A day in Strasbourg, then by bike to Rastatt and on to Neuplotz

Strasbourg is a charming city, and we're glad we decided to take a day to explore.  It is considered by some the capital of Europe and several EU institutions are headquartered there.  The region where it sits is the most prosperous in France, and the city is very cosmopolitan.  It's also very popular with tourists.

The bike path brought us right to the edge of the old city in Strasbourg, which sits on an island in the middle of the River Ill.  Once we crossed over into the old city, we had a km or so of somewhat hair-raising riding as I navigated our fully loaded tandem through the (mostly) pedestrian and bike area on streets packed with people. We found the tourism office and a list of hotels, and soon had a great one located just a few minutes walk from the center.







The city is dominated by its Gothic cathedral, which is truly magnificent.  The outside is covered with beautiful carving and statuary, the inside extensive stained glass windows.

small portion of the front

Some details:









One of the main attractions inside is an astronomical clock (the current, third, model built in the 1800s).  It has faces showing all the saints' days and key holidays, the positions of the sun and moon (including eclipses, when they overlap), and a face showing the locations of the planets of the solar system.  It has an Ecclesiastical calculator, reset at noon each December 31st, which computes the dates of key holidays.  The clock mechanism also links to a large globe displaying the stars and constellations visible in the sky.  There is a complex and sophisticated set of circular cams which adjust the timing and shown locations of planets for their elliptical (rather than circular) orbits.  And the whole is remarkably accurate: the time of Saturn's passage around the sun, 29 years, is accurate within 8 seconds. 







And of course all is highly decorative.  On the quarter hour figures (a child, then an adolescent, then an adult, and finally an old man) walk on articulated legs before a skeleton and ring a bell.  At noon a procession of the twelve apostles walk before Jesus, and an animatronic rooster crows (it's sound regulated by its own set of cams).

The mathematics, engineering, and precision construction, not to mention artistry, embodied in this clock is truly amazing.

There are walking paths all around the island, and many bridges.  At one end of the old city is a neighborhood built around small canals called Petite France. 



Way too much to see in one day.

The next day we set off to continue north along the Rhein.  We had several km of urban riding and a few bridges before we ended up in Kehl on the German side of the Rhein, and then about 10 km as we worked our way around and past the port area.  From there we were on an unpaved path atop a levee, right along the Rhein. 



It was quiet riding, but challenging.  There were very strong (10+ mph) headwinds all day, so it was tiring riding. 

these guys on the Rhein were enjoying the strong winds

Unfortunately there aren't a lot of towns with visitor accommodations along this stretch.  We ended up riding a long day to the city of Rastatt which lies a ways east of the Rhein.

Today was much easier.  After about 10 km of easy dirt path riding we were back at the Rhein.  We took a small ferry (about half a dozen bikes and one car) across to Neuberg am Rhein and continued north. 



From here on we were mostly on very nice and paved bike paths, through Worth am Rhein and eventually to the small and sleepy village of Neuplotz.

A day off the bike in Colmar, then rides to Ribeauville, Obernai, and Strasbourg

Been having wifi troubles the last few nights, so there's a bit of backlog here.

Colmar is a beautiful city in the heart of France's Alsace wine region, so we took a day off here to just walk around and enjoy.

This part of Colmar is called Little Venice.  People can take a little boat ride along the canals.

this house was built in 1537

Well rested, we set off on the bike for Ribeauville, one the many too-cute villages in this popular tourist region.  It's not far from Colmar, so we planned to noodle around back roads and explore on our way.  Our maps from the tourist office show a cycle route that goes through the region, but they are not detailed.  The ride out of Colmar was along a busy road with bike lane: not the greatest but manageable.  After several km we stopped at a traffic circle to figure out where we were and where we wanted to go.  Right away another tandem stopped behind us: and English couple who are here on holiday and were out for a day ride from Colmar, also trying to find the Route de Vins for cyclists.  We followed each other for a few km of scary riding through a couple of villages with lots of traffic and no bike lanes before Ellen and I turned off in search of something quieter.  We soon found a paved lane heading off into the vineyards, and more or less in the right direction: that was good enough for us to give it a try. 





After several km of very pleasant riding, we ended up in a small village and found a sign for the bike route.  We followed this through the villages of Sigolsheim and Kientzheim, then took a detour up toward the hills to Kayserberg.  There are the ruins of old castles scattered all over the hills here.

We returned to Sigolsheim and followed signs toward Riquewihr.  The route climbed through vineyards, first at a reasonable gradient and then more steeply, for a couple of km before a quick descent into Riquewihr.  Stopped to look around a bit and had a lovely snack in a small restaurant: quiche and salad for Ellen and a very yummy crepe stuffed with smoked salmon for me.







It looked like the cycle route from here to Ribeauville would continue to be quite hilly, and I was tempted to head downhill for an alternate (and roughly parallel) road.  But the woman in the tourist office recommended staying on the higher route due to heavy traffic on the flatter one.  We walked the bike up the steep and tourist-packed street out of Riquewihr, turned onto the cycle route, and were immediately faced with a hill too steep for us to climb on the bike.  We walked the bike up, and the rest of ride, though hilly, was manageable.





Because the tourist season is in full swing, we'd reserved a room in Ribeauville at a little B&B right on the edge of the (very small) old center of the village. 

front of our B&B

After cleaning up we walked into the center, and immediately started hearing live music.  It turned out that the village had a music festival that afternoon and night to celebrate the solstice.  There were multiple bands, in a full range of genres, at roughly 100 meter intervals throughout the village.  We walked around enjoying the sounds, ate dinner at an outside restaurant, and continued to enjoy the range of musical talents until after 11.  The town was full of what seemed to be mostly local folks (from the surrounding area).  Lots of friendly greetings, lots of wine and beer consumption.







