SKATING IN STRASBOURG (Fr)

By Davey_Speedstar

A few weeks ago I was on holiday in France, and took some time out from the hectic schedule of visiting vineyards & buying wine, to have a look round Strasbourg. The city itself is very historic, but most importantly, is fairly flat, so I was hoping to get a bit of sight-seeing done on my skates.

Arriving in the city mid-afternoon on a Friday, the city centre streets were chock-a-block with traffic, and I was pretty much resigned to leaving the skates in the hotel room, and touring the city by tram & foot on the Saturday.

However as the afternoon drew on the traffic started to clear and more and more skaters started to appear. So much so that I thought that there must be a street skate taking place that night. A few phone calls back to Blighty to check the internet (http://search.munichniteskate.de/) revealed nothing, so torn between the choice of finding a nice restaurant, and hitting the streets, I decided that skating could wait until Saturday, and the rest of the evening was spent dining next to one of the rivers in the Petite France area of town .

The following day I was up (reasonably) early, and looking out of the hotel window, the streets were fairly clear.  Again I could see a few skaters out and about, so I decided to pull my wheels onto my feet, and have a look round town.

Having found myself a map of the city-centre:-

I took my first tentative steps onto the streets.

Although I’ve been skating a while, other than few WNS’s, I’m not really used to skating on the road, or amongst traffic. On top of that I hadn’t bothered to bring my helmet.

In the city centre, most of the cycle/skate lanes are shared by busses, and for the most part are very smooth, so it is easy to make reasonable progress with the traffic. I didn’t see many taxi drivers, but generally all road users seem to be used to skaters, and we are accepted , so I never once felt threatened. The only thing to be really careful of is the tram lines (purple on the map), which on some streets take up the entire road!!! The lines themselves are embedded in the street, so they are easy to step over, but those trams do move at speed and are very quiet, so ignore traffic signals/lights at your own peril!!!

My initial tour took me East, out of the town centre to have a look at the European Parliament building. The further out from the centre you go, the more the skate tracks start to share footpaths, although a white line is painted down the middle to separate the pedestrians from skaters.

Skating back to the town centre I took a long sweep south, skating back by the river, along the Quai des Alpes, Quai du General Koenig, and Quai Pasteur, by the Hospital Civil ( it’s useful to know where the hospital is when skating in a strange town). I came across quite a few other skaters of varying abilities along this stretch, from beginner to 5-wheeled speed-skaters.

I guess that this stretch must be almost 4 miles in length, and although in places is not the most scenic part of Strasbourg, does provide a place to have a good run.

The best run I had was skating from Republique down to Observatoire, the skate track here runs down the centre of the tram tracks, and is really smooth, so you get build up some great speed. Turning right, past Esplanade, and follow the track to the river. Turn right again along Quai du General Koenig, back into town. I’m sure that there are more routes equal, if not better, but I wasn’t really there for long enough.

Back in the heart of Strasbourg and the old town, my confidence had built. I was no longer confining myself to the cycle lanes, but skating with the general traffic. Still everyone seemed fairly tolerant towards me. For the most part I obeyed the traffic signals, and the police didn’t bat an eyelid, when at one point they were sat behind me as I stood in a line of traffic, waiting for the lights to change.

You can skate (with care) round a lot of the pedestrian areas of the old town, and I skated over the cobbles to the Cathedrale, although I didn’t go inside on my skates!!! It is worth pointing out that that for the most part the cobbles in the old town aren’t so bad that you can’t skate on them, but you can’t skate for any distance, or expect to maintain any speed. If you want to venture into Petite France - then take your skates off. The cobbles there are a totally different breed, very bumpy, so I didn’t even bother to try. In addition, this area of town has quite a few steps.

If you want to put cups down, I’d imagine from what I saw, the area outside the Musee d’Art Moderne is the flattest smoothest area I saw - quite a few skate-boarders seem to hang out there. Other than the Quai’s that I mentioned earlier, a few skaters venture to the Gare Centrale, and hang out in the wide paved area there.

All in all Strasbourg is a great city to see on skates. I went out skating at about 10.00am, and didn’t get back to the hotel until about 5.00pm. Despite having been skating for about 7 hours (other than café and lunch stops) I felt no pain, other than that of having been stood up for the best part of the day.

The Strasbourg authorities seem to put a great deal of thought and effort into planning cycle/skate lanes in the city centre. Although I didn’t venture out any further than the Parliament Building, there is a network of skate tracks right out into the suburbs. I could easily have spent another couple of days exploring the outer reaches of the city.

Dave Outside European Parliament Building

Pictures courtesy (but not necessarily with the permission of):-

Strasbourg Communaute Urbaine        www.strasbourg.fr

RouteOne on-line catalogue               www.routeone.co.uk

Alan Harding

Dave Harding October 2003

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