Today our tour brought us through the Alsatian Wine Country. Rolling vineyards and flower decked villages, the Alsatian Wine Route winds its way from North to South below the wooded foothills of the Vosges. The route runs through quaint villages with narrow streets of half timbered houses with flower decked balconies, clustered around the church steeple.
Our first stop was the village of Kaysersberg. Kaysersberg is located at the entrance to the Weiss valley which links Upper Alcase to Lorraine. Apart from trade and craft industries, Kaysersberg exported its wines across the Rhine.
Perched atop the steeple, you can see a large nest with a stork. Our guide informed us that the storks come back to the same nest each year to lay their eggs in March. They stay until the babies can go out on their own, around August, and then they go back to Africa. They mate for life.
Our next stop was a picturesque village called Riquewihr. This tiny quaint village had homes dating back to the 1500’s. Here we enjoyed lunch of a traditional dish. A thin crust topped with sour cream, onions, bacon and cheese. We ate in the restaurant “Au Dolder” in the courtyard. Also enjoyed some local Riesling.
The last stop was Colmar, which was much larger than the previous two villages. Our guide brought us on a walking tour to the Musee Bartholdik, the birthplace of Statue of Liberty sculpter, Frederic Bartholdi.
Tonight we had the Captain’s Dinner and packed to disembark the ship in the morning.
We were told that there was a strike by the lock workers, so we would not disembark in Basel. We would disembark in Kehl and then be bussed to Luzern. This worked great for us since originally we were going to take the train from Basel to Luzern. Saved us $$ too.
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