 1 euro boxes before we go on a trip to a certain area. This is how I learned of the town of Sélestat (German name: Schlettstadt).
After our one night in Strasbourg, we drove on to Sélestat, which is on the way to Colmar and only a 20-minute drive.
This postcard shows St. George Church in Sélestat. Unfortunately, an uncirculated postcard shows no date. My guess is that this photo was taken in the 1930s.
Edit 24 April 2020: One reader just informed me of having the same postcard in black and white, and hers shows the date December 1918. Thanks, Monique.
The same church, as above, from today’s perspective – in 2019.
St. Georg Church Sélestat
Construction of this church went on for eight centuries (8th – 15th century).
Choosing your ‘sites to see’ based on historical postcards is very interesting.
We spent another weekend in the Alsace region, and as usual, we spent Friday night at a hotel in the center of town.
From the Hotel Cour du Corbeau, it is only a two-minute walk over the canal bridge to get to the flea market on Saturday morning. This time I found only one little treasure (a wooden display case of preserved butterflies). My favorite little coffee shop nearby had also closed its doors for good. We ended up at Starbucks instead. This has been only my second visit ever to Starbucks – once at the Tokyo Airport, and now in Strasbourg.
With a rather light load in my flea market shopping bag, we took a stroll around and explored some streets we had never walked before. We were also on the lookout for a nice pub to stop by after dinner.
The Strasbourg Cathedral
On one of the many bridges crossing the canal.
… and here we are entering the courtyard to our favorite Hotel – the Hotel Cour du Corbeau.
My name is Maria Shipley. I live in Oberursel, Germany with my husband, son and daughter. I … Read more
