So many beautiful towns and villages, fine castle ruins and a great Christmas Market at Ribeauvillé.
Westhalten is at the southern end of the Alsace region, and the countryside around it, like the whole of the Alsace, is covered with vineyards. The mountains of the Vosges to the west protect the vineyards from harsh weather, so much in fact that the region has the lowest rainfall in France. The Alsace WIne Route map has lots of good info on the villages, vineyards and wines.
On a sunny late September day in 2016 we started our walk from Westhalten climbing up into the vineyards.
The grapes were ready and the vendange was just beginning.
Seven different grapes are commonly grown in the Alsace: Sylvaner, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir (the only red varietal), Riesling, Muscat, Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer. My all-time favourite is Muscat.
Westhalten stands at the entrance to the "Noble Valley" and covers three Grand Cru vineyards: Zinnkoepflé, Vorbourg and Steinert.
After our walk we had lunch at the Auberge au Vieux Pressoir which stands in the middle of vineyards. Wild boar was excellent, as was Andrew's hot Munster - a must when we come here!
Possibly the prettiest village in the Alsace and birthplace of Alsace viticulture, according to the Route des Vins d'Alsace map and info.
The medieval town was built in three concentric circles around its castle, and the remains of the octagonal Roman tower still stand. The village has the most beautiful half-timbered buildings and its own Grand Cru, Pfersigberg.
On a beautiful April day in 2014 we set out from the village to do the Three Castles Walk.
The ruins of the castles stand on the Schlossberg above the village. Wahlenburg in the middle is the oldest, constructed in 1006 by Hugues IV, Count of Eguisheim, and his wife Heilwige, Countess of Dabo, on the site of a Roman watch tower. Weckmund to the south and Dagsburg to the north were built in the twelfth century.1
In 1026 Wahenburg was destroyed by Duke Ernest of Swabia.
Dagsburg: was built in 1144 by the Count of Ferrette. It lasted only fifty three years, destroyed by Philip of Swabia, after a revolt against his brother, Emperor Henri IV.
Swabians, from the south west of Germany, have a lot to answer for in this region!
Weckmund was built in 1227 by King Henry of Germany, an ally of the Count of Ferrette, who now owned the castles, to defend the castles against the Bishop of Strasbourg who disputed the count's claims.
All three castles were destroyed in 1466 during the War of the Six Oboles.
We had a very nice lunch at Caveau Heuhaus - trout for me and steak for Andrew.
In December of the same year we came back to Eguisheim to the Christmas Market which was lovely but not very extensive.
These two lovely villages are close to each other at the base of the foothills of the Vosges.
In 1990 we spent a long weekend in the Alsace staying at a B&B in the middle of the vineyards.
We spent our first morning in Riquewihr, a well-preserved medieval and Renaissance town, and it instantly became a favourite - many times thereafter we came up for the day and had lunch in the Dopff & Irion restaurant until, inexplicably, it closed, or at least changed hands.
The vendange was in full swing and the whole town smelled of wine. We watched wine growers bring their loads of grapes into the wineries.
At that time there were very few tourists, unlike today.
In 2007 we went to the Riquewihr Christmas Market - the town looked lovely but the market was less than inspiring.
We also discovered Kaysersberg on this weekend in 1990 and walked up to the ruined 13th century castle from where we got terrific photographs of the village. It's another beautiful place, with a river running through it and one we've returned to several times.
In 1991 my Mum visited and we just had to bring her to the Alsace and show her the lovely villages, especially as they are full of flowers in the summertime.
Way back in 1990 we walked up above Ribeauvillé to the three castles with fantastic views over the Alsace. More recently we have been back to the village to the Medieval Christmas Market, in 2010 and then again in 2011 but the second time parking was dreadful.
Ribeauvillé is a lovely medieval town and three castles stand on the hills above it: St Ulrich, Ribeaupierre and Girsberg. In November 1990 we walked up to the Girsberg from where we had great views of St Ulrich. The town itself has many old half-timbered buildings and can boast three Grand Cru vineyards: Geisberg, Kirchberg and Osterberg. The town is quite large with a long central street, mostly cobbled, with several squares.
The medieval Christmas Market is really excellent. A lot of the local people dress up in medieval costume. There are jugglers, minstrels, old games like throwing horseshoes to strike a small post - a precursor of boules?
Lots of food, of course, including a wild hog roast on a spit, thick slabs of bacon on bread, melted cheese and local ham on bread, and glühwein. The slabs of bacon were fantastic - we both preferred it to the hog roast, though it was also good.
Lots of Christmas stalls selling local items and Christmas stuff. It was really great and everyone seemed to have a lot of fun.
A fine restored medieval castle, one we have brought several visitors to. Built by the Hohenstaufens the castle is first mentioned in 1147. It is in an extremely advantageous position, at a height of 700m, to observe the comings and goings on the roads into Lorraine and on the Plaine d'Alsace.
The castle was rebuilt after it had been destroyed by fire in 1462 and lasted for almost 150 years until it was sacked by Swedish forces in the Thirty Years War and again burnt down. The town of Selestat offered the ruins to Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1899 and he had it fully restored, an enterprise that took eight years.
The castle, before the Thirty Years War, was built to withstand a siege, so had all the facilities within its walls such as a forge, mill and fortified well.
In July 2010 we headed further north than we usually go into the Alsace to explore these villages and visit a small farm-based restaurant we'd heard about.
Dambach-la-Ville is a lovely, peaceful, medieval town with a twelfth century castle nearby on a height in the vineyards.
It's a quiet, pretty place, still with its medieval gates, and no tourists, just local people sitting in the shade chatting. It has a Grand Cru wine, Frankstein, while Andlau has three - Kastelberg, Moenschberg and Wiebelsberg.
Andlau Abbey Church has the most beautiful Romanesque friezes.
The Abbey of St Peter and St Paul was founded in 880 by Richarde, the wife of Emperor Charles le Gros (the fat!).
It is said that she had a vision in which she was instructed to build an abbey on the spot where she would see a female bear building a shelter for her cubs. In the forest she came across such an animal and duly built the abbey.
The carvings in the frieze on the church include some very weird and wonderful beasts, as well as quite exotic ones such as a camel and possibly an elephant!
It was far too hot to wander far so between Andlau and Obernai we headed out for lunch. We ate at Ferme Auberge Lindenhof west of Adnau, just outside Le Hohwald. It's a very simple restaurant run by the family on their farm, with lots of home-grown produce. Andrew had a superb cheese omelette and I the "planchette fermier" - air dried ham, thick cured ham, wild boar, a young Munster and an excellent Tomme. Both dishes came with fried potatoes and we had 50 cl of the local Riesling which was the best we'd ever had - this is the heart of Alsace Riesling country. Our desserts were Tarte aux Myrtilles for me and Tarte aux Cerises for Andrew - both excellent. And we brought back home-made rhubarb/strawberry and myrtille jams. A very satisfactory excursion.
Obernai was our final stop of the day, a lovely old town with some of the medieval walls still standing. The buildings are very picturesque, especially around the Place du Marché.
