Alsace day 2 ( Route des vins d'Alsace, Riquewirh, Obernai, Mont Sainte-Odile)

The next morning we headed north and followed the “Routes des Vins d'Alsace” the Alsace wine route. This day was just spent traveling on the route while enjoying beautiful landscapes, stopping at picturesque villages and taste some good white wines. I used Tourist Guide Marie Christine Périllon Alsace as a guide for our road trip and picked a few villages to stop throughout the day. We stopped at Riquewirh, Obernai and Mont Sainte-Odile Abbey. I wanted to stop at Betschdorf (known for its blue and gray stoneware), which is a pottery town in the Alsace just 15 minutes away from Soufflenheim (a better known pottery town) but we didn't have enough time.

Riquewirh was our first stop. I read this little village can get packed quick so I wanted to stop to see at the beginning of our day. 

Riquewihr is a medieval town right in the heart of the Alsatian vineyards. A parking lot is right near the city hall and you can park right outside the old city gate for a few euros. Riquewihr is one of the most beautiful villages not only in Alsace, but of France and is included in the list of " Les plus Beau Villages du monde." Riquewihr is certainly like an enchantment place, a Fairy-Taile Village, which has lasts and-hopefully-will last-centuries. 

Rand enjoyed running up the main street, Rue Charles de Gaulle and eating some treats from the local bakeries. 

Overlooking Rue Charles de Gaulle is the Dolder Tower which used to be the town's gate and part of the walls protecting the town.

After grabbing a Crêpe on our way out of Riquewirh, we headed back onto Route des vins d'Alsace towards Obernai. We passed through many beautiful little wine villages and vineyards. 

Some more pics of the Alsace stork and their nests

We stopped at Obernai to grab a bite to eat. Parking was very easy and found a place on the side of the street. We did a quick lap before walking down restaurant row and found a great place to eat overlooking the Parcours Historique d'Obernai. 

 Before heading back to the car to go to the Mont Sainte-Odile Monastery, we found a great little carousal for Rand to enjoy.  

While researching where to go in Alsace, I came across Atlas Obscura and read an interesting story about a man who found an old floor plan of a Monastery and broke in to steal some old books from a locked library. The story completely interested me and I really wanted to go see Mont Sainte-Odile. 

 We parked for free in a field below the Monastery and had a bit of a hike before reaching our destination. I put Rand in my DIY toddler carrier and walked hiked up to Mont Sainte-Odile. 

The views overlooking Alsace was a perfect end to our weekend in Alsace. We didn't go into the Monastery but enjoyed walking around the grounds and looking into the little chapels on the edges of the cliffs. Rand had a lot of energy so he ran around in circles in the garden and enjoyed climbing into this old carved out tree. 

Tips for exploring Alsace:

-Get a good map of Alsace and the Route des vins d'Alsace. I used a map from my tour book Tourist Guide: Alsace

-Have a designated driver. This is wine route, you will see wine stands everywhere so be responsible and don't drink and drive!

-Check out airBnB for a unique place to stay on your trip through Alsace. 

Alsace day 1 (Eguisheim & Colmar)

While planning our trip to Alsace I knew I wanted to stop at Obernai, Soufflenheim, Riquewirh, Colmar and Eguisheim. I also came across some info on Wattwiller and I knew my husband (who is a huge history buff) would enjoy that stop on our trip. Also, Mont Sainte-Odile Abbey seemed like a great stop to enjoy the views of the vineyards from up above.

Hartmannswillerkopf, also know as Vieil Armand (in Wattwiller, France) was a battlefield on top of a mountain, with extremely steep sides all round, where the French and Germans fought for most of the Great War. I have read some amazing reviews on this memorial but was bummed to find out (the night before we left) that they were still on their winter schedule and wouldn't be open for a few more hours till after we were planning to arrive. So instead we planned on just heading out to Eguisheim before going to Colmar to spend the night.

We headed out towards Eguisheim right after breakfast and arrived there around lunch time. The drive was pretty easy and took just over 3 hours to get there. Eguisheim has a carpark very close to the centre, just off the main street (D14) turning left just before you see Wolfberger on your right. 2€ for 2 hours and 3€ for 4 hours. 

Rand looking for an itsy bitsy spider.

 After a delicious lunch at Restaurant Dagsbourg, we 

did a lap around this charming little city. Eguisheim is a member of the Les Plus Beaux Villages de France, meaning "the most beautiful villages of France." We enjoyed walking around this quintessential French/German city and admiring its beautiful half-timbered buildings and the old city walls. 

Alsace has plenty of wine shops with signs outside that welcome you in for a dégustation, a free tasting of their vins d’Alsace before you buy: Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Sylvaner, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris. We picked a random cellar and were able to taste some local wines and buy from the owners. Bakeries and pastry shops were plentiful and filled with colorful tasty treats. Alsace is known as the birthplace of the kugelhopf so we just had to get one to try. 

Do you see those two huge nests onto of the orange and red buildings? Those are from the famous Alsace storks. We found these huge nests all around Alsace on chimneys and rooftops. 

Our next stop was Colmar. I found this amazing apartment on AirBnB that not only was in a perfect location but the price was amazing and was just so cute! We were right near the indoor market, Little Venice and Koifhus. 

Colmar was completely decked out for Easter. They had little pockets of Easter markets with vendors scattered throughout the city along with live animals like rabbits, chickens, baby chicks, goats and much more. Rand loved running up to the cage or fence and peeking in to see each fuzzy little animal. 

They say Alsace is French with a German accent but I would say it is the other way around ;) Rob and I thought it favored more of Germany than France. Alsace is the Germanic region of France. It is a region lying on the west bank of the river Rhine, between the Rhine and the Vosges mountains. Colmar was founded in the 9th Century and was German between 1871–1918 and 1940–1945. 

In the middle photo to the right you can see a beautiful mural painted house called the The Pfister house which was built in 1537. The mural paintings represent biblical and secular scenes.

Saint Martin’s church, also known as Cathédrale Saint-Martin (for its large dimensions, though it is not a cathedral). It was built in pink sandstone from the Vosges Mountain built between 1235 and 1365.

The second picture on the right is The fishmonger's district and is lined with beautiful cherry blossom trees that were in full bloom during our visit. Parallel to the trees were colorful half-timbered homes and just down the street from Little Venice (bottom right picture).

Click here to see Day 2 in Alsace

Wissembourg, France & Burg Berwartstein

One of my very dear friends and my roommate throughout college came to visit me for a few days before heading off to Paris. It was so much fun having an old friend visit and show her around my little village and the area.

We had a full day to explore and she wanted to go somewhere I have never been before. I knew I wanted to show her a castle but also take her to a cute little "picturesque" European town. A few of my local friends have mentioned a place called Wissembourg and it was less than an hour away so I thought this would be the perfect place. I researched a little more and found a castle called Burg Berwartstein, which was only 20 minutes away from Wissembourg but was on the way home. IF we had enough time, we would of stopped at the Teufelstisch (Devil's Table). It was on the way and past right near it but we needed to head back home.

In this small village of Wissembourg, if the top chololateir in France, Daniel Rebert.  We read that the eclairs were to die for, so I got a vanilla and my friend got a cafe one. We were not disappointed. I bought some macaroons and chocolates to bring home and those were also amazing.

 After enjoying some flammkuchen at Charles V and walking around a bit, we headed to Burg Berwartstein.  I put Rand in my DIY carrier and paid the 5euro for our tour. After a brief explanation on the castle's history and sites to see, we ventured off on our own to explore the castle. We were there for an hour and needed to start heading back to have dinner at home.