After breakfast in the morning we set off to continue northward on the Route de Vins.  After a gentle descent from Ribeauville the next 15 km or so were delightful riding: mostly flat and on nice paths through the vineyards.  To our right flat fields of wine grapes or corn stretching off toward the Rhein, with the mountains of the Black Forest in the distance.  To our left vineyards on the gentle slopes leading up toward the Vosges Mountains, with the occasional ruins of an old castle poking out of a hill. 





Every 5 km or so we'd pass through another cute village.  After a while the route became more hilly, first rolling and then some more impressive climbing into the villages of Itterswiller and Barr (where we stopped for a little lunch). 





From there it was a relatively easy 10 km to the village of Obernai, where we found a hotel for the night.





Today we  rode from Obernai to Strasbourg.  First part of the ride was hilly through vineyards, but the last 15 km or so along the lovely Canal de Bruches cycle path.  We saw another tandem stopped along the path, so of course we stopped to say hello.  The owners are a lovely Swiss couple, older than us, who have toured extensively all over Europe.

Rheinfelden to Bad Bellingen, then Neuf Brisach and on to Colmar

A couple of late-breaking pics from Rheinfelden, on the older and more scenic Swiss side.







Rheinfelden is just east of Basel, and we'd decided not to stop there but instead pass through and continue on down the Rhein to someplace quieter.  Most of you know that we are not big fans of cities, and Basel is a big one.  Navigating through large urban areas is generally a challenge, and Basel certainly was.  As we approached the city there was construction that put us off the bike path and onto busy streets.  We endeavored to follow the cycle route signs, but eventually lost them in the middle of the city.  We cruised along for a while trying to find route markers, but eventually I became concerned enough that we stopped to try to figure things out.  I asked a person on the street for help, and it turned out we were only about two blocks from the Rhein where we were able to pick up our route once again.  There were still several more kilometers of urban riding, but we at least knew where we were and  that we were headed in the correct direction.  We had a long stretch on a bike path next to a heavily traveled two lane highway, but eventually dropped back down to a quiet path along the river.  Right at that point there was a small restaurant where we were able to stop for a break and some excellent kuchen and strudel.

From this point onward our route was an unpaved two-track following the Rhein.  Not exciting riding, but quiet and easy to navigate.



In this section the Rhein is paralleled by a large canal which carries the shipping, so the Rhein itself has some small rapids.





There is a large project underway to restore sections of this part of the Rhein, but I wasn't able to fully understand the signs describing the work.

By early afternoon we rolled into Bad Bellingen.  There is a large thermal pool and spa there, but in the heat of the day we couldn't get excited about increasing our already elevated body temperatures.  We found a nice Bette und Bike hotel and settled in while we waited for the temps to moderate a bit.  In the late afternoon we walked around the town.  Perhaps due to the thermal pools, it's a health center.  There are clinics, sanatoriums, and various therapists everywhere.  Very nice town park, and very peaceful.  Part of the town has life-sized sculptures of people in front of many of the homes.



Next day we continued north along the Rhein on the same unpaved path to Breisach am Rhein, a small city on the German side.  After a little lunch we crossed over into France and rode toward Neuf-Brisach, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site due to its impressive and intact 17th century walls and fortifications around the village.  New country, new signage conventions for the cycling paths.  Neuf-Brisach turned out to be much sleepier than we'd expected.  There is one small hotel (lucky they had a room) and a couple of restaurants.  After cleaning up we went out to see the walls.  There is a  wonderful art exhibit in the grassy area between the inner and outer fortifications, showing works created by area school groups, and running all the way around the village.

life size, made of chicken wire and straw

this guy on top of the wall is about 12 feet tall

yes, cars drive through this gate

this fellow is about 20 feet high, also made of straw

There were a large number of spirit creatures tucked into corners around the wall.

look closely: guy on the left is smoking a pipe, one on the right drinking from a bottle

After we'd explored this for quite a while, we walked back into town.  Another cross-border difference: while German restaurants usually open for dinner by around 5:30, in France it's more like 7:30.  We were pretty hungry by the time we ate.

In the morning we continued further into France, and away from the Rhein, to Colmar in the Alsace wine region.  Ellen and I were in Alsace a dozen years ago on a vacation with my parents, and remember it as a very attractive place for cycle touring.  France doesn't have the same extensive network of cycling paths as Germany, so a good deal of the time we were on roads, but the drivers were mostly very polite.

Could this be an old fortification from the Maginot Line?

We arrived in the center of Colmar, where we'd reserved a hotel room, by early afternoon.

We plan to spend several days exploring this wine region, so we rode to the Tourism Office to pick up maps and information.  Right away another tandem pulled up, with an English couple who came over to France in their RV and are doing some day touring in the region.  Theirs is an e-bike tandem (Bosch system) with disc brakes.  Very slick setup.  While we were talking with them, another cyclist walked up, an Australian who is about to set off touring in Germany on his Bike Friday.  Great conversation.

After dropping off the bike we walked around the city a bit as the room wouldn't be ready until 3.  When we came back to check in we met a woman from Tucson (Claire) who is touring here with her husband.   Spent a great evening talking with them.  Claire and Bob have biked extensively all over the world, including a lot of truly epic tours.  Fun and impressive folks.