Alsace

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France > Colmar – July 2018

Posted by OthmarCNX on July 4, 2018

Posted in: Europe, Travel. Tagged: Adolph House, Alsace, Bertholdi, Colmar, France, Koifhus, Little Venice, Pfister House, Ploughmen's Guild. Leave a comment

The hometown of Bartholdi, the French sculptor who designed the Statue of Liberty, is Colmar. The statue can be seen everywhere and is also the sign on the local tourist walk around Colmar. The town is nestled in vineyards and gentile hills in the middle of the Alsace region and the Wines Route.

Alsace 2018 - Colmar - 009a.jpg

Colmar is full of charm and medieval half-timbered houses, making it a very pleasant small town to explore the cobblestoned old town and relax with a glass of local wine.

Colmar

Comar

The area along the Lauch river, which used to be the fishmongers, butchers and tanners quartes, is known as ‘Little Venice‘. The area is very picturesque and boats, although not nearly as nice as in the real Venice, are carrying tourist along the waterways.

Colmar – Little Venice

Colmar – Little Venice by Night

Colmar – Little Venice Tourists

Colmar – Little Venice

Colmar – Little Venice by Night

The St Martin’s Cathedral (although technically no longer a cathedral) is the main church in Colmar. Nearby are the Dominican Convent, now a library, and the St Mattieu Churches.

Colmar – St Martin Cathedral

Colmar – Dominican Convent

Colmar – St Mattieu

There are a number of historic houses in the city centre dating back well into the medieval times. The old customs house; Koifhus, the Adolph House, Old Guard House, or the Ploughmen’s Guild with the intricate masonry portal are just a few. Whilst there is an original size ear of the Statue of Liberty in the Bartholdi Museum, there is also a smaller size version of the full statue towards the local airport. One of the most famous houses is the Pfister House with its elaborate carvings and paintings on the façade.

Colmar – Pfister House

Colmar – City Hall

Colmar – Pfister House

Colmar – Guard House

Colmar – House of Heads

Colmar – Ploughmen’s Guild

Colmar – Adolph House (right)

Colmar – Koifhus

Colmar – Pfister House

Colmar – Bartholdi Museum

Colmar – Pfister House

Colmar – Bartholdi Museum

The Colmar Tourist Trail, marked with bras plaques picturing the Statue of Liberty, takes about 3 hours and is also including some interesting sights outside the immediate city centre.

Colmar – Water Tower

Colmar – Bartholdi Monument

Colmar – St Martin’s Circle

Colmar – Walking the trail..a

Colmar – Walking the trail…

Colmar – Prefecture

Colmar – Rapp Place and Monument

Colmar – Tourist Trail

Colmar – St Peter’s Chapel

And here are just some more pictures from our visit to the beautiful Colmar.

Colmar – Facade trompe l’oeil

Colmar – Steak Tatar

Colmar

Colmar – Synagoque

Colmar

Colmar – Covered Market

The END of our wonderful trip to the historic Alsace.

France > Alsace – July 2018

Posted by OthmarCNX on July 3, 2018

Posted in: Europe, Travel. Tagged: Alsace, Andlau, Bergheim, Chateau Haut-Koenigsberg, Dambach la Ville, Mittelbergheim, Mont Saint-Odile, Obernai, Ribeauville, Riquewihr, Selestat. Leave a comment

Between visiting a couple of the most beautiful cities in the Alsace, Strasbourg & Colmar, we drove along the ‘Vine Route’ and visited some of the historic medieval villages and sites along the way. There are local Alsatian vineries and wine cellars in every village, too bad we were driving… we did of course try the local wines during the rest of our week in the Alsace. Almost every town has beautiful historic half-timbered houses and the locals pride themselves for their flower displays.

Alsace 2018 - Mittelbergheim - 013.JPG

Here are the 11 places we visited over 3 days:

Obernai: Beautiful 13 century town with old gates, walls (which can be explored and walked on) and traditional burghers’ houses. Some of the most scenic spots in the centre are the “Six-Bucket Well” and the towns’ Market Square with the Town Hall and Beffroi Tower. Obernai (as many other town in the Alsace) is also famous for its Christmas Market.

Obernai – Six Bucket Well

Obernai

Obernai – Market Square with Town Hall and Bell Tower

Obernai

Obernai – St Peter & St Paul Church

St Peter & St Paul Church

Obernai – Citywall and Rampart

Mont Saint-Odile: An emblematic Catholic monument in the Vosges Mountains on a wooded ridge at 753 metres is offering an inspiring and peaceful setting with panoramic views. Despite being a religious site, it houses tourist facilities including a restaurant and hotel. Around the forest are some ruins of ancient walls which no-one can really explain where they came from or who build them.

