Riquewhir, Ribeauville, Bergheim, Kayserberg

This morning we had to wake and pack due to the cock up with the accommodation at our other hotel.  We’d only unpacked the essentials so only a slight hassle.  Breakfast was a tad ordinary with little to choose from, but we scoffed enough to set us up til mid avo.  Here’s a quick couple of snaps from our 3rd floor accommodation (we were in amongst the gables of the roof (well the bedroom was anyway). Here’s part of the ‘downstairs’ lounge. Boring eh (which is why I rarely do accomm snaps).

What I did find quite humourous was the painting in the toilet.  It kinda looked like she was sitting on a loo herself.  🙂

Quickly moving on. 🙂  We decided to go and get Hermann and cart our gear around with us until check in to our original accommodation later in the day.   And then after the short drive up the hill we decided to take a morning stroll around Riquewhir without the crowds. It was great.  Here’s a selection of new photos – just because we had different light from the morning sun and very few humans. Apologies for some of the repetition from yesterday. This place is quite addictive!  Wine packs for sale everywhere.

We drove up into the vines again because the sun was better positioned.  Here’s a wannabe viticulturist inspecting the vines.

More Alsace trivia: Alsace sits on a geological fault line and its soil varies extensively.  Along with Burgundy, it’s one of the most prominent wine regions of France.  The best vineyards of Alsace are along a geological fault zone that stretches from south to north along the Vosges granitic mountain range.  It’s 120 km long but only a few kilometres wide.  This is the Alsace Wine Route / Route du Vin, and we’re going to drive most of it and sample a few wines along the way!  Tough job I know, but we’re up for the challenge!
Alsace is particularly famous for its production of aromatic white wines.  Apparently there are a mere 4,930 small vineyards in Alsace!  And with the Vosges mountains providing excellent shelter, Alsace enjoys some of the lowest rainfall in France (16-20 inches p.a.). Riquewihr, is right in the middle of the driest area and apparently it’s the bees knees when it comes to wine production.
And we can confirm that the weather here IS indeed dry and stunning.  Today is another cracker and we’ll have 28C min for sure. Perfect.

With Hermann parked up we set off on foot.  See… empty streets.  🙂  We noted the tour buses start rolling in from 9:30am.  After that it’s crazy until they leave (usually at around 5pm).

Stork (la cigogne).  The symbol of Alsace.  Alsatians love their storks.  Throughout this region in the northeast of France, the storks make their nests atop the roofs of tall buildings. They live up high so that young storks can swoop off the roofs as they learn to fly.  The stork is also a symbol of good luck – a marker of happiness and fidelity throughout Alsace. Regional folklore says that when a child wanted a younger brother or sister, he would place a piece of sugar on the window sill to attract the stork, in hopes that it would leave a precious package in exchange for a sweet treat.  Hmm… no guarantees.

One of the rare humans out before 9am.

Except for business owners. Is this former NZRFU referee Paddy O’Brien??  🙂





Old wooden grape harvest baskets make perfect wall hangers for plants.


Dahh some people.





Great drainage system.

A random backyard for JB. We’ve got lettuce, zucchini, beans, tomatoes, weeds etc.


Sparr.  One of the biggest names in the region.  It’s not open yet.

Anne Catherine, Kathryn Anne.  Close enough.

The post shop. They don’t get better.

And of course the Hotel de Ville (houses the town’s local administration).

We grabbed Hermann and drove the huge distance of 5kms north to Ribeauville (pronounced ‘Ree-bow-villay’). Now roll your tongue up and say it again!
In the Middle Ages, Ribeauvillé was the seat of the Seigneurs de Ribeaupierre – the Lords of Ribeaupierre (hence the town’s name of Ribeauvillé). The Ribeaupierres built 3 fortified castles, the ruins of which still majestically dominate the town and surrounding hills.  It’s yet another pretty little Alsatian town on the Route du Vin.

We’ll enter Ribeauville on Avenue du Gén de Gaulle.  This bloke seems happy with his haul.

One of the three castle ruins in the hills behind Ribeauville.

I should say at this point that today is Sunday, so very little is open.  Not even a supermarket or corner dairy. Oh yeah, that’s right, they don’t have corner dairys.  On a hot day it’s a struggle to get a cold drink.  There are a few restaurants open though, and they’re happy to take a dollar (I mean a Euro).



Most of the wine tasting joints are closed.

Ahh… this place is open.






Half timbered building art.

Another Catherine!

Souvenir shops are of course open.  More storks!

To compete with the roosters!

Fountain outside the Hotel de Ville.

I’m way too cool to park anywhere else.



It’s a fairly good ol’ stroll up Grand Rue. Here is Place de la Sinne and the Friedrich fountain.

Whatchu lookn at!



Louis Sipp’s joint was open for tasting (or was that taking?).  We did buy a bottle of Riesling. We seem to keep finding good Rieslings (well I guess it is the main brew here).  You often hear people say that they don’t like Riesling because it is “too sweet” (me included). To all those people I can now say, you obviously haven’t tried Riesling from Alsace!  Sure you can get the sweet version, but there’s also the more desirable dry (and heaps of it).  🙂   I guess the NZ soils just aren’t cut out for decent Rieslings (imho).

