The train from Mulhouse to Colmar takes about 30 minutes and drops you on the outskirts of the old city centre. We are meeting our tour guide in the centre of town at a place called Places des Montagnes. It takes about 15 minutes walking to reach this place (with some stops for pictures of course...). 

In the few extra minutes we have waiting, we admire the buildings in Colmar. The periwinkle blue house on the main square catches Holly’s attention. We peeked in the butcher shop before heading just around the corner to find the Petite Venise area which is on a small river lined with beautiful buildings and restaurant terraces. There are little wooden boats that take people for rides around town. After a look and a few photos, we are back in the main square and see the little tour van parked and waiting for us. 

The tour company is called L’Alsaciette. One of the owners, Arnaud, is our guide and much to our surprise we are the only people on this tour today. The tour can take up to 16 people so this is a pleasant discovery! We are a few minutes early but off we go! 

Arnaud is friendly and right away we can tell this will be a fun tour! He tells us so many fascinating stories and tidbits of information about the area while we are driving through town and out into the nearby countryside to small villages where we will do some food & wine-tasting. We visited the villages of Eguisheim, Ammerschwihr and Riquewihr. These villages are very small and set up in the hills amidst the hectares and hectares of vineyards that line the “Wine Route” going over 150 km from down past Mulhouse all the way to near Strausbourg farther north. We visit a winery in the first village. Pierre finally answers the door to his family’s really, really old winery building. Arnaud jokes that Pierre is sleeping. Meeting Pierre, it really might be true. He is a very friendly and welcoming host. Nice guy. The winery is called Freudenrereich. Pierre is the 14th generation to live and work to run this family business. Down in the very musty, vintage cellar, Pierre explains the wine-making and shares about the work they are doing to replace the remaining dirt/stone floor with concrete. Hard work. Back up above ground, we head in a little wine-tasting room to sample some wonderful Alsatian wines including varieties of the 7 grapes that are grown in this region. We sample some flatbread, smoked trout and a farmer’s salad of ham/cheese with a regional vinaigrette. During the wine-tasting, there is much conversation and laughter. Pierre and Arnaud are friends and banter back & forth in French, teasing each other in a very cute way. Pierre joked about Arnaud’s popularity with the girls and we are quickly enjoying a now “inside joke” that turns Arnaud red-faced more than once during our tour. Thank you Pierre for some good wine and very interesting conversation!

In the village, Arnaud takes us on a little walk around the ramparts of the medieval town. There is a little street lined with buildings from the middle ages onward.... except for a small section that was destroyed by fire not too long ago and replaced by modern buildings that are designed at least to be in keeping with the village architecture. We learn about this village on our walk before making our way down the main street to see the church dedicated to a Pope Leo (forgot the number) who was born here. We see storks nesting on the rooftops all over this town. Love that. Also interesting is the fact that in 2013 this village won a national contest of the most beautiful villages in France. We can see why!

Next stop is a short ride through the vineyards away to the small village of Ammerschwihr. This Alsatian village is lovely. We parked nearby the next family winery we are visiting on this tour. The winery is called Leon Heitzmann. It’s super cute. We are given a lovely tour by the daughter of the current owner, Laurance. Based on existing paperwork, she is the 7th generation for this family winery business but the family may have started this winery much earlier. Laurance gives us a fabulous tour of her winery with stories about her family, explanations of the wine-making process they use and the business in general. She was super friendly and very funny, making us laugh so much. After the tour of the cellars, we tasted many of the delicious organic and biodynamic wines produced by Laurance and her family. We also sample some yummy cheeses and for dessert, a delicious cheesecake. Laurance has created a rose wine of her own design which is so delicious. We also really like her design on the label with a flamingo evolving into the Alsatian Stork! During our wine sampling, we laugh and joke with both Laurance and Arnaud, sharing our “inside joke” with Laurance and she’s in stitches once the meaning is clear from translation from English to French. What fun! 

Basically we have to drag ourselves away from the fun times at this winery because the tour must go on... we are heading to the third and final village, Riquewihr. Before arriving there, we head up the small mountain to reach the memorial to American troops who served and died here in battles of WWII. Across the vineyard from the memorial is a French military cemetery. From this vantage point on the mountain we can see for miles and miles the small towns, villages and city of Colmar in the distance. This area was hard hit in the war with a very bloody battle happening here on the slopes, giving this mountain the name of Blood Mountain. Some of the villages we pass through while driving have be re-built after having been destroyed in the fighting. We feel very lucky that there are as many villages remaining after all the wars over time. This region has often been changing hands from French to German and back for centuries. 

Back down the mountain, we drive a short way to reach Riquewihr, a picturesque village set within a ring of road that used to serve as the moat around the city’s medieval walls. What fun to drive in a moat turned road/parking lot. Here in Riquewihr we take another little walking tour with Arnaud through the village. Then off we go back in the van to return to Colmar. What a lovely afternoon touring the small places in this beautiful region of Alsace! 

Back in Colmar, we are dropped at the train station so we can catch a train back to our home in Mulhouse. We stop by the grocery store for a little bit of food for a dinner back in our apartment. Cheers to a very nice day !