Colmar, France

---

We spent the last three days in the Alsace region of France near the German border in a town called Colmar. This region is known for its white wines, German style food and architecture style.

Our first stop was the Unterlinden Museum. Rick Steves, the travel book writer, says that this is one of the best museums in France and it is certainly very interesting. An audioguide comes with the entry fee and is very well done. The museum itself is at least 150 years old; some of the audioguide entries mention that a particular painting was donated in 1850. It is also a very eclectic collection…everything from medieval paintings to furniture to suits of armour to modern art. They even moved the interiors of a couple of buildings into the museum. The centerpiece is a three part alter piece painted for monks who cared for people with a very painful skin disease. My favorite was a lovely piece of old furniture at least 7 feet tall and 8 feet wide, beautifully carved with many drawers. I also liked a chest with a complicated locking mechanism in the lid.

While John explored the modern art, I went outside to sit down. The scenery in this town is something out of a picture book. Many of the buildings are half-timbered which means they have upper stories big brown timbers showing through the plaster. Many are brightly painted and have colorful boxes of flowers.

The next day was, for me, a highlight of the trip so far. We rode the bus as it wound through many small towns on its way to Ribeauville’. The map explained the sights of each town and several were destroyed totally in WWII while others, just a mile away, were virtually untouched. Storks were native to this region and are being re-introduced. We saw several buildings with features designed for the 1000 pound stork nests and even saw one nest with a stork.

We arrived at Ribeauville’ and headed straight to the TI which was closed for a two hour lunch. We had heard about a walk to the ruined castles on the hill above the town so we slowly wandered down Rue Grand towards the trail. Ribeauville’ is a lovely town with many of the classic half-timbered houses and beautiful flowerboxes. As we walked, everything but the restaurants was closing for lunch. We bought a sandwich at one shop and continued on. At the top of the town we were uncertain where to go but luckily we saw some hikers heading out. I asked them if they knew where the trail to the castle was and they showed us a faded sign indicating the start of the trail.

It was a very nice trail winding through vineyards and forests but it never headed towards the castle. After about 40 minutes, it intersected with a dirt road and had signs but none for the castle so we turned back. We did try one side trail but it petered out so we gave up. We found a shady spot to eat our sandwich then headed back into town.

The town was coming back to life as we walked back to the TI where the lady was easily able to give us directions to walk to a town called Hunawihr (2 km) and then on to another town called Ricquewihr (3 more km). As we started down the road to Hunawihr we saw a sign with the blaze and mileage to Compestella. That is the end of the pilgrimage John plans to do in Spain next spring. So he walked the first 5 km of his pilgrimage today.

The paved road was two-way but just one car wide. But since we only saw three cars total that was not a problem. It cut across the hill through vineyards of ripening gewürztraminer and Riesling grapes. Before we knew it, we arrived at Hunawihr. It is just as pretty as Riquewihr but with fewer tourists; the ones here are on the wine route. As we wandered through town, we saw a fountain where the runoff goes into troughs for the animals to drink from and another were the water is diverted into tubs where people previously washed clothes. We went to one cooperative to taste wine and everything was fantastic. A Belgium couple was there also tasting and they helped translate when our French and our hostesses English were insufficient. As they were leaving, he recommended a particular wine which was a late harvest (vendages tardive) pinot gris. He said “This wine with foie gras it will be like an angel go pee pee on your tongue.” We did not have any foie gras but the wine was very good. We bought a bottle of Riesling (only $12) for lunch tomorrow.

Next we walked up the hill to the church. It is a Protestant church and has a large bell tower and beautiful stained glass. Outside the church is a cemetery but even though it is a 1000 year old church, all the graves are less than 150 years. They must dig them up after 100 years or so.

Just as we were getting ready to leave, it started raining hard. We waited in the shelter of the church for a while then set out. It continued to rain all the way to Ricquewihr but since we had raincoats it was not a problem. It was another lovely walk through the vineyards and the forest to Ricquewihr. The rain stopped just as we arrived.

Ricquewihr is a beautifully preserved old town with two intact city walls and a beautiful five story clock tower. As a result, it is filled with tourists and tourist shops and prices are jacked up. So despite the beauty, I did not like it. But we had 1 ½ hours until our bus so we wandered the town then found a place to have a glass of wine while we waited.

After returning to our home base of Colmar, we went in search of dinner. All of the cute sidewalk café’s were “inside only” due to the weather so we just wandered town until we happened upon one our guide book recommended. We sat inside which was good because it rained hard during dinner. I tried a local specialty called tarte flambe’ which, I learned, is pizza without tomato sauce. For dessert we had an apricot tarte with lots of whipped cream which is how we discovered that apricot in French is mirabella.

Our last day in the Alsace we spent in the big city of Strasbourg. It is the home of the European Parliament and the European Court of Human Rights. The site worth seeing is the Cathedral. In my eyes, it started out as gothic then the baroque folks started decorating. Inside there is a gilded pipe organ hanging from the top of the nave. There is also a beautiful sculpture called Mount of Olives which has Jesus, three of his disciples, Judas and the soldiers all in one large (20x20) sculpture. I love sculpture much more than painting. They also have an astronomical clock where they track at least sunrise, sunset and the time plus it does an exciting clockwork parade of the apostles at 12:30. The rest of the time it does a few simple things every 15 minutes.

After wandering and people watching for a few more hours, we headed back towards the train station and found a Spar…the same grocery chain as in SA. We bought food for dinner then stopped at a boulangerie and bought a baguette. When we returned to Colmar we took the food we bought in Strasbourg and the wine we bought in Hunawihr and headed for the park for a picnic dinner. We sat in front of a fountain designed by the same man who built the Statue of Liberty (he was from Colmar.) It was destroyed by the Germans during WWII but rebuilt in 1958. It was a lovely ending to a pleasant day.

Coming Up Next…

John is spending the next week in Paris and Normandy while I am joining my friend Theresa for a tour of Germany. We will meet next Monday in Brussels. Don’t worry, you will get blog entries from both of us.

---

Photos

Colmar
Doesn't this look like something that should be on a puzzle.

Ribeauville
There is a stork nest on top of the house in the background center.

Beth and Rumplestiltskin
Someone wrote they wanted more pictures of me so this is for Charlotte. The inscription on the statue says Les' Rappolstein.

Hunawihr
The church and town of Hunawihr with grapes growing in the foreground.

Church Cemetary
Around the cemetery is a big wall…no reason given as to why build a wall around a cemetery. John says it is because people are dying to get in.

Sign in Ricquewihr
We thought this was a fun sign.

Beth and John
After our picnic dinner.

Colmar 2
This part of Colmar is called Little Venice because of the canals.

Comments

[Dottie Wood]

Pictures of France
Your pictures of the villages and countryside of France are just beautiful. Having been only to Paris I missed the the beauty of the country. I wished I was a little elf in your backpack! Continue to have fun............. Dottie

[Uncle Rich]

Angel pee pee
Colmar and the others villages are truly picturesque! I bet the angel pee pee topic will draw dozens of comments. I'm sure I'd say no also. Uncle Rich

[Charlotte]

Beth and John, Wow. We are enjoying the Blog and all the pictures! Thanks for the pic - I feel famous! I too wish I were that little gnome in your backpack. Enjoy and many more safe travels!