Mont Sainte-Odile

Mont Sainte-Odile – International Sun-dial

Mont Sainte-Odile

Mont Sainte-Odile – Ancient Wall

Mont Sainte-Odile

Barr: Barr is the wine capital of the Alsace with the oldest Alsace wine fair going back over 100 years. A beautiful Town Hall or “Hotel de Ville” and historic centre set in the middle of vineyards.

Barr

Mittelbergheim: This town is standing on the slopes of the Crax Hill and has the title of “Most beautiful Villages of France” and is also a gastronomic centre as well as ideal for walking in the surrounding nature. This town has less flowers, but nerveless is a very charming historic place. Storks nesting here.

Mittelbergheim

Mittelbergheim – Storks

Mittelbergheim

Andlau: Tucked away near the Vosges foothills, this small village of about 1,800 inhabitants is a charm filled place with many half-timbered medieval houses. A historic Benedictine abbey dating back to 880, reconstructed several times. The crypt is guarded by a bear carved in stone.

Andlau

Andlau – Wineyard

Andlau – Bear protecting crypt

Andlau

Andlau – St Peter & St Paul

Andlau – Crypt at St Peter & St Paul

Dambach la Ville: A small town of about 2,000 inhabitants has a quaint old-world ambiance and still has parts of its medieval walls. Outstanding flowers all over the town make it a very pretty place to visit. With more storks nesting here, a definite favourite for us.

Dambach-la-Ville – Blienschwiller gate

Dambach-la-Ville

Dambach-la-Ville – Diffenthal gate

Dambach-la-Ville – Saint-Etienne church

Dambach-la-Ville

Dambach-la-Ville – ‘Maison du Sabotier’ (right)

Dambach-la-Ville – Market Place

Dambach-la-Ville

Dambach-la-Ville – Town Hall

Dambach-la-Ville – Storks

Selestat: Much larger and less touristy, the biggest of the town visited used to be a Free Imperial City. The centre revolves around its two main churches, the Romanesque style Church of Sainte-Foy with 3 towers/spires and the gothic style Church of Saint Georges which also features interesting stained glass windows. You can follow in the footsteps of “the lion and the giant Sletto“, a 2.8km long walk marked by brass sign on the footpath.

Selestat

Selestat – Tourist trail

Selestat – Clock Tower

Selestat

Selestat – St Foy Church

Selestat – St Georges Church

Selestat

Bergheim: One of the Alsatian towns with still intact town walls dating back to 1311 and is a designated 4-star flower village. Bergheim is also worth a visit for its Ramparts and City Walls. The Lack’Mi relief depicts a historic person which fled into Bergheim and poked fun at his prosecutors.

Bergheim

Bergheim – Obertor

Bergheim – Lack’Mi

Bergheim

Chateau Haut Koenigsberg: Sitting atop on 757 meters overlooking the Alsace, this fortification is dating back to the 12th century. Destroyed and later restored at the start of the 20th century under the German Emperor Wilhelm II, it is today one of the most visited monuments in France.

Haut-Koenigsberg

Ribeauville: Many half-timbered medieval houses build in the 15th-18th century are preserved, just a few kilometres from Riquewihr, with around 5,000 inhabitants a bit bigger and less touristy feeling, but just as beautiful. Famous for the “Pfifferhouse” and the Townhall. Also parts of the old walls have survived, including the Butcher’s tower dating back to the 13th century. Another favourite and yes, more storks.

Ribeauville – Butchers’ Tower

Ribeauville

Ribeauville – Priest’s Cementry

Ribeauville – St Gregoire Church

Ribeauville

Ribeauville – ‘Fiddler’

Ribeauville – Pfifferhuss

Ribeauville

Ribeauville – Storks

Ribeauville

Ribeauville – St Catherine chappel (behind)

Ribeauville

Riquewihr: Probably the most famous village with both the title of “Most Beautiful Villages of France” and “Flowering Villages”. Town walls (double walls on the north side) and towers are still intact and so are many of the historic houses of the small town. It has however a distinct touristic feeling around the cobbled streets.

Riquewihr

Riquewihr – The Dolder (South)

Riquewihr – Conrad Ortlieb House

Riquewihr

Riquewihr – Upper Gate

Riquewihr – City Wall

Riquewihr – The Dolder (North)

Riquewihr

Riquewihr – Wibeyards

Riquewihr – Town Hall

Riquewihr – Upper Gate & Wall

Riquewihr – Upper Gate

There is so much to see. So many houses are historic and full of history. The scenery in the middle of vineyards is just incredible. Look up onto the roofs and you will find the Alsace’s emblemed bird, the White Stork, nesting on many roofs in the warmer months.

