Belfort, Sochaux, Mulhouse

Summer delivered again this morning, although there is high cloud around which will stay throughout the day and only partially keep out the sun. Regardless, temperatures will quickly rise and hover around 31C. Other parts of France are experiencing a heatwave with 40C+!  This evening it’s been big news on TV (from the bits we managed to decipher).
This morning we had breakfast with another NZ couple from Auckland. They have a week left of their 4 weeks away and France has been their primary target.  When you’re away on these trips it’s always good to have an ‘easy’ conversation with someone who speaks your lingo!  And it’s really obvious that all involved are thinking the same.
We’d planned to travel to Colmar today, but because there was cloud around we went with plan B. To head to southern Alsace and get another car fix. As you can imagine, Kath is totally up for the challenge.  🙂
So……. sorry ladies, today is mainly about Peugeot’s and Bugattis.

First up.. a signpost down the road. Repeat these names fast after a few wines!

Further along the road we saw a signpost for Pfaffenheim and remembered that Andrew & Karen had stayed there. We took the exit and drove around and, well, out again.  Hmmm… not much happening here Karen. Do people actually live here? 😉  Some snaps by Kath from the car.



We’re nearly at Belfort (pronounced ‘Bell-four’) and have to pass a toll booth. €2.80 for the pleasure of a crawl past tractors who were trimming the weeds on the side of this motorway.  Top open road speeds here seem to be 90kmph on the country roads, 110kmph on the 2 lane B roads, and up to 130kmph on the main highways which is more like what it should be (although still a tad slow compared with the German autobahns!).  The toll booth.

The turn off to Belfort. Hmmm interesting.  End of the line art?

At Belfort we parked up at the top of the old Citadel Belforte (originally built in the 16th century but added to and re-used over the following centuries).  The citadel is one of the best preserved fortresses in this part of France. There’s a WW2 tank by the car park.
We wandered through a series of tunnels (which were welcome shade from the hot sun).

The key attraction is immediately beneath the citadel and overlooks the town of Belfort. It’s a giant sculpture of a lion.

We head through this entrance underneath it and then step out beside it.  It’s the work of Frederic Auguste Bartholdi (1834-1904). Here’s his ‘signature’.

You ask “Who is he?”  Serious?  Among many other smaller items, he created two major pieces. One is this Lion, The other is the Statue of Liberty that stands in New York harbour.
This massive lion (11m by 22m) is made entirely of pink sandstone from the Vosges Mountains. It honours the stubborn resistance by 16,000 armed citizens who, during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71, defended this area after the surrender was already signed by the French Government.


Looking out to Belfort (not much to see).

We headed back up to the citidel (a wander around the massive maze of fortress tunnels wasn’t on the agenda today).


On we went to Sochaux (pronounced ‘So-show’), a small town in the very south of Alsace which is only 18kms from the Swiss border.  Here we wanted to tour the Peugeot factory but they had no spaces left, so we checked out their very well stocked museum instead.

It was good to get indoors as, even with the cloud cover, the sun was fair packing some heat.  Here’s a small sample of what we saw.



A 1928 Type 184 Landaulet. A limousine of the time. Only 43 were produced between 1928-29. 6 Cylinders, 3,760cc, 22HP, Top speed 115kmph.



While the boys were out tinkering with cars, Peugeot also looked after the needs of the women!  😉
Sebastien Loeb’s all wheel drive 875HP aerodynamic 208 T16 which he drove to victory at Pikes Peak in 2013.  He shattered the hill climb record with a time of 8min 13 sec for the 20kms and 156 corners (with an average speed of 145kph). Ridiculous! What a driver.

The winner of Le Mans 1992 – a 905 Evolution 1.7, driven by Derek Warwick, Yannick Dalmas, and Mark Blundell.

The winner of Le Mans 2009 – a 908 HDi FAP. Drivers: Brabham, Gene, Wurz.

Just being rolled into the museum while we were there.  A Peugeot SR1, a convertible, hybrid concept car launched in 2010.

The Peugeot 907.  A 6 litre V12.


