Monday morning we left Eguisheim and headed to a nearby city Colmar. We pulled into the aire here which is at a port. It isnt a normal port as it is in the middle of the country and not on the sea. It is for canal boats to moor up and get electricity, fresh water and dump toilet waste etc like us. We find our spot and check the marina out. This place has 2 showers and they are free. We immediately head to the showers to have one. This is our first real shower in about 7 weeks so we really enjoy it. We then enjoy a coffee before heading into the city for a look around. We read the walk is only 10 mins but it is really 20 by the time you get to the old part and hindsight is great when Scot moans we should have taken the bikes. Colmar is very pretty, like Eguisheim on a much larger scale and there are more tourists and tour groups around.
We decide we are going to try the local food for lunch which is a Flammkurchen. This is a traditional Alsace dish made of a really fine pizza type base with cream, onions and bacon on top. You can get varieties with a few other toppings as well and we have cheese as well. They are very nice especially with the very thin base. We enjoy a local beer and local wine with it for lunch.
Colmar has a small waterway running through its centre which is big enough to have small tour boats on so they call one part Petite Venice as the houses are built on the canal type waterways. The flower boxes here are very pretty and we are spoilt for photo opportunities. One thing we didnt mention about Eguisheim and the same applies here is that people make the front of their building as unique as possible by putting all different types of things as in a theme. Some put things based on the shop contents and some houses just put all sorts of things that attract your attention. You will see some from the photos, but they look quite cool.
Back at the marina we have a Swedish couple beside us who we get talking to. They have encountered rain everywhere they have travelled for the past 2 weeks but now are going to get the sun & heat. We tell them of a few places they should visit in this region. They like many others, want to get to NZ so we have this joke that we will see them there in 2 years time.
The last photo below is a supermarket aisle. This is only one of two aisles in the supermarket, where there is more wine than we have seen in any bottle store.
This whole region reminds me of the Romantiche Road just over the border in Germany where you get the Alps as a backdrop to some similarly beautiful towns. I particularly loved Freiburg with its medieval charms. This Alsace area looks like a must see destination, very lovely! Enjoy your time and wines.