8 Days in Colmar
We wanted to spend some time in the Alsace region of France because my partner Bonnie's ancestors immigrated from this region to the USA in the 1800s. We have also read that the villages of Alsace are well-preserved and very charming. So we chose Colmar to be our home base in order to explore the area in-depth.
Exploring Alsace required a car. In France, all major train stations have car rental counters, and we discovered that the cheapest one-way rentals were from Dijon to Strasbourg ($30 per day). So we took a regional train from Lyon to Dijon, then drove from Dijon to Colmar. The total travel time was five hours and we arrived at our Home Exchange condo in Colmar by 5pm and settled in for the week.
Our condo was conveniently located five minutes from "old town" and "little Venice," the two major attractions in Colmar. We were immediately floored by small winding cobblestone streets, the beautiful half-timbered buildings, and the amazing history on display. The pictures online were charming, but they don't do justice to actually being here and literally walking through a storybook fairy tale wonderland.
We can now confirm that making Colmar our home base was a wise decision. Outside of the old town tourist area, Colmar is a city of 70,000 people and very diverse. There was a "Super U" supermarket and a Picard gourmet frozen food store minutes from our condo, and we also accidentally stumbled upon an thriving Arab suburb with good eats and shopping. The restaurant scene here is very international with choices like Moroccan, Syrian, Vietnamese, and of course Alsatian. There was a very good gourmet covered market frequented by tourists as well as locals. We also shopped the weekly outdoor market filled with local vendors (only on Thursdays).
Since we had a fully functional kitchen, we ate in most of the time. But the one meal we had to have out was an authentic Alsatian meal at a winstub ("wine pub"). We chose Restaurant Wistub Pfeffel because its menu was in English, perhaps a mistake. We ordered Cordon Rose de Porc à la Crème (pork tenderloin stuffed with ham, cheese, and creamy mushroom sauce) and the Flammekueche ("tartes flambées") with cream, onions, diced smoked salmon, and dill. Perhaps we also didn't order well as the food was bland and uninteresting. The pork was a poor man's version of Cordon Bleu and the tarte was a poor imitation of pizza. Oh well, can't win them all. But at least the decor was quaint and charming and the waiter very friendly.
Colmar still remained our favorite Alsatian "village." But after a week of day trips to the other surrounding villages, many of these villages started to blend together. Here are the other more memorable stops we made on our day trips:
- Eguisheim (our favorite small village, a walled medieval village with a stunning circular cobblestone street that can be walked in about an hour)
- Riquewihr (another well preserved village full of charm)
- Ribeauvillé (another picturesque medieval village with good wine tastings)
- Strasbourg (home of the Tomi Ungerer Museum)
- Château fort du Dagsbourg (one of the "Three Castles of Eguisheim" that are in ruins)
- Hunawihr (a small untouristed village with an old church and nice vistas)
- Breidenbach (a very small untouristed village with a very old cemetery)
The only draw back? The more popular Alsatian villages draw huge crowds and tour busses make regular stops in many of these villages. On a bad day, the center of town will be packed with tourists. But if you arrive earlier in the mornings, it's possible to get some good pictures without groups of people in the way. On the upside? Services are abundant and there are plenty of quality cafes, boulangeries, patisseries, charcuteries, wineries with tastings, and restaurants of all types everywhere you look. You would think that with throngs of tourists running around, local shops would charge premium tourist prices. Not so, a good lunch can still be had for $15 and a demi baguette is still 60¢.
We also got lucky with our Home Exchange condo. Our host Michel's home was spacious and had everything we needed, including a really well set up kitchen with an induction stove and every kitchen utensil you could imagine. Michel went on holiday so he couldn't greet us, but his mother welcomed us and showed us around. We were welcomed us with a bottle of wine, beer, cookies, and jam. Michel also had a turntable and a great collection of vinyl. American guests will appreciate artists like Bob Marley, The Beatles, Queen, Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd, U2, Madonna, and more. Francophiles will appreciate Edith Piaf, Jacques Brel, Angèle, and more. But here are the other bonuses that would be rare at typical Airbnbs: free parking right out front, a very deep bathtub, and a super De'Longhi espresso machine that automatically grinds coffee beans, makes espresso, steams your milk for cappuccino, and cleans itself afterwards. Wow!
What we didn't prepare for was French Labor Day. We decided that Wednesday, May 1 was the perfect day to do a day trip to Breidenbach and visit Bonnie's ancestors' headstones. As we drove through town after town, we noticed everything was closed. It wasn't until later that I googled and discovered that the French treat their bank holidays very seriously and Labor Day was a day of rest (as opposed to a big shopping day like in the USA). So no restaurants or museums for us, but we did find one cafe open near the train station in Strasbourg where one grumpy waiter had to wait on tourists all day. However, the trip was a success and Bonnie got to spend the day taking pictures of her ancestor's headstones.
Comments
Post a Comment