Colmar and Strasbourg
Trip Start
May 15, 2008
1
7
10
Trip End
May 26, 2008
Where I stayed
Strasbourg, Alsace, France
Thursday, May 22, 2008
First enroute to Strasbourg was Colmar, a town that is mid-way on the wine route. It is the cutest little city that has a Petite Venise (Little Venice) and other famous buildings that have been there for centuries. We started off walking through the town, and found a great little spot to enjoy lunch. Lisa and I ordered the choucroute, which traditionally comes with a couple pieces of potatoes and some meats. By the way, choucroute is sauerkraut. YUM. It was a delicioso. Sup ordered the tarte flambé, which is kind of like a pizza. However, instead of red sauce, it is an onion cream sauce. It was good as well.
We continued to walk down the streets, bought some kogelhopf, which is a bundt shaped cake, and some macaroons to enjoy later. Little Venice is very cute, and when people on the gondolas went under the bridges, they had to duck as to not hit their heads.
Next on the wine route that we saw was Ribeauville. It is known to have 3 chateaus up on the top of the hill. We didn't have any proper hiking boots and what not, so we (Lisa and I) climbed up to the Notre Dame, which is nestled against the rocks. It was a long walk up, but it was worth it to see this small little church. We then visited the rest of the town to check out some of the wines. The wine tasting here is not that easy, but what we did was look for signs that said degustation vente - which meant they sold samplings of wine. You can taste the wines that you want, and buy what you want. We left with Rieslings, Gerwertzraminers and Pinot Blancs - it was a successful walk through the town.
We then made our way to Strasbourg, which is the capital of this Alsace region. Strasbourg has an enormous cathedral as well as a similar canal area as Colmar called Petite France. We arrived in the city and it was drizzling, so there weren't as many people out and about. At the cathedral area, we found a nice little Italian restaurant, then continued to walk around. Decided to turn in early and see Petite France the next morning on our way to Nancy.
Comments
.
1. the food doesnt look good!
2. i wouldnt be able to hang wine tasting
3. i am jealous
The absolutely best thing about Colmar is the main art museum which has the Isenheim Altarpiece, painted in 1515. It's not to be missed. It's enormous and has many panels, all with the most glorious (and gruesome, ecstatic, etc., etc.) painting of religious scenes that you've ever seen in your life. It's even better than the food in the region, which is really saying something.