In the Heart of a Medieval Town

 

While we were exploring the old towns and villages in Alsace, we had rented a beautiful vacation appartment in the very heart of Ribeauvillé, one of those fairy tale towns along La Route des Vins d'Alsace. The apartment was in an old building right on the main street. Our aparment is where you can see the two rows of windows in the roof.

The entrance was through an old gate (left) into the small courtyard. This is so typical for many houses in France. The right picture is the same gate, but seen from the courtyard.

From the courtyard we had to climb these stairs and then some more stairs inside the building. We were greeted by this cute little gnome in front of our apartment door.

Inside it was a spacious appartment with lots of light. A large dining/living room, a well equipped kitchen, a modern bathroom plus a half one and three bedrooms that could sleep six people.

The view was nice from every room. Even though we were in the center of town we could see the vineyards stretching up the surrounding hills.

Every morning we went to the boulangerie to get fresh baguette and croissants as well as some pastries. We drank our coffee out of the huge café au lait bowls. These bowls are so wide, they can hide almost an entire face! As you can probably guess, this is for T Tuesday, so kindly hosted by Elizabeth and Bleubeard.

We usually walked around Ribeauvillé in the mornings and evenings. Just like all the other towns it is a lovely place, popular, but not quite as crowded as Riquewihr. The main street is where most people are, while side streets and alleys are almost deserted. You can see one of the three castles that are in the immediate vicinity of the town.

We discovered little corners and nooks and, of course, gates.

One evening we hiked up into the hills that are covered with vineyards. It was a steep incline, but the view (as seen in the photo at the top) was worth it. We could see as far as the Black Forest - it's here that you realize how close you are to Germany. 

I would go back to this place in a heartbeat.