The stork nests
Alsace's emblem nesting overhead, cage-free — the region's proudest rescue story.
Jonathan M — CC BY-SA 3.0 · IanCoates94 — CC0 · G.Garitan — CC BY-SA 3.0 · G.Garitan — CC BY-SA 3.0
The Orangerie is Strasbourg's oldest and best-loved park: 26 hectares arranged in the days of Napoleon and Josephine — the elegant pavilion at its centre was built to receive her — and today the city's first family destination by an unchallenged margin. Its stars are the storks: the park's breeding centre brought Alsace's emblem bird back from the edge of extinction, and their huge nests crown trees and buildings in every direction — from March to August you watch chicks in the nests and parents shuttling food, free and cage-less. There is a lake with waterfall and summer rowing boats, a small free zoo, playgrounds and picnic lawns — steps from the European Parliament, so the curious pair the two in one afternoon.
Alsace's emblem nesting overhead, cage-free — the region's proudest rescue story.
Summer rowing around the waterfall island.
An elegant Napoleonic pavilion on the lawns — two centuries of family photos.
Avenue de l'Orangerie, 67000 Strasbourg
Lieu d'Europe (Kaysersguet)A cultural centre in a historic Alsatian house with a garden, devoted to explain8 minutes walk4.5
European ParliamentIn Strasbourg sits the continent's parliament: the cylindrical glass Louise Weis10 minutes walk4.3
Strasbourg University Botanical GardenA botanical garden of the University of Strasbourg on the historic campus, the s14 minutes walk4.3
The Museum of SeismologyA small museum on the University of Strasbourg campus occupying the seismologica15 minutes walk4.2
The Zoological Museum of StrasbourgA zoological museum whose collections go back to the eighteenth century, occupyi17 minutes walk4.5Tram E to the Parliament-side stop then minutes on foot, or a fine half-hour walk through the German quarter and along the Ill. By bicycle — France's first cycling city — a pleasant fifteen minutes.
March to August, nearly — dozens of occupied nests, the bill-clattering leading you to them. Off season you get empty nests and a few resident birds around the breeding centre.
With one Strasbourg day: no, the Grande Île comes first. From day two: emphatically, especially with children or an interest in the European institutions next door — this is lived Strasbourg after monumental Strasbourg.