Storks on show in Ribeauville.  These ones must be nearly ready to leave the nest.
Ok… back to Hermann and we drove a whopping 4kms further north  through the vines to Bergheim, which is an ancient, fortified and well-preserved Alsace village. It’s one of few Alsace towns to have almost completely preserved its medieval town walls (built in 1311).
In the 16th and 17th centuries, when it seems, witch hunting was the ‘preferred sport’, Bergheim was the scene of many witch trials, and 40 women were sent to the stake here. The Maison des Sorcières (Witches’ House) recounts the lives of these “witches” and gives a record of their ‘trials’ (except it was closed!!).  In fact virtually all of Bergheim was like a ghost town.  Sunday means ‘closed’, and closed means CLOSED!
The primary entry point into Bergheim is through the 14th century Obertor (Upper gate).

Signs at the entrance to the gate. Why didn’t they just make one sign that says “Everything, this way”.

One of only 4 open restaurants.  Needless to say it was full.  If you wanted food or drink it had to be at one of these 4 joints. Crazy.


Entertaining witch decorations hang from a residential balcony.


Where’s the tumbleweed?

It seemed the only things working were the fountains. The Hotel de Ville is at back (right).

Kath waits patiently at the Maison des Sorcières (Witches’ House), but it’s CLOSED.

Wine tasting. CLOSED.  Who invented Sundays!

We took a walk around the wall trail.  It was stinking hot up there.  Seriously hot.  This is the Witches Tower, and moat area down below.

La Tour de la Poudriere.

After all of this we needed a drink.  I reckon it was a dry 34C+ on that trail.  We stopped at a ‘restaurant’ near Obertor. There was a table free.  As we approach a woman tells us the cook is finished (it’s 2pm).  Tip:  Don’t front up to restaurants over here after 2pm.  I asked if we could have drinks.  Oui.  We then sat down and waited ages for her to serve us.  We had a wine each and I also asked for a lemonade which came in this pathetically small glass with a rather interesting character on it.  The words on the other side were of course in French so we missed the joke.

After we finished and handed over the money it took the woman forever to bring the change back.  I mean, this was a small joint with only about 10 outdoor tables.  Sort out your game woman!  Drink up Kath, we’re outta here.

We still had plenty of the afternoon left so we drove to a pretty little town called Kayserberg (southwest of Riquewhir and 19kms from Bergheim).  Kayserberg is also one of the finest wine growing areas in Alsace, but with Pinot Gris being it’s speciality.  Pass. Not big on Pinot Gris.  At one joint we tasted a Sylvaner, Riesling, and a Muscat, and again opted for the Riesling.  Arriving at Kayserberg, the car park is right at the start of the main street (Rue du General de Gaulle).  We were just about to put money in the machine for parking when some people who were leaving the car park handed us their ticket which still had 4 hours left on it.  Sometimes it’s all about timing.  🙂

Walking along Rue du General de Gaulle.

Colours of Kayserberg.


There’s much more open here. Still plenty closed but at least there’s a vibe about town.


No vibe happening at this spot though.

But at the next place we see people and a free table.  Beer time!

One of the Alsatian brews… Karlsbrau.  This beer went down very well indeed. Hot day = cold beer = bliss.
Beer trivia:  Did you know that in Alsace there are five breweries who produce over 50% of French beer? (Fischer, Heineken, Karlsbrau, Kronenbourg, and Meteor).

Moving on.  We found a souvenir shop with a few interesting brews inside.


Moving on again.


More wine tasting required.

We bought another Riesling from this joint.


Kath!!!  Why didn’t you pack our matching outfits!!!

More street art.

Busking, but not as we know it.  The town was fair humming when this young rocker got going <not>.  After she kicked in with ‘She’ll be comin’ round the mountain’ and ‘My Bonnie’ Kath had to fair drag me away!  Kath tells me these tunes are also a couple of Malcolm G’s favourties.  Way to go Malcolm.

Moving on. <sadly>  😉

Time to head back to our new base just 9kms up the road.  Back at Riquewhir we’re now checked in.  They upgraded us to the ‘suite’ for no extra cost (and shouted us a drink as well).  They were certainly all apologies for the inconvenience.  Our two purchases for the day.

Ok it’s time to eat.  We decide to try the local ‘Tarte Flambee’.  An easy and popular meal here in Alsace and also SW Germany.

The cold wine’s arrived. The cold water’s arrived. We’ve arrived.  Very soon all of their tables will be full.

The food has arrived.  It looks like a pizza, it cooks like a pizza, but don’t make the mistake of actually thinking it’s a pizza. Tarte flambée, the Alsatian flatbread topped with fromage blanc (a fresh, tart, spreadable cheese), thinly sliced raw onions and bacon, is as Franco-Germanic in flavor as can be.  Mine is coated with mushrooms and bacon.  Way better than pizza.

Kath’s has cheese and bacon on top.  During the ordering process I asked the waiter what one of the toppings was (it was grenouille).  He told me it was frog.  So I’m quickly going ummm yeah nah and went with the bacon and mushrooms.  The waiter laughs and points to their signage (a frog).  This whole restaurant is about the frog.  Dahhh… maybe another day we should actually try the frog.  It’s bound to taste like chicken!

The wine. Yet another winner. Not a bad one yet.

And why not… a dessert.  A banana split actually. Simple, but ice cream was on the hit list for moi.  By this stage we were having a few laughs with the waitress who also tended our table.  A friendly bunch here at La Grenouille (The Frog) so we’ll surely be back.  And…. it’s situated right underneath our room!!   Too easy.  They’re not part of the hotel, but hey….
Ahhhh… it’s late.  Kath’s already powering her way through the zzz’s so I guess I’ll sign off.
Bonne nuit.