21/06/2026
BreezyBus Alpine Tour 2026 – Day 29, 15km walked
TL;DR-After a good night’s sleep, we were up early and caught the train from Molsheim to Strasbourg. The rail system seemed surprisingly relaxed, with no ticket barriers or validation machines at either end of the journey. Leaving the station, we followed one of the branches of the Rhine around the city centre. The area was quiet and fairly uninspiring, although things improved around the Palais du Rhin with its impressive buildings and gardens. Even so, Strasbourg hadn’t quite won us over yet.
That changed as we headed towards the Cathedral. The streets became older and more picturesque, shops began opening, and the city started to come alive. The Gothic Cathedral was hugely impressive, and nearby we found a café offering a pain au chocolat and espresso for €3.50. We grabbed a table, waited for the freshly baked pastries, and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast while people-watching in the square.
From there we explored the old town and the beautiful Petite France district, wandering narrow streets, medieval bridges and canals. Ali found a new sun hat and received some running shoe advice but decided not to buy after discovering the shoes were much cheaper direct from the manufacturer. Along the riverside, restaurants were packed with diners enjoying Tarte Flambée, the local speciality, which looked rather like a very thin pizza.
After looping around the city, we found a quieter restaurant in a small square and decided to try it ourselves. Ali chose a Munster cheese version while I went for the Forestière with Gruyère and mushrooms. Accompanied by a carafe of local Riesling, it was delicious and excellent value.
Later we returned to Molsheim and explored the town, discovering an aviary near the campsite. Ironically, several storks had built a nest on top of it, complete with nearly grown chicks, and we spent a while watching them before treating ourselves to ice creams.
Back at camp, the shaded pitch had kept the van pleasantly cool. We relaxed with a b**r, enjoyed a simple dinner of salad and sausages, and looked forward to another quiet evening—until neighbouring campers ignored the 10pm noise curfew and chatted loudly well into the night.
Full Version
We had a good night’s sleep and were up and ready to go just after 8, walking to the station and getting the train into Strasbourg Central Station. There was no ticket barrier to get onto the train, no reader to validate the tickets and at Strasbourg, again no barriers to get out of the station. We headed out of the station and began walking around, following one of the branches of the Rhine that circles the city centre. This part of the city wasn’t particularly attractive and was very quiet. Eventually we found some more impressive older buildings and gardens near the Palais du Rhin, but nothing was particularly grabbing our attention, and I wasn’t really getting a feel for Strasbourg at this point.
We decided to head into the centre, making our way towards the Cathedral, and the buildings became older and more picturesque, and as it got closer to 10am, shops were beginning to open. We walked around the outside of the Cathedral, which was very gothic and impressive, then saw an offer for a pain au chocolat and espresso for €3.50, in a café right in the square. That seemed like good value to we took a table and ordered them. They’d only just opened so we had to wait for the pastries to finish baking, but it was worth it as they were delicious when they came. We lingered for a while people watching, getting mildly triggered by the pompousness of some of the other clientele, before settling our bill and setting off to explore some more.
We were now in the old city, and we made our way down to the Petite France area, and explored the little streets, wandered over the mediaeval bridges and barrage, and zigzagged our way around. Ali found a new sun hat and got some running shoe advice but didn’t purchase as the shoes were 50% cheaper direct from the makers! Soz. We wandered past many of the busy restaurants close to the riverside, and a lot of people eating the local delicacy, Tarte Flambe, which looked a little like an anorexic anaemic pizza. However, it was something that came highly recommended to us and we decided we’d seek it out, but not from one of the restaurants on the main thoroughfares.
We did a large loop back around the Cathedral, back up to the northern end of the city before heading back towards Petit France, where we found a lovely restaurant in a small square. We both ordered Tarte Flambe; an ultrathin dough base with Crème Fraiche, a mix of lardons and thinly sliced onions, baked crisp in a bread oven. Ali ordered a ‘Munster’ variety with Munster Cheese, and I ordered a ‘Forestiere’ which had Gruyere cheese and mushrooms. We shared a carafe of local Reisling white w**e. It was all absolutely delicious and very reasonably priced.
After another espresso, we settled up and carried on wandering around, then headed back to the station to get the train back to Molsheim. Before going back to the campsite, we went for a walk around Molsheim and found that they had an aviary near to the campsite that had storks in it. Ironically, three storks had nested on top of the aviary and there were almost fully grown chicks in it with the parents. We spent some time just watching their antics, then headed back into the campsite and bought an ice-cream from reception.
Thankfully, the van had stayed relatively cool in the shade of the trees, and we relaxed for a while with a b**r, before going for showers. Tea was salad and sausages, and once again we had inconsiderate neighbours. This time it was two couples in a large tent talking until late despite the 10pm noise curfew on site. Very annoying!