Lovely Alsace

• Visit Château du Haut Kœnigsbourg. It is a restored castle and has spectacular views over the Rhine Valley.
• Wine. If you drink wine, go for a wine tasting or sit with your friends/loved ones and have a few glasses in a Winstub.
• The quaint villages of Alsace. I love the half-timbering of the buildings, the vines and the cobbled streets.
• Having said that, you also have to visit Colmar. There is plenty to do here: shopping, eating, drinking wine. Be sure to wander in the ancient city center.
• Strasbourg Cathedral. I didn't get to go inside because it was not open when we went by it, but I have read that it is an amazing place to visit. It is massive and has the most amazing colour.

Quick Tips:

• I would suggest basing yourself in one area for a few nights and taking day trips to other areas.
• My husband and I much prefer to stay in smaller villages rather than the larger towns like Strasbourg.
• It is helpful to know some French or German before you go. People are generally more receptive to you if you at least try to speak their language.
• Try the local food. It seems people either hate it or love it. I fall in the latter. Sauerkraut and sausages with some local wine--YUM!
• My favorite time to visit was in the autumn during harvest. The colors were amazing and you get a glimpse at what they do with the grapes

Best Way To Get Around:

In the smaller villages we always had a car to take us to the village and then we park and walk.

In the larger towns like Strasbourg, Colmar and Mulhouse I would suggest parking the car and using public transportation.

The area is popular for biking and hiking.

The roads are winding and narrow, but easy to navigate. French roads are typically in good condition. Several times we have been in the Alsace area and have never found there to be too much traffic. There have been times in smaller villages where parking can be hard to come by, but you eventually find a place to park--even if it means walking a bit further.

The Grand Hotel, Strasbourg

We booked this hotel directly through their website. We wanted a double room with a shower, which cost 63 euros. We should have chosen the more expensive double room with a bath. I can only assume it would have been a little bit nicer that what we were stuck with.

My husband had me go check us in while he waited with the car. The woman at the front desk spoke to me in English immediately when I walked in the door. She gave me our key and I headed up to the room in the glass elevator off of the lobby.

I found our hallway and to my surprise found that they were doing some major construction up here. One whole room had been completely ripped out with just a few walls standing where a guest room used to stand. I made my way down the hallway and found our door. This is when the fun began. I had one key on the ring. I put the key in the keyhole and it just didn’t seem to fit very well, but the knob didn’t turn, so I knew this thing fit somehow. I must have stood there for five minutes fiddling with the key trying to get the door open. I was just about to head back down to the front desk in defeat when I leaned on the door and it opened to reveal the real door with the lock. The key worked just fine in this keyhole. By the look of the keyhole on the first door, I wasn’t the first person to attempt this. . .

The room was furnished all right, the bed not very comfortable. The room was clean, though. We had a view out the side of the hotel looking right into the hotel next door. It was set in a grand looking building from the outside, but our floor, at least, was not pretty from the inside. The shower was so small I didn’t think I was going to even be able to bend over to wash anything let alone my husband trying to do the same. Sometimes you get what you pay for. . .

Our flight didn’t leave until late evening, but watching the news that morning in our hotel room we found out that there was a strike at the airports that day and that our flight was going to be cancelled. Of course, we didn’t have travel insurance and it isn’t cheap to try to get back to England no matter how you do it. We panicked and called the airport, the airline, etc. and nobody could tell us anything. We skipped breakfast at the hotel and went on our way. We did end up flying out on only one of the two flights that left the airport that night, a couple hours late, but we got home anyway. . . someone is looking out for us.

Hostellerie Au Moulin and Le Relais de Riquewihr

We wanted a cheap place to stay with a good location. We found the Hostellerie au Moulin in Riquewihr. The outside is a striking blue color with shuttered windows. There is a little windmill outside and a well used for flowers. It is located right on the main street within walking distance of a car park. It also has its own restaurant, Le Relais de Riquewihr. It is advertised as "country style," which it really was.

The hotel has ten rooms, all about the same size, but with different décor in each room. The rooms are grouped into three different price categories. You can reserve your room with room only, bed and breakfast or half-board. We didn’t eat any meals here. Breakfast in France usually consists of bread and coffee and they were charging 7 Euros per person, so we skipped it and went elsewhere.

