Wine tasting in the Alsace

June 12, 2013

Map Link (roughly – we backtracked a bit, too)

Yesterday’s trip to various wineries was a success and we wanted to continue to explore the area. This time we started near the southern end of the “Route des vins d’Alsace” and worked our way north. There weren’t as many wine stops, but we did see some great (and not so great) villages) along the way.

Our first stop of the day.

Geuberschwihr

Geuberschwihr

A very old spring in Geuberschwihr

Brightly colored buildings in Geuberschwihr

Geuberschwihr

We drove through many small villages, some of them just points on a map to drive through and some of them overrun with aging tourists milling around, the tour buses parked discreetly in a lot away from the center of town. We tried not to stop at either of these kinds of villages.

Instead, we stopped at Hunawihr, another brightly colored and historic village with, of course, wineries. Dan and I opted not to join the tasting and instead explored the streets while Aaron and Craig chose their purchases.

Hunawihr

View from Mader Vineyards

Hunawihr – our car is parked on the left.

This hill was first built upon in the 900s.

View from the church

We were officially done with wine tasting and only had to work our way back to Basel. It was nice to know that we could be home in 45 minutes if we had to be. But we didn’t – so we made a stop in the historically significant town of Kaysersberg. The true reason for stopping here was to explore the ruins of a castle we could see high on a hill, but the town was so charming that we ended up walking its streets for some time as well. This was a very popular tourist destination and the streets were full of people milling about. The shops that lined the streets sold a variety of interesting items and the river that rushed through the center of town provided a respite from the growing heat of the day.

Kaysersberg

Kaysersberg

Kaysersberg

Kaysersberg

Kaysersberg

Despite not being dressed for it, not having unlimited time and the day getting warmer, we decided to climb the stairs to the castle ruins that presided over the town. It was worth it, even the 112 steps up the castle tower at the top.

Kaysersberg played an important role in WW II, as noted by the “Colmar Pocket“.