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Tour of the Borderline Why travel to Alsace? The borderland between France and Germany offers an eventful diversity of strolling through picturesque villages, hiking with spectacular views and indulging in an interesting cuisine. A good starting point is Strasbourg. You should avoid travelling to the centre by car due to the hopelessly overcrowded streets. My wife and I stayed in Kehl (Germany) and went to Strasbourg by a ten-minute train ride. The old city of Strasbourg is really great. You can stroll around in narrow streets with half-timbered houses partly situated on romantic canals. Particularly nice views can be enjoyed from the panoramic view point on “Petite France” and around the Quai des Moulins. Of course the famous minster is worth a visit, including the surrounding picturesque lanes up the river Ill in the south, where you can start a one-hour boat trip around the city centre. The large number of restaurants offer the whole variety of the local cuisine. The Alsatian favourites are the tarte flambée with bacon and béchamel sauce, choucroute (interesting combination of sauerkraut and sausages), baeckeoffa (stew with various kinds of meat and potatoes cooked for 24 hours and served in a stone pot) and the kougelhopf, a cake speciality with raisins and almonds. After leaving Strasbourg to the west, the Vosges mountains are stretching from north to south. We continued our trip at Obernai, one of the numerous towns on the “route du vin” which accompanies the mountain range on the east. Obernai has a very nice medieval town centre with a double city wall and 31 remaining towers. Entering the mountain range, the next destination is Mount Sainte Odile. This cloister situated at nearly 800 metres on a rugged summit is the holy mountain of Alsace offering a fine view down the Rhine valley up to Strasbourg and the Black Forest. The middle part of the Vosges mountains is not very spectacular. This is compensated by Haut-Koenigsbourg near Sélestat, one of the most interesting medieval castles in Alsace. South of Haut-Koenigsbourg, we could enjoy some more medieval towns along the wine route like Ribeauvillé, Riquewihr and Kaysersberg. These towns are very nice but basically comparable to one another. Typical for the autumn season are the vintagers blocking the roads with their tractors full to the brim with grapes. This is compensated by getting good wines in each small town. Another highlight is Colmar, which might be described as Strasbourg on a smaller scale. The river Lauch running through “Petite Venice” strongly reminds you of the river Ill running through "Petite France" in Strasbourg. I felt the half-timbered houses in the lanes with partly cobblestone pavement to be even more charming than in Strasbourg. After so much culture, we spent the second half of our trip in nature. The most interesting Vosges mountains are located in the southern part west of the line Colmar-Mulhouse. From Colmar we climbed to the Col de Bonhomme 900 m above sea level. From here you should follow the “Route des Crêtes” to the south, one of the finest panoramic routes in the world which leads you directly to the nicest hikes and view points. First you enjoy some “variously coloured” mountain lakes (lac blanc, lac noir and lac vert) before the upland moor Gazon du Faing offers you a mystery atmosphere at 1300 metres, especially when it is completely foggy like we experienced it. At the Col de la Schlucht (you are always reminded that you travel in the borderland France/Germany: “Col” is French and “Schlucht” is German), an exposed hike leads you through steep rock declivities. The surrounding forest is especially charming in an Indian summer. Further south, the completely unwooded summit “Le Hohneck” offers spectacular views over the entire southern Vosges mountains. This region is distinctly structured, with steep valleys and rims, and therefore shows alpine character. Nevertheless, it is possible to make hikes which are not too exhausting. Further heading south, the character of this fascinating landscape is continued for many a mile with often changing panoramas and culminates in the “Grand Ballon”, the highest Vosges mountain (1424 metres). This summit, “decorated” with a radar station, offers long-distance views up to the Alps if you are lucky to have clear weather. In total,
the Alsace offers a pleasant mixture of cultural and natural highlights
which are worth a travel. The region is not too overcrowded in the low
season and has a favourable climate |