Check-in was easy; they asked for our last name and handed us the keys and pointed us in the right direction. There were bright red corridors which cannot be missed! The rooms were rather compact, but were clean and comfortable. We were on the corner, so we had a nice view of the main street and the side street. Guests also had a side entrance to use to you didn’t have to walk back through the restaurant every time you were coming and going.

I can’t say there was anything too dull or too spectacular about this place. We paid around 50 Euros (which got you a lot more back then, since the exchange rate was closer to 1:1) and had one of the best locations you could ask for in this wonderful little village.

Roger Hassenforder Brasserie and Restaurant

We had been visiting Zermatt, Switzerland for a few days and our flight was leaving from Strasbourg. We had a few hours to kill so we decided on dinner in Kaysersberg, one of our favorite Alsace villages. He had spotted this place when we had visited before and it looked like it had traditional Alsatian foods so we decided on this place for dinner.

It was only around 6:30 and dinner didn’t start until 7pm. They seated us for a couple of glasses of wine since we were a little bit early. The service was very courteous and friendly. They didn’t speak English, so we spoke our broken French and managed beautifully. We both had traditional fare. I had wonderful deep-fried pork with a cream sauce and pommes frites. My husband had the same, but with no cream sauce. We both had choucroute (sauerkraut), too.

The restaurant was pretty with old wooden beams and lights made out of old wagon wheels—typical regional style. There were also tables outside if you wanted to sit outside for a glass of wine or beer and watch people go by. The outside also had pretty window boxes and half-timbering. The building is a subtle blue color.

You will also notice cycling memorabilia. Roger Hassenforder was a legendary cyclist in the 1950s. I believe he won a yellow jersey in the Tour de France in 1953. I tried to find out more about this, but the translation from French to English just isn’t all that great and I don't know enough to figure out the little details. There is plenty of information out there in French if you want to go dig for it!

This amazing castle can be seen nestled in the Vosges from far away as it is at an elevation of 757 meters (2498 feet). As you get closer and closer you realize the presence it commands. Our first thoughts, "How did they get all of the material up here in the first place?" The castle seemingly rises right out of the rocks and is a beautiful color coming from the pink sandstone rock.

This castle has a colorful history; I will offer it to you in brief form. The castle was originally founded in the first half of the 12th century by Frederic II of Hohenstaufen. In the 13th century, the dukes of Lorraine took possession of the castle. It was besieged and destroyed in 1462. In 1479, the castle ruins are entrusted to the Thierstein (Tierstein) brothers who built a new castle. They changed the castle and adapted it to the current artillery uses. When the last Thiersten family member dies with no descendant, Maximillien I takes possession. In 1633, the Swedes at war with Austria in the Thirty Years War, the castle is destroyed. In 1865, the ruin and forests are acquired by the town of Sélestat In May, 1899, the town of Sélestat gifts the ruins to the emperor of Germany, Guillaume II. In 1900-01, Bodo Ebhardt starts the medieval-style restoration and completes it by 1908.

The day we visited the free parking was not a problem. We parked along the street and took a short forest walk up to the entrance. By the time we left the castle, there were people taking quite a long walk to get up to the castle. *Get there early*

It is truly a fairy-tale castle and one of Alsace’s most visited sights. The views from the castle are incredible. You can see Germany’s Black Forest clearly across the valley and the castle, at times, sits above the clouds on a misty morning. The times I have visited this area, it was very misty with low clouds burning of in the afternoons.

This is a fun castle to visit as there is plenty of space outside to run around and play. There is plenty of walking space and exploring to do. There is a one-way system guiding you through all open areas of the castle. There is enough space for people to get around you if you want to stop and browse for a while.

The entrance fee is not overwhelming. As I recall it was something like 7 Euros per adult. It is open almost every day of the year (closed 25 Dec, 1 Jan and 1 May). It is open from around 9:30am-around 5pm depending on the season (June-August it is open longer).

The wine in this region is wonderfully tasty and mostly white (there is one red grape, the pinot noir). Alsatian wines are "varietal," meaning pressed from one grape variety, and are identified by grape and the maker’s name. There are a few variations on that, but mostly this is how it is done.

The vineyards stretch for over 200km (130 miles) across the foothills of the Vosges Mountains. They start in the south at Thann and extend all the way north to Marlenheim. You can drive this wine route for miles and miles and see nothing but vineyards and quaint little villages with cobbled streets, bright flowers and people enjoying the scenery.

