Situated on the Franco-German border, lovely Strasbourg has been passed back and forward between the two countries for years. The result is a city and people with a distinctive local identity, combining the reputed efficiency and energy of the Germans with the joie de vivre and sophistication of the French.
Strasbourg is far enough away from the capital to be truly independent on a cultural level, with its own opera, France's only national theatre outside Paris and two international music festivals.
The Grande Ile (Big Island), in the midst of the River Ill, is the ancient heart of the city, with the vast main square, place Kléber at its centre. Close by is place Gutenberg - named after 15th-century Strasbourg resident Johannes Gutenberg, famed for his development of printing.
Strasbourg's great landmark is the Cathédrale Notre-Dame in the Vieille Ville (Old Town), which has remained unchanged since the Middle Ages. Around the Cathedral clusters an impressive array of museums, cafés and restaurants.
Stunningly picturesque Petite France, in the Grande Ile's southwestern corner, is Strasbourg's medieval quarter and a UNESCO World Heritage site. With its bridges and canals, half-timbered houses and narrow streets, it could not be more different from the ultra-modern City of Europe in northeast Strasbourg where the EU institutions are located.
