Every day on our cruise had been filled with wonders but this was a day almost too picture-perfect to be true!
So far we'd cruised from the Netherlands to and through Germany on the Rhine. This lovely spring morning we awoke in France, where we were docked in Strasbourg. We boarded our "coaches" - the ones Tauck charters are too nice to be called buses - and off we went to discover the village of Colmar.
I know I've thrown the phrase "fairy-tale" around in these posts. Hillside castles and riverside palaces tend to do that to me. Little did I know that a real fairy-tale would unfold when we saw Colmar. Each street was more charming than the one before:
Founded in the ninth century as Columbarium, Colmar became an imperial city in 1226. I was instantly smitten with its winding, walkable streets and medieval and Renaissance architecture.
It is home to the imposing Eglise Saint-Martin:
and to a perhaps less important but cheerfully memorable landmark:
It is one of a string of villages along the Alsatian wine route,
and soon we boarded our coach to drive to the Achilèe winery where we were treated to Riesling
and the region's famed tart flambèe.
Of all our destinations, this might be the one I would most like to re-visit. I mean, who wouldn't want to live happily ever after in this fairy-tale setting - with wine!
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