Pont Saint-Martin

This guide to Pont Saint-Martin in Strasbourg opens in the stink of the old tanning trade, with barefoot workers scraping hides in vats of dog dung and lime on this exact riverbank. It follows the half-timbered tannery house beside the bridge, one of dozens once crammed into the Petite France quarter alongside millers, fishermen and other trades medieval Strasbourg kept at arm's length. You'll hear how the drying lofts under the rooflines and the wooden quays reaching into the Ill were built for handling hides, and about the named tanneries that worked this stretch for generations. Look up at the slatted attic openings as you cross.