Alsatian Villages

 

The town hall in Barr

Last week I took you to Strasbourg, and today we're traveling on from there deeper into Alsace. This region is characterized by charming villages and large vineyards - and a very eventful history when the region belonged to France and then to German states and then to France again and then to the German Reich (1871) and so on and on. Since the end of World War II it has been part of France, however, with their own local law in certain areas that differs significantly from the rest of France. Germanic and French influences are blended; today, most Alsatians speak French, but you still hear a lot of German as well as Alsatian which is an Alemannic dialect closely related to Swabian (and therefore, not unfamiliar to me). German is taught already in kindergarten in Alsace, and German elementary kids east of the Rhine in that area learn French. 

We first stopped in Barr, a small town with cobblestone streets, charming timber frame houses and narrow alleys.

One of the streets was decorated overhead with a long line of colorful butterflies. We couldn't find out what was the reason for this, so we simply enjoyed it.

One of the windows for a wine shop was decorated with decals that showed the traditional costume of the region. It bears some similarity with the traditional costume that is worn in the Black Forest (Germany has more traditional clothing beside Dirndl and Lederhosen).

We followed the Route de Vins d'Alsace which meandered along backroads and, at least for the first part, didn't touch any of the more famous places. We were pretty much on our own in the small towns and villages we visited.

We first drove through Dambach-la-Ville and then decided to stop and explore the sleepy little town a little bit more. It is bordered by two old town gates.

Again, we walked along narrow alleys, crossed beautiful squares and saw many old buildings. There was almost no one out there - it was siesta time. We had all the time in the world to explore this charming little place.

Beautiful archways were almost everywhere that allowed views into courtyards, small doors in old walls, pretty windows with shutters (and the shutter holders I had written about earlier), and fountains made out of barrels.

These two windows were in the basement where the cellar is. We are not quite sure what the function of these openings are. They are too high for shoving coals in the cellar for heating in the winter; maybe they are there for air ciculation in a root cellar.

We discovered little details everywhere.

We finally reached the upper town gate and saw who made their home on top of it. When I think of Alsace, I always think of storks as well.

The last time I had seen storks was in 2018 in Turkey, so I was very happy to see some again. 

Eventually we went back to the parking lot right next to the old town wall.

The wine - an Alsatian rosé - was delicious after all the exploring. With this, I cheer to the T gang that comes together for T Tuesday that is so generously hosted by Elizabeth and Bleubeard.