France > Strasbourg – July 2018

Posted by OthmarCNX on July 1, 2018

Posted in: Europe, Travel. Tagged: Alsace, Alsatien Museum, Barrage Vauban, Cathedral Lady of Strasbourg, Cathedral Notre Dame de Strasbourg, Maison de Tanneurs, Maison Kammerzell, Palais Rohan, Petit France, Place Gutenberg, Place Kleber, St Tomas Church, Strasbourg. Leave a comment

Strasbourg is the capital of the Alsace region in France and the official seat of the European Parliament. The old city centre, Grand Ile (or Grand Island) was listen as an UNESCO World Heritage site, the first time a whole city centre was designated with that title. We spend most of our time walking the very pedestrian friendly centre (although driving to our hotel with all the one-way and closed roads was a bit of a challenge).

Alsace 2018 - Strasbourg - Cathedral - 061

View from the Cathedral platform across Strasbourg

There are so many great historic buildings in every street, just exploring and waking around the historic streets or along the walkways by the river surrounding the city centre, looking up on the facades, into courtyards and around some corners will reward you with interesting views well beyond the usual tourist spots, just keep your eyes open.

– – – With 3 days in the beautiful city, this will be a long post – – –

Strasbourg Alley

Strasbourg by the river

Strasbourg from the river

Strasbourg Art

Strasbourg looking down

Strasbourg Street

Strasbourg Courtyard

Strasbourg history

Strasbourg Flowers on bridge

Strasbourg looking up

Some of the prettiest area is ‘Little France‘. There you find the famous ‘Maison des Tanneurs‘ amongst many other historic houses.

Little France

Maison des Tanneurs

Just a few minutes further and we are by the Barrage Vauban, medieval dam, defence towers and city fortifications. The ‘Ponts Couverts’ however are no longer covered. From the top of the ‘Grand Ecluse’ (covered bridge that is the Vauban dam) is a great panoramic view of the Strasbourg cityscape. Check out the lights after sunset.

Barrage Vauban

Probably biggest star in Strasbourg is of course the Notre-Dame Cathedral, which is considered one of the most beautiful monuments in western culture. With its 142 metre spire, the cathedral was from 1647 to 1874 the tallest building in the world. It is well worth to climb the 332 steps to the 66 metres high viewing platform to enjoy a fantastic panorama view across the city and beyond.

There are so many pictures, so I have broken them down into 5 sets…

Cathedral Exterior

Cathedral – Exterior

Cathedral – Exterior Side Entrance

Cathedral – Exterior

Cathedral Interior

Cathedral – Pilier des Anges

Cathedral

Cathedral Astronomical Clock

Cathedral

Cathedral Details

Cathedral details

Cathedral monsters..

Cathedral details

Cathedral Platform

Steps to the platform

View from the top

At the top of the stairs

View from the top

Panoramic view at the top

Spire from the platform

Staircase with a view

View from the top

Lucky coins..?

View straight down to the main enterance

Cathedral by Night

Cathedral at night

The place in front of the Cathedral is very interesting by itself. There is an old WWII bomb stuck in the corner of the Hotel Cathedral, and of course the historic Maison Kammerzell with its fantastic wood carvings.

Cathedral Palce

Steinhauer memorial

Cathedral Palce

Maison Kammerzell

Also joining the Cathedral is the Palais Rohan which was a bishops residence, but today is housing a number of museums.

Palais Rohan

Palais Rohan Courtyard

Palais Rohan

Whilst we are talking about museums, just across the canal is the Alsatian Museum showcasing traditional Alsace life in the past centuries. The traditional building itself is worth the visit.

Alsatian Museum

St Thomas Church is another building worth a visit. Locals call it the “petite fille de la cathedral” (little daughter of the cathedral). The church played an important role in the Protestant Reformation ant its 400 year old clock is striking the hour 4 minutes early to make itself heard before the Cathedral clock strikes.

St Thomas Church

The biggest square in Strasbourg is the Place Kleber. Today the place is surrounded by shopping malls and restaurants. In the centre is a statue of Jean-Batiste Kleber, a French general under Napoleon who was slaughtered in Cairo (hence a small Sphinx behind him on the pedestal).

Kleber statue

Place Kleber

Place Kleber by night

A few minutes walk outside the ‘Grand Ill’ is the historic ‘cave’ wince cellar in the hospice where local winemakers store some of their wine for maturation. There is still some wine said to be from 1472.

Historic wince cellar

Hospice gate

And there are of course many, many other sight to take in…

St Paul Church

Place Gutenberg

Folk dancing on Place Gutenberg

Place de la Republic

Strasbourg Opera

City Miniture

Roof garden

Historic houses

Strasbourg from above

Fasade ornament

Found entreance to secret bar!!

..another street to explore

So much history preserved!

“Tarte Flambee” is an Alsatian dish, also called Flammkuchen/Flammekueche…, made of a thin layer of dough with a fromage blanc cheese spread, onions and additional toppings. Yummy with some local wine or beer.

Beer & Flammkuchen & Beer = Happy Times!

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Alsace

All posts tagged Alsace

France > Colmar – July 2018

France > Alsace – July 2018

France > Strasbourg – July 2018

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