Colourful Colmar

Located in the Alsace wine region, Colmar is a quaint little town with many charming half-timbered houses. The folksy village so attracted erstwhile Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir that he decided to recreate this little town in Bukit Tinggi (40 minutes from Malaysia's capital-Kuala Lumpur) as a holiday resort.

With about 100,000 inhabitants, Colmar is the third largest town in the Alsace region. Located in the northeastern part of France, Colmar is set on a plain between the Vosges mountains and Lauch River. It used to be a bustling port town linked by canal with the nearby Rhine River. Now it is an industrial town dealing in manufacturing of textiles, machinery, and processed foods. It serves as a base for touring the vineyards of the Alsace region. It gives one the feeling of walking through an open-air museum with beautifully preserved medieval streets of houses despite the wars that happened up until World War II. Many have colourful ornamentation. So when travelling through this town, don't just look ahead, but look up as well!

Quick Tips:

Be sure to try the local specialty, chouchroute, a Franco version of sauerkraut, which comes served with a variety of boiled meats including a thick slice of ham, a portion of pork knuckle, and bratwurst. Finish off your meal with a platter of cheese and crackers accompanied with the local gewurstraminer or riesling-the kings of white wines. You may want to also consider getting yourself a few bottles of the local kirsch, which comes in various flavours, including aniseed. And Alsace being the birthplace of foie gras, you'd be ensured the very best quality.

A worthwhile side trip out of Colmar would be visiting the many villages on the wine route. And on the way, make a stop at the amazing 14th-century Haut-Koenigsburg Castle with its surrounding stone fortress and collection of medieval furniture, stained glass chapel, and tapestry of St. George slaying the dragon and a rarely seen chain-mail vest, one of the most complete pieces I've ever seen.

Best Way To Get Around:

On foot! Follow my suggested 1.5-hour walking route to catch all the best that the town has to offer. This charming little town is worth taking time to explore; at every corner you will be surprised by something new. On my second trip to Colmar this year, I took a wrong turn getting back to my hotel and discovered a Jewish quarter, which had a Jewish synagogue and a monument dedicated to the Jews who lived and contributed to the buildings around Colmar. The best way to get to know a place is to get lost, and along the way, discover something new.

You can choose to dine al fresco or cozy up inside at the fireplace upstairs.

Typical of an Alsatian restaurant with a menu that blends French and German cuisine.

To start off your meal, try the tarte a l'oignon (onion tart) which is a savoury pastry/pie that is filled with a custard-like filling that's made with cream and eggs. Or if you prefer, try the quiche lorraine, made with bacon instead of onions.

Be sure to try the local speciality of CHOUCROUTE & VIANDES, which is a selection of seasoned meats and sausages including a meaty slab of bacon, a good-size boudin blanc, a veal bratwurst and a smoked pork chop, boiled or grilled served with a heaping mound of choucroute (sauerkraut) seasoned with bacon drippings. Accompanied with a mini ramekin of Dijon mustard on the side of this ultimate platter that is sure to leave you groaning and screaming bloody murder!

And after that...if you still have space in your stomach, try the local VACHERIN GLACEE - a layered confection of meringue and sorbet or ice-cream made with forest berries and spiked with kirsch and lightly sprinkled with powdered sugar and decorated with little crowns of fresh cream! If ever there was a dessert that's made in heaven, this would be it!

But wait...there's more: the restaurant is also popular for its thin-crusted Alsatian pizza, or flammekuchen, a flatbread-style tart topped with a mix of fresh cheese, bacon, and onions.

Be sure to try the local Alsatian wines. And the riesling from this area is especially good. Another good wine to try is gerwurstraminer which tends to be dryer here than the German versions from Baden-Baden.

Frédéric-Auguste BARTHOLDI, August 2, 1834, is the most famous resident here in Colmar. He lived at number 30, Rue de Marchands, or "Street of the Traders." He was known especially by Americans all the world over as the sculpture of their towering landmark at the front of New York harbour.

Early models of the sculpture were made out of clay. Then, sheets of copper were laid over wooden moulds based on the clay models and hen-beaten by metal workers into shape. Taking thousands of detailed measurements, the entire project took an estimated 21 years. The face of Lady Liberty was modelled after BARTHOLDI's own mother, with the rest of her body done in the ancient Roman style.

Besides the colossal one that stands on Liberty Island, there is a smaller version which stands at the roundabout entering into Colmar from the Wine Route. And an even smaller-scale model stands on the western end of the Seine River in Paris.

To give its full name, the statue is called "Liberty Illuminating the World" (1886). She stands 93 metres tall, with a waist 11 metres around and a greenish skin colour due to the oxidisation of the copper over the last century.

