Tom`s travels: Metz (23/02/17)

We left Strasbourg early in the morning and reached the city of Metz about 2 hours later. After exiting the bus we headed immediately towards the city center and started on the eastern side with the first feature, the Porte des Allemands, approaching our eyes. A fortress gate including a bridge, the structure dates to the 13th century. Not far from the gate we reached the Eglise Sainte Eucaire in a Gothic style. We walked further and eventually reached one of the cores of the city: the Place Saint Louis. Line by arcades and burgher houses it the commercial center of the old town. After seeing the square we proceeded to visit the Eglise de Notre Dame de l'Assumption dating to the 17th century and built in a Baroque style. Apparently in this church, the young Paul Verlain was baptized, as he was born here in Metz. Continuing our walk we eventually reached another square, this time smaller but altogether still quite pretty: the Place Saint Jacques. At its center stands a column with a statue of Mary at its top and all around are cafes and restaurants which were still quite empty as the weather was quite cold. We then took some sweet snacks from a vendor on the eastern end of the square. After walking just a little further we eventually reached the other core of the city: the Metz Cathedral. Mostly built in the Gothic style between the 13th and 16th centuries it holds the largest expanse of stained glass in the world, most of which from famous artists throughout history such as Hermann von Munster from the 13th century and modernist Marc Chagall from the 20th. As soon as we entered, in fact, the interior was immense and amazing with a huge nave all decorated with stained glass. After visiting the halls for a while we came back out into the city and it started to rain. We quickly admired the sculpted extior too, built in the local yellow Jaumont Limestone and saught refuge from the weather inside the covered market right on the opposite side of the cathedral's main portal. After waiting for a while for the weather to calm we headed back out again and decided to cross the Moselle river and get to the other side where the Place de la Comedie is located. As a scenic backdrop for the square stands the Opera Theatre built in 1752 and the oldest opera house working in France. After appreciating its baroque-neoclassical architecture we headed on towards the Church of Saint Clement and the Basilica of Saint Vincent, both unfortunately closed. Not far is the largest of the Ponts des Morts, two bridges dating to the medieval times; the larger one still spans the Moselle river. Called so because whenever an inhabitant died at the time, they would have to donate their clothes to the Hopital St Nicolas who had paid for its construction. Walking then back into the city we reached the Temple Neuf, built on the southwestern end of the Place de la Comedie between 1901 and 1905 in neo-romanesque style during the Wilhelmine period when Alsace and Lorraine were under German rule. As it was also closed we admired it from the outside and then headed towards the Chapelle des Templiers. This so called Templars Chapel, is probably one of Metz's oldest buildings dating to the 12th century but was also unfortunately closed. That was quite unfortunate as I had seen online it contained some fine medieval frescoes as well as more modern ones inside. Not far is the Basilica of Saint-Pierre-aux-Nonnains. Under renovations, this church has the typical Roman basilica layout and dates to the 4th century. Because of that it is the oldest church building in France. Down the road we came across the Palais du Gouverneur a beautiful neo-renaissance palace built in 1905. Reaching the southern end of town we came through the Porte Serpenoise one of the remaining city gates and turned around heading back into the city. Traversing the entirety of the city center we reached the Musee de la Cour d'Or. Entrance was 3,30 euros and the whole place was really large as it was contained in what used to be a palace. Inside was an archaeological section with several gallo-roman objects and structures including a Mithras altar. Another part, which included medieval objects, included a beautiful granary with gothic arcades beautifully restored and preserved. Finally on the top floor was the section dedicated to fine arts including several paintings with Metz as the subject. After visiting the museum we decided to head to Centre Pompidou Metz located close to the train station right outside town. Built in 2006 it holds a large array of modern art pieces. After visiting it we still had quite some time before our bus back to Strasbourg so we decided to have dinner and walk around the city center further. We had dinner at a place called La Fabrique, serving Iranian food, where we had a lentil soup and a large dish with different things on it. After eating we walked through the city which as it had darkened took a nice cozy appearance with street lights illuminating it all around. Not much later we arrived at the bus station and eventually took our bus back home.