Best of Alsace tour

We had booked to join an all-day minivan tour, “Best of Alsace”. The meeting point was outside the stupendous cathedral. We had a few minutes to spare; I couldn’t resist the opportunity to duck inside for a last look at this masterpiece. At 8.30 am the church was almost empty. No shuffling crowds and flashing phones, just the wonderful balance of morning light pouring through the wall of stained glass.

We climbed into the minivan and set off for Colmar. This picturesque town had prospered in the Middle Ages Located on the River Ill (“ill”), Colmar sat on the trade routes for silver, salt, and finished cloth. Many of its old buildings survived the war. They were repaired and repainted to attract tourists, and it was certainly working today!. There are thriving Christmas Markets for both children and grown-ups in December. The shops are full of Gingerbread (Neil bought some).

Storks, a symbol of Alsace, are everywhere, both carved on house fronts and in real-life, making their wide nests on wagon-wheels set on the rooftops. They fly to North Africa in the winter, and back to Colmar in spring.

Next stop was Eguisheim: more storks on even older houses, going back to the fifteenth century. There was a yellow house so tiny it could almost be dolls-house. The day was getting hotter and hotter (forecast 34 degrees C today). Neil and I were happy to find a café under shelter, and order refreshing coffee and delicious red fruit tart. We had taken two water flasks and were gulping them up like and the radiator of a classic Bentley.

By the time we reached Riquewihr, our second stop, it was so hot that we left the others to dash about, while we sat in the shade of the Au Relais Café and enjoyed our lunch. A group in colourful Alsatian national costume was just forming up was we left. The most notable feature of the girls’ and women’s costumes is a huge black ribbon attached to a bonnet. The bows puff out the side and the ribbons run down the back to the waist.

Last stop, after another 45 minutes of driving up into the hills, was the mighty brick stronghold of Haut-Koenigsbourg. Commanding the valley for miles around, this castle had at various stages been owned by the Hohenstaufen, Habsburgs and later noble families. However all this came to an end during the disastrous Thirty Years War (1618-1648) which devastated Central Europe in the name of religion as Catholics and Protestants battled for control. The Swedish army (Protestant) breached the walls with artillery. They sacked the castle so thoroughly that it was abandoned for over 200 years.

Cue the Hohenzollern Kaiser Wilhelm II. In 1899 he commissioned Bodo Ebhardt, a specialist in medieval fortifications, to restore it to its late-medieval glory. The Kaiser saw the castle as a symbol of Hohenzollern Imperial power. The result is enormously impressive. I am sorry to admit that Neil and I chickened out of the full castle tour with its 165 steps (no lift!).

By now it was meltingly hot. We skulked off to the gift shop, where Neil found an excellent hoodie.

By this time we had drunk so much water we almost squelched as we walked. So hot! Almost like Melbourne.. Thoughts of air-conditioned shopping malls drifted into my mind. We staged a strategic retreat to the terrace café. Barely had we settled down to deliciously cold blonde beers than the driver retrieved us for the trip home.

We certainly got a feel for Alsqce’s troubled past and dual German-French identity. Tomorrow we leave Strasbourg behind, and bus to Remich, part of Luxembourg, to join our CroisiEurope river cruise.Read more