Presented by the French to the Americans on the 100th anniversary of their independence from Britain, the statue was assembled in France and then taken to pieces and shipped in 210 wooden cases across the Atlantic and reassembled.

Standing as a symbol of progress in the 19th century in building and engineering technology, it is a great feat of human ingenuity.

For the full story, check out BARTHOLDI'S house, 30 Rue des Marchands, which has now been converted into the Bartholdi Museum. It houses early models of the statue, including plans and documents.

Start from Pont St Pierre for a picture perfect postcard view of Petite Venice. This flowery riverbank with weeping willow trees has narrow old boatmen's houses, which have since been converted to cosy and chic little Winstub/Bierstubs offering the Alsatian specialty of chouchroute.

Proceed down the stairs on the right and walk along the canal towards Rue de la Poisonnerie, the fishermen's district where they used to peddle their catch of the day. The district opposite the bank of the river was once inhabited by market gardeners who used to sell their vegetables and fruits from barges on the river (very much like Bangkok's water market today). It still retains the original name of KRUTENAU, meaning vegetable waterway.

Pass through the alley towards Quai de la Poisonnerie, where you will see some of the most colourful houses of the town. Tradition has it that at one point, when the townsfolk were not literate, they had to paint the houses in different colours for easy identification. Look out for the restaurant on your left with its trompe l'oeil mural as you pass the Natural History Museum towards the bridge.

Cross the bridge and cut through the covered market on Rue des Ecoles, which is now a parking lot housing the monument commemorating the Alsatian winegrowers. Continue on to Rue St Jean and the leather maker's district, on Rue des Tanneurs, towards Place de L'Ancienne Douane and the Koifhus, a warehouse where customs duties were collected and paid on all merchandise passing through Colmar from Italy, Champagne, and Flanders. Completed in 1480, it was Colmar's symbol of political and economic power. The town's coat of arms decorates its stained glass window. In 1771, General Rapp was born here in the gatekeeper's house. In late gothic style, it depicts the two-headed imperial eagle of the Habsburgs. The other buildings on the middle and left are done in a Renaissance style (c.1575).

Go around the corner or cut across the courtyard of the Koifhus towards Rue de Marchand where you will find one of the most spectacular wooded buildings in the town. Maison Pfister, built in 1537, it was restored in 1971. It features yellow sandstone with a corner oriel window and a wooden gallery on the second floor painted in a biblical theme with scenes from the Old Testament. One minute away from the Pfister is the house where Frederic Bartholdi once lived. It is here in the studio where he conceived the Statue of Liberty. The house is now a museum containing a collection of replicas and early models for the American icon who stands at the gateway of New York Harbour.

. . . continued in Part 2.

Facing the Maison Pfister, take a right turn towards the Cathedrale.

Turn to the cobbled footway towards the Collegiate Church of St. Martin, with its gothic gargoyles and rounded roof tiles that resemble colourful fish scales shimmering in the sunlight. The earliest parts of the chuch date back to 1,000, which is the arch above the doorhas 14 carved figures including aone holding a T-Square, representing the architect who designed this part of the chuch, also called the old town cathedral. Take a look at the scene above the door that depicts St. Nicholas saving the three daughters of a poor man from being sold into lives of dishonour. The interior is not as spectacular as most of its treasures, including Virgin and the Rosebush and the 14th-century altarpiece, which has been moved elsewhere for safe-keeping. Although, if you are lucky, you can hear a flautist or choir rehearsing.

After taking a visit to the interior of the church, exit the same way you entered and take a left turn and then a right and you'd be on Rue de Boulangerie or Baker Street! This was where the breadmakers used to set up shop. And it is also on this avenue that the Bartholdi Hotel stands. If you keep on walking straight ahead, you will eventually get to the Place d'Unter Linden and end up at the Musuem of Unter Linden.

This is probably the most interesting building here in Colmar. The House of Heads is so named for the 106 grimacing faces and grotesque masks sculpted into its facade. Built in 1609, it was formerly a middle-class residence, but has been converted into a restaurant since 1898. Some of the faces depict the owner's shrewish wife and disagreeable mother-in-law. The gable is designed by Auguste Bartholdi, the Colmar resident famous for creating the Statue of Liberty.

Musee d'Unterlinden (Museum Under the Linden Trees) begun in the 13th century as a Dominican monastery. It was started by two widows who established it under the lime trees in northern end of Colmar. The pride of the museum is the Issenheim Altarpiece created in the 16th century for St Anthony's Church, a convent hospice near Colmar. Consisting of a large wooden carving that stood in front of a frame constructed so that it could be opened or closed to reveal 12 paintings by Matthias Grunewald depicting scenes from Christ's life and the various saints.