Advertisement
Haut-Koenigsbourg castle
A picture from the walkway belowStrasbourg
Arriving in Strasbourg was not so bad. Stupid taxi driver should have pointed to the street I wanted instead of giving me attitude and driving me but whatever. I had booked this hotel (a Best Western, the first on the list and I my internet connection was troublesome so I took it and hoped for the best) at the last minute- just that morning actually and it turned out to be a good pick. I walked in feeling weary and disillusioned from that jerk of a taxi guy and they made me feel SOOO welcome and at ease! They were friendly, helpful, gracious, sweet and wonderful. I know that sounds over the top and maybe it was my state of mind but let me tell you it was like a breath of fresh air and if anyone who has traveled extensively knows, those front desk people can really make or break your hotel stay. My room was so cute - a corner room with stained glass windows and again I got a tub!! (maybe you ladies out there can appreciate my enthusiasm for a nice bath?). I arrived late and my plan was originally to wake up early, rent
View from castle window
from Haut-Koenigsbourg castle a car and drive to the little wine town down the road for the next couple of days but after all my driving experiences and being a little road-weary, I made a decision.. If there was a way to get me around without a car, I was staying. Sure enough there was a local tour company that had 2 tours down the wine route, including tasting, AND they could give me the same room for just another 9 euro a night over the internet price AND they booked the tours for me -I tell you, I was just so happy there.
So that is what I did and it was a good decision. I went on the first tour that same afternoon which took me to the same town where I would have been staying. These are quaint medieval towns that are mostly cobblestone and in some (this one for example) cars are restricted inside the city walls. So parking would have been a pain and although the town was VERY quaint and beautiful, quite frankly there was nothing but touristy stuff there. All the sites in town we saw during our visit and the rest were restaurants and
St. Odile
You can see the eyes on the book/bible she is holding - this is to represent her miracle in not only being cured of her blindness but curing ohters shops. I would have had to drive to do anything else. Did I mention I was sick of driving at this point? Anyway- I was quite happy with my decision. Especially seeing the bunches of people at the other sites. The beauty of a tour bus (or van as this was the case) is that they get preferential parking 😊.
Another stop this day was the Haut-Koenigsbourg castle which was huge and mostly restored since it had been partially destroyed in one of the many battles/wars in the Area.
Ok time for the history lesson. Alsace lies between France and Germany and has been fought over so many times I don’t have a count. What happened is good ol’ Charlemagne had 3 grandsons to whom he had granted lands- one had what is now France, one Germany, and one the area in between which is Alsace. The two in France and Germany killed off the middle guy and since then there has been constant fighting over what country claims Alsace. It is a very fertile place, on the leeward side of the Vosges Mountains and so the climate is mostly long hot summer and long cold winter with very
Mosaic inside church
Inside a small church within the walls of St. Odile convent short spring and fall. It also has a great ground water supply and is also aided in it’s temperate climate by the rivers. I think they said King Louis the IVX (I think) said “oh what a nice garden” when he saw Alsace for the first time and decided he wanted it so also granted it special favors. For example they actually allowed both Catholics and Protestants not only to co-exist but to even worship in the same church!!! It really is a very lovely place and the Vosges mountains were beautiful. I wish I could have spent more time here.
OK so there are ruins of castles all over the place here due to all these battles going on and a lot of the places have been restored or rebuilt. I also went to the Convent of St. Odile which also had a great story. Odile was born to one of the kings (first daughter) blind and he proclaimed she would be killed - being not only a girl but blind at that. The queen of course would have none of that so she snuck off Odile to a convent where she was raised and educated. At the
Wine village
A well in Rosheim (I think...it might have been Ottrott). time of her baptism (which I guess did not happen at the time of birth as I am used to) a miracle happened and she could suddenly see again. In the meantime there was a son born to the king and so this brother (and heir to the castle/lands) of Odile heard of this miracle with his sister and brought her back. When the king learned that this daughter had lived against his wishes and was brought back without his knowledge, he apparently flew in to a fit of rage and killed his own son. To try to make penance to his wife and daughter, he then recognized Odile as his daughter but then he tried to marry her off to some prince. Because she considered herself already married to God, she ran away and when the king chased her through the forest, a rock opened before her to give her sanctuary. The king finally recognized this miracle and granted Odile the castle which she then turned in to a convent. She also performed another miracle, striking a stone with her staff and bringing forth a spring that cured a blind man. To this day there are a lot of
Notre Dame Cathedral
Just one corner of the cathedral -amazing. pilgrimages to St. Odile’s convent of the blind and otherwise ill. I have a picture that I hope shows up here of her holding a book (the bible?) that has eyes on it to demonstrate her healing of the blind. Also inside the convent are murals that also illustrate one of the first religious depictions by a female- made in to a book even. Imagine that.