Should you decide to follow the route for a while, make sure you have a map with you. There are signs to follow the route, but we missed our turns more than one time because there just aren't enough signs. We finally decided to follow the general rule at the roundabouts that if there was no sign, go straight. It also takes a great amount of time to wind your way through these villages. We wound our way through for some time and then got on the Autostrada going south from Strasbourg to make up some time.

Alsace is about as far north as you can go when it comes to grapes in France. The area is cast in the rain shadows of the mountains. This creates just enough rain for the vineyards. The best wines in the region are the ones that are located further east, right on the foothills. "The best vineyards in the area lie at a fairly consistent altitude, between 200 and 350 meters (656 and 1146 feet), on fairly steep, well-drained soil, slanting southeast to south, making the most of the available sunshine" (Quoted from Oz Clarke's Wine Atlas)

There are whole books written on grapes and wine and all of the different distinctions. I will give you a few brief ideas about the wines in Alsace:

Most of the finer wines come from the central section of vineyards in the Haut-Rhin department, just to the west of Colmar. Many of the vines that are worked in the Alsace area were planted many centuries ago by Romans.

Grand Cru wines are quite fine. The name was applied to areas of land where the finest grapes were produced. Alsace has around 50 Grand Crus now that represent only 4% of Alsace's wine production. Only four "Noble" grapes in this area are entitled to the status: Gewürztraminer, Riesling, Pinot Gris and Muscat d'Alsace.

The next level down is simply the Alsace AC (meaning Appellation Control). This appears on all labels and any grape variety is acceptable. There is no intermediate level for the wines, but the French system seems to be out-of-whack right now and they are working on creating different levels.

There are a couple of others worth mentioning. There are dessert wines from the region called Vendange Tardive made from late-harvested grapes that are sweeter. Also, you will find Cremant d'Alsace AC, which is the sparkling wine made with the traditional methods of champagne (although only sparkling wines from the Champagne region can use this designation).

If you like wine, this is definitely a great place to visit. The wine is cheap and readily available. There are many places to do wine tastings to decide what to buy. You can also sit at a Winstub and drink to your heart's delight! The quaint little villages and all of the shopping available is just an added bonus to the great wine.

Unless you plan to spend a significant amount of time in this area, you will have to pick and choose which villages you would like to visit. My husband and I keep going back to the ones we love, even though we know we need to explore more of these delights.

Kaysersberg

This has to be one of the prettiest village in the Alsace area.

• Tokay wine is the specialty of this village, even though all of the Alsace wines are grown here.
• Kaysersberg means "the Emperor’s mountain."
• Doctor Albert Schweitzer (Nobel Peace Prize 1952) was born here in this village. He is known throughout the world as a writer, philanthropist, missionary, organist, theologian and doctor.
• There are plenty of shops to visit here. You will find Alsatian pottery, wine glasses, Christmas items and plenty of other misc. touristy stuff.

Riquewihr

This has to be another of the prettiest villages in Alsace located near Ribeauville in the central part of the wine region.

• Houses from the 16th and 17th century
• Two Grand Cru wines are produced here: Sporen and Schoenenbourg
• You will find old rampart walls in this medieval village
• There are five museums in the village: the Post Office Museum in the castle of the Dukes of Wurttemberg, the Stagecoach Museum, the Hansi Museum, the Dolder Museum of Local History and the Thieves' Tower with its torture chamber (I saw this one--very cheap, but kind of a waste of time)
• Here you will also find all kinds of shops to visit. You will find pottery and crafts along with wine items and many other touristy things.
• Two snacks you must try while you are here are the freshly bakes macaroons and the pretzels--YUM!!!

Eguisheim

This is the third village I recommend you visit.

• Located very close to Colmar--just SW of the city
• Name comes from "home of Egino or Egeno", the count of Eguisheim.
• Remains of a fortified castle are found in the center of the village
• Bruno of Eguisheim was born here in 1002 and would become Pope Leon IX
• All Alsatian grape varieties are grown here
• From above, the city forms concentric circles of ramparts around the village

No doubt there are countless villages to be discovered in the Alsace area. We happened to visit these three and thought you would find them interesting, too. Of course there are the larger cities like Strasbourg, Colmar and Mulhouse that are must-see cities, too. I specifically recommend Colmar as it is the wine capital of the region and is very beautiful, specifically the city center. Strasbourg is incredible, too. I didn't get much of a chance to see the city since we were there only one night, but I did like what I saw!

A good website to start your planning is Alsace Online. A friendly little man will show you the way through the website :)