Strasbourg to Basel

We've now spent a week cycling in the Alsace region of France which is just on the west side of the Rhine. We have never been here before and didn't know what to expect. Mette and Nina had suggested that this would be a better alternative than cycling the southern part of the Rhine. (We are currently visiting Mette and her family in Basel). Alsace is incredibly picturesque. It is dotted with lovely villages, one after another separated by vineyards. Last year Alsace produced about 140 million bottles of wine. The villages date from the middle ages and are characterized by half timber buildings with lots of flowers everywhere. The cycling was fairly easy for most of the time with gently rolling green hills and vineyards.

Strasbourg was our first stop after taking a slow train with 3 changes from Frankfurt. Strasbourg was a pleasant surprise with its canals and old half timber buildings. The Hotel was cheap and we soon discovered why; it still had the dust from the middle ages on the floor;-) The impresive gothic cathedral has a Light and Sound show in the evening during the summer months. It was a wonderful display. The video shows a short example.

After Strasbourg we headed out in to the all the small villages and vineyards. Our first stop was in Obernai. Obernai is one of the prettiest towns in the area and much frequented by tourists, but it still has less of a touristy feel than many of the other quaint towns and villages. We stayed in a neat campsite just outside the town.

The food is good, but it's heavy and with a German influence. A traditional dish is Tarte Flambe which is similar to pizza, but the crust is much thinner.  It is typically filled with cream, onions and bacon. Another one is Baeckeoffe which is meat, potatoes and other vegetables served in a terracotta casserole. The meat is marinated overnight and cooked for several hours in the oven. 

Most of the cycling has been fairly easy so far. We hope to cycle in Switzerland and then over the Alps to Itlay. This means some serious uphill cycling and so Iren was adamant that we needed to have a test with all the baggage on the bikes. Therefore, after Obernai we headed up to Haute Köeningsbourg (the castle at the top of the hill in the picture on the left), a 700 meter climb! It was very hot (about 28C) and it took us almost 2 hours but we made it at last thanks to the granny gear on the bikes. Now Iren feels ready for anything!

On the way in to Kaysersberg

The picture on the right was a typical sight as we cycled into many villages through the vineyards.

Iren got a good dose of inspiration after we visited the Albert Schweitzer Museum in his birthplace of Kaysersberg. He received the Nobel Peace prize in 1952 for, amongst other things, his work in establishing and running a hospital in Gabon.

Iren with Albert

Colmar's "Little Venice"

After several more kilometers of scenic villages, vineyards, sweat and coffee shops we made it to Colmar, which for many is the end of the Alsace Wine Route.

The last night in Alsace was in the next town of Mulhouse that actually turned into two nights as we both had a "bad stomach" after eating, well actually we're not sure what it was but it must have been something that we both ate!

Enjoying a rest

The day after we took it easy and chose to take the train to Basel instead of cycling. We arrived in Basel and then took a local train to Nuglar to visit Mette and her family for a few days.