We stopped in Riquewihr (which I mentioned) and had a tasting of Grand Cru wines from Alsace. It was a nice stop, the village is really stunning but definitely touristy now. It still has a wall that surrounds it.
We also either drove through or stopped in a few other villages along the wine route. They were all very nice. Storks are popular here - as you can see in a picture of a nest, in some towns, the buildings have a metal nesting area where the storks can decide to nest or not. A lot of them do.
So the pictures will show the castle, the convent, and also views of the wine towns, Notre Dame Cathedral and Strasbourg from a boat tour. Strasbourg and some of the surrounding towns apparently
Side view of Notre Dame
There is always reconstruction going on- try to ignore the scaffolding! have quite the torture history- always was I hearing stories of torture here and torture there. The bridges around Strasbourg were apparently a good place to really come up with some diabolical things. Ick. I suppose all of this is from the constant wars that took place in the area. Strasbourg is really a beautiful city - I did not get to explore much outside of my walking distance and I know there was more to see. Petite France is the historic district and one of the oldest. The buildings are still the half timber buildings and obviously still maintained. It is a very popular area inside of Strasbourg and I think it is obvious why but as you can see from some of these included pictures from outside of Petite France, the rest of the city is equally beautiful. Just look at some of these houses along the water!! Gorgeous! Spring was a wonderful time to be here.
Of course the crowning glory of Strasbourg is the Notre Dame Cathedral. It was amazing. The architecture of this building is mind-boggling. As I keep saying in so many other blogs, it is so hard to really give a good
Beautiful view of "Petite France" in Strasbourg
This area was called "Petite France" and I think was the most historic representation of things in a picture. I have considered getting a better camera except for having to carry it around. I hope you can at least get a small feel for how amazing this place is. Both outside and in!! When you walk in, you are first amazed by it's sheer size. Even when I think a place is massive on the outside, once you walk in and see the soaring ceilings with columns, stained glass, statuary and art work - it is just hard to express how impressive it really is. Again, I do not do it justice in these photos. I accidentally attended service here one day. It was Good Friday (and I had lost track of my days) and I had gone inside to get away from the sun in the cool interior and to see it again only to discover services were taking place. Of course I had a seat and stayed. It was impressive.
A last bit about food and wine - the wines of the area are predominantly white. Reisling and Gewurtztraminer, Sylvaner, Pinot Blanc and Muscat. The only red really is Pinot Noir. The dry whites are fantastic and the sweet ones
Beautiful house in Strasbourg
This was taken from the boat on the Rhine river tour. I love the hanging gardens. are as well but they are less to my taste. Although I did have a muscat paired with a cream of asparagus soup at dinner one night that was a nice match. There is also Edelzwiker which is a blend of wines and tends to be a bit more sweet but I thought it paired very well with a spicy mustard. The specialty dish of the region is their Charcoutrie which is their sauerkraut - with sausage or fish. They do like their pork here and they do it very well -I also had a simple ham in pastry dish for lunch one day (with those wines) that was excellent. Their Winstub here are typical of elsewhere - wine and food.
I thoroughly enjoyed my stay here and as usual, it needs more time to really explore.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.232s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 8; qc: 44; dbt: 0.1021s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Khristine Stock
non-member comment
Thank you for sharing your beautiful pictures. The shots of Notre Dame are impressive.