Alsace, France

Vineyards in Alsace

We're going to explore several small villages in the Alsace region of France. This region has been contested between Germany and France for several centuries. The grapes have been picked already and the vines were turning yellow, adding color to the countryside. We first drove to Colmar and drove the bus around the traffic circle several times to get a good look at the Statue of Liberty. The artist came from this town. Our bus wound its way through the villages of Scherwiller, Châtenoix, Keintzheim, Orschwiller, Saint Hippolyte, and Beblenheim on the Way of the Wine. 

White Storks

We stopped in Ribeauvillé at a nature center, which played a key role in restoring the white stork population to the area. In 1975 only ten storks remained in this area, historically known for its storks and the legend of storks delivering babies. 80% of storks had died of electrocution as they migrated to and from Northern Africa. Here they raised a generation of storks where they caged them until they were 3 years old and fully mature. That generation didn't migrate. Today there are 950 storks that do migrate, many of the electric lines are now buried. The park also had some ducks, river otters, swans, coypu, and racoons.

Dolder Tower in Riquewihr

We continued on to the village of Riquewihr, built behind medieval walls and filled with colorful timbered buildings. This is a tourist town, filled with wine tasting shops, restaurants, bakeries, and souvenir shops. We enjoyed ourselves walking the streets and taking pictures.

Taking pictures of people walking the streets