France - Alsace Region - Travel Story

Written by Dorothy Pan Wednesday, 06 July 2011 20:10

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Alsace Region Travel Story

Starting in Strasbourg, Alsace's Capital

Our adventure in Alsace started in the stunning city of Strasbourg, the capital city of the region in North Eastern France. This city’s close proximity to Germany is the reason for its Germanic name, but the German influences do not stop there. The architecture and the food in the Alsace region are more German than French so being here gives you the feeling of being in a completely different country.

We only had time to visit the historic city centre, the Grande Ile, which was made a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1988. This was significant because it was the first time that an entire city centre had been placed on this list. The thing to really admire here is the architecture. The medieval structures have all been kept in tact despite the many conflicts that occurred here.

Taste of Alsatian Food

The first task on our agenda was to find some good food. We found a restaurant called Le Stub that served a paper-thin pizza called a Flammekueche and decided to stop here for a bite. We enjoyed our Flammekueches and local beer on the patio, taking in the wonderful sights and sounds.

Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg

After lunch we made our way to the stunning gothic cathedral that Strasbourg is best known for, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg. As we stared up at this towering dark structure we were in awe of the incredibly ornate details and how small the cathedral made us feel. It was such an interesting contrast to the rest of the lively whimsical architecture in the area. To the left of the cathedral was another well-known gothic structure, the Maison Kammersell, which is now a hotel and restaurant. This building is the oldest one in Strasbourg that is still being used as a commercial space.

After seeing this beautiful city it was hard to imagine that anything could beat it…boy were we in for a treat.

Colmar

After spending the day in beautiful Strasbourg, we hopped back on the train and headed south to the Alsatian wine capital, Colmar. The sunny microclimate coupled with being the second driest city in France is what makes Colmar the ideal location for making Alsace wine. Besides wine, Colmar is also known for being the home-town of artist Martin Schongauer, as well as sculptor Frederic Bartholdi, the designer of the Statue of Liberty.

We used Colmar as our base for touring the Alsace wine region because it was the largest city along the route, however if you want to spend more time at the actual wineries your best bet would be to stay at any of the smaller surrounding towns. Like Strasbourg, Colmar’s historic city centre has a very prominent German influence in its food and architecture. The bright and vibrant wood-framed houses here are so incredibly well preserved that you feel like you’ve stepped back in time.

More Delicious German-Influenced Food

We decided to stick with our German theme for dinner and found a cute little restaurant that specialized in German food. We had to start with the most basic and essential of German dishes, the choucroute, which is a mix of sauerkraut, potatoes, and various types of meat, traditionally variations of pork. To drink, of course, we had a pitcher (yes, pitcher) of Alsatian Gewurztraminer.

Visit to the Chateau du Haut-Koenigsbourg

The next morning we had arranged for a tour of the wine region. For those of you with more time, renting bikes and making your way through the small towns is a great option. Our guide had mentioned that our first stop, the Chateau du Haut-Koenigsbourg, tends to get quite busy later in the day so if we wanted to have some tourist-free time at the castle we would have to go early. The good news was that he was right, it was very quiet in the morning. The bad news was that because we were there so early that the morning fog had not lifted yet so where you would normally have a breathtaking view of the Alsatian plane from the top of the castle we saw only fog – it was like Machu Picchu all over again. The castle had passed through many hands, was left abandoned for hundreds of years, and finally ended up in the hands of the German emperor Wilhelm II in 1899. He wanted to create a castle that praised the qualities of medieval Alsace. Today it is one of the most famous attractions in Alsace and was officially designated as a national historic site in 1993 by the French Ministry of Culture.

Charming Village of Ribeaville

After visiting the hauntingly quiet and beautiful castle, we headed to Ribeauville for a tour of this stunning village. It was still fairly quiet as we strolled along the cobblestone road and admired the charming colourful buildings. It felt as though we were walking through the set of Beauty and the Beast. There’s no doubt that they used this region of France for their inspiration. The shops here mainly sold foods that this region is known for, such as Munster cheese, sausages, and beer.

Wine Tasting in Riquewihr

We had the privilege of tasting some of the wonderful wines that Alsace is known for at our next stop, Riquewihr. There were several winemakers here and all just steps from each other, but our guide highly recommended doing a tasting at Dopff & Irion, which is not a small winery, but the tasting room was quite small and quaint. The great thing about this area is that there are so many different wine options within a very small area. Colmar is a much bigger town, but does not have any wineries so if you are interested in doing wine tasting I would suggest staying in Riquewihr instead. I would also recommend that you stay with white wine, which this region is known for. We did try a red with one of our dinners one night, but it lacked flavour and was quite light and watery. That’s not to say that all of their reds from this region are like that, but that was our experience.

The Sites of Colmar

Our tour ended in the afternoon, giving us lots of time to explore Colmar. There are several beautiful and interesting architectural structures located all over Colmar, and “la Petite Venise” (Little Venice), where canals of the river Lauch crosses through, is a must see.

This was an amazing start to our trip. I can’t wait to see what else France has to offer!