Route through Alsace

In order to avoid the rush hour traffic in the Rhine-Main area, we drove off the evening before and, once again, stopped at the motorhome parking lot in Mannheim Neuostheim. The parking space, which offers V / E and generously sized parking spaces, is conveniently located for a stopover in terms of traffic, but is also very suitable as a base for a visit to Mannheim. However, also because of the nearby airport, it is not very quiet. And the electricity is a bit expensive here, at 1 € / KWh, in our opinion.

Der Stellplatz war, als wir ankamen, komplett belegt. Wir mussten daher umplanen und haben uns für den zweiten Stellplatz auf einem Parkplatz entschiedenen. Zum Glück können wir eine Zeit lang ohne Service auskommen...

If you look at the satellite images from Google, the RV park doesn't seem to have been around for too long. There it is still a wasteland (04/2019). In the meantime, the square is paved, parking spaces are drawn and a parking machine is also there. Here you can, and we think that's really good, also stand by the hour. So we paid only € 4.80 for the afternoon until the next morning. However, there is no service. But for a night or two that's perfectly fine.

From our parking space we were in the middle of Colmar in about 5 minutes on foot. As always, we first went to the tourist information office (well signposted) and got a city map (free of charge). Then we went straight to the old town, the small streets and the half-timbered houses. There are some museums you can see, but we're not that big of a museum visitor; we have to be very interested in a topic. But the houses, churches and shops have enough to offer. When we were there was spring market; at the same place is the Christmas market, which we can also highly recommend. We continued to the market hall (we are always happy to take a look at market halls), which is open until 18:00 on weekdays. This is directly followed by the tanners' quarter and the Petit Venice, the little Venice. Here you can also book a small trip on the river Lauch with one of the fishing boats.

Back it went past the old police station and the former nut market.

Eguisheim is a small town with a beautiful old core. But not well stocked with parking spaces. The Antoine Stoffel winery offers 4 free parking spaces. Electricity costs € 5 per day, the (free) wine tasting is "compulsory". The owners are nice, the wine is really good and the old town is only a few minutes away. V / E is available, although the sewage disposal is a bit difficult ...

Eguisheim ist das typische Beispiel für die Elsässische Weinstraße schlechthin. Weingüter, Weinstuben, buntes Fachwerk, Brunnen, ein Schloss – eine Stadt wie aus dem Bilderbuch. Drei ovale Straßen folgen dem Verlauf der ehemaligen Stadtmauern. So kann man Eguisheim umrunden und kommt immer an seinen Ausgangspunkt zurück. Die Rue Rempart ist dabei die schönste der Straßen. Im Chateau wurde 1002 Bruno von Eguisheim geboren, der spätere Papst Leo IX.

Wir waren von Eguisheim fasziniert und hätten noch einige Stunden dort verbringen können.

We "left the Hartmannswillerkopf". Not due to lack of piety towards the thousands of victims of the First World War, but because after Verdun and the battlefields of Normandy we have already learned too much about the incredible misery.

So we are directly to the highest mountain in the Vosges, the Grand Ballon. It is 1,424 meters high. You can drive almost to the summit by car. We stopped a little further down in a parking lot and hiked to the summit for a good 45 minutes. The view over the valleys of the Vosges is magnificent on the way.

We ended up here by chance, but we haven't regretted it for a minute. We were looking for a parking space for the night. There wasn't too much choice in the area we were traveling in. The free parking space in the visitor parking lot of a former monastery that was largely destroyed in the 30 Years War came in very handy. We actually wanted to leave out the remains of the monastery church described in the travel guide. What would we have missed!

When we were almost at the parking lot, we saw the imposing, huge double towers, as I only knew them from Maria Laach. And we have stood in the shadow of these towers. The visit to the "rest of the church", the transept and the choir, as well as the pilgrimage chapel on top of the hill were absolutely worth it and with the drone there were wonderful views above.

We will definitely stay there again when we are in the area.

Actually today we should go to Lac Blanc and Lac Noir, hike and maybe spend the night at one of the two lakes. But nature and the road construction authorities have thwarted our plans by a huge amount. After we were almost there, we suddenly faced a roadblock - not all of the passes had been reopened. So take a detour (which was almost as long as the previous route). Until just another road closure due to road construction work. Next detour.

When we finally got to the lakes in the early afternoon, the parking lots were of course already completely overcrowded. So we just had to keep going.

We ended our trip through the Vosges in frustration and drove back on the Alsatian Wine Route to Riquewihr. According to the travel guide, one of the most beautiful villages in France. As the saying goes: "Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder". There are certainly many who find Drosselgasse in Rüdesheim beautiful. We like Disneyland. And Riquewihr appeared to us to be a mixture of both. A wine bar and souvenir shop next to the other and brightly colored half-timbered facades. And full. But it was Easter Sunday too. That should have been clear to us.

We saw Riquewihr and that's enough for us.

The space for 5 mobiles was of course full when we arrived. But if you want to spend the night there, you will still find plenty of parking space at the beginning of the street in front of and across from the kindergarten. About 10-12 mobiles fit there. And quite legally.

The Hochkönigsburg was, during Germany's rule over Alsace, a gift to Kaiser Wilhelm II, who had the castle ruins rebuilt and reconstructed. The fact that, according to historical understanding, not everything corresponded to the (assumed) conditions on site does not affect the experience. We paid 27 € for two with audio guides, which paid off for us. By the way, from the castle you have a wonderful view of the Vosges and the wine region.

By the way, you should arrive at the castle early enough to get a parking space for your Womo on the access road to the castle. When we left everything was parked.

Unfortunately, our trip to Alsace ends with the return journey. But we know for sure: We were not in Alsace for the last time.