Time to back track to Mulhouse (pronounced ‘Mih-loos’).  We’re missing the pigs.  Uh.. hold on, here’s one!

We navigated through Mulhouse to the famous Cité de l’Automobile at 192 Avenue de Colmar which incorporates the incredible ‘Collection Schlumpf’.  We entered via the walkway across the river.  The museum is apparently among the very best in Europe and has a huge collection of very rare vintage cars, vintage race cars, and modern cars of all types.  (And there’s no doubt abut it. It goes have a top notch collection!).  Included is a very large collection of Bugatti cars – probably the largest in the world.   As you can imagine, Kath was fizzing with excitement at the prospect of walking around two car museums in one day!  🙂


An amazing entrance!

There are 100s of cars in here, and to view them properly would take days (or in Barrie’s case… weeks! – I kid you not). 🙂
Fritz Schlumph’s 1929 Type 35B.

This one is monstrous. Massive wheels. In fact there were heaps of huge cars.  Sheesh there were clearly some big vehicles back in the day.  A 1929 Bugatti Royale Coupe Type 41 designed by Jean Bugatti and owned by Ettore Bugatti.  8 cylinders, 200kmph.

A 1934 Bugatti Coach Type 55. 8 cylinders, 180kmph.


Cars everywhere. Lines and lines of them.  All sorts of makes and models.






A 1948 Talbot GP 26C. 6 cylinders, 260kmph.


So you thought this was an early beetle eh?  Wrong!  It’s a 1937 Mercedes-Benz Coach Decouvrable 170H.  4 cylinders, 110kmph.  This car’s similarity to the VW Bug is no accident because both were designed by Ferdinand Porsche!

A 1933 Bugatti Limousine Type 41 Royale.  8 cylinders, 180kmph.




The 8 litre Bugatti Veyron. 407kmph. 736KW, 987BHP.  The big daddy.  Say no more.


Slightly slower…

1925 Bugatti Type 35.  8 cylinders, 190kmph.

Cars for miles.





Left: 1958 Maserati GP 250F. 6 cylinders, 280kmph.  Right: A 1952 Ferrari F2 500/625.  4 cylinders, 220kmph!

A 1994 McLaren Peugeot F1.  10 cylinders, 330kmph.  In F1 racing, at the pinnacle of competition racing, Peugeot supplied the McLaren engines.  In these single-seaters Hakkinen and Brundle reached the podium 7 times.

The 2009 Renault F1 R29 driven by Fernando Alonso.

A 2006 V8 Porsche RS Spyder.  330kmph.

Last one for today from Bugatti…
Wow. We now need a drink.  Thirsty work this car museum walking!  Must’ve clocked up a few pedometer clicks so far today.  Oh that’s right I don’t have one.  We drove around to towards the central part of Mulhouse and parked up.  The 16th century Hotel de Ville. Stunning in pink eh?  I remember a stage of the Tour de France starting here (either 2013 or 2014 I think).

Building art.  It’s Bill!

The Temple Saint-Étienne (Protestant St Stephen’s Church) (1859-66) is relatively modern as far as churches go, but back in 1857 the council decided it was time for an upgrade. The main steeple is 97m high.

A motorbike on the carousel to keep the kids of today interested.

Fountain art.

As we sat outside under our sun umbrella with drinks in hand we watched heaps of people drink from this fountain’s water spouts.  It was sooo hot outside. 30C+ easily.

Our water source…  I had a local Mulhouse beer (ignore the Kronenbourg glass, the beer was called Vieux Mulhouse). Kath had a wine with a touch of blackcurrant (called Kir Alsacien).

The electric bus that sneaks quietly around the square and up the shopping streets.

Just a quick visit here.  I have to say that people-watching from our outside bar position was umm… certainly interesting. Ok it’s time to fill the bottle and head off.

The local tram.

It was rush hour and the streets were packed.

Nearly there. (It’s 59kms back to Riquewihr).

It’s still hot at 7pm, must be late 20’s.  Only a slight breeze on offer.  Dinner via the supermarket tonight.  Day over.  Bonne nuit!