COLMAR: Second Alsacian Town, June 12th and 13th (along with neighboring villages and chateaux ruins)

 After leaving Mulhouse, I took a quick train ride to the next destination of Colmar, another beautiful--and touristic--town, with the same sort of architecture as I saw in the historic part of Mulhouse. It was rather more extensive, though... and definitely quite beautiful. I also ate a "crepe marron" in the local park, and on day two of the visit, rented a bike from my Airbnb and headed for the hills, as it were. The Google maps app has been spotty at best here in France...most annoyingly. It got me lost at least a couple of times, especially in the forested areas, and I wound up having to backtrack and try again, adding several miles to my already extensive excursion. And this wasn't even on an e-bike! No such luxury...it was just a standard 21 speed... but I made it! It took a full day to cover the distance of about 30 miles... I arrived back at my Airbnb in the early eve, exhausted but triumphant, at the end of a very tiring day! 


La Maison des Tetes --- or, house of the heads: 106, to be exact! All very strange...some with very groteque faces! It is one of the most famous structures in Colmar, and was built in 1609. 


You get a sense of how strange they are here! Every one of the 106 is presumably unique from all the others! Must have been quite a feat to create... 


Not sure what this was, but I loved the old roof... 




Obligatory church in the center of the town, of course... 


...and with the classic, gothic high ceilings... 










Yes, it did also have the river running through it... 


The brave, adorable sparrow (and later, more of his friends!) attempts to steal my crepe...or at least, take some sizeable nips out of it! He was so cute, I let him...!








Day two: I take off, by bicycle, and explore two charming villages, get lost in a forest, but manage to make my way to a few ruins of chateaux, built in the 1200's. It was a beautiful ride, and well worth the exertion, including the extra miles pushing my bike up forested trails in the wrong direction!!! 

The most charming village of Turckheim...and no, you are not imagining it: the entrance to the center the town really is smiling down upon the incoming visitor! 


Love the rose color...not just of the buildings, but also of the cyclists in the club that rendez-vous'ed here! 

A historic, wine-making factory. In fact, the entire industry of the town--and most of the Alsace region--is based on the production of grapes and wine. C'est La France, oui?!


Yes, another happy cyclist...yours truly, NOT in pink!!! 

Visiting the ruins of the first chateau and fort, nestled deep in the forest...so deep, that I tried 3 different paths to get here before finally stumbling upon the correct one! The ruins are of the chateau Pflixbourg, dating back to the 13th century. Not much left of it but still interesting to see. The tower was blocked off, unfortunately, so it was not possible to go up inside. 




The next series is of the "Three Castles of Eguisheim"-- same period, a bit more remaining of them, and as such, more interesting. 















Finally, the last stop on my bicycle excursion was the town of Eguisheim itself...charming, peaceful and picturesque, to be sure! By this time, though, it was late afternoon, I was quite exhausted and wanted to get back to the Airbnb. But I did still manage to get some nice photos before completing the last segment back to Colmar.






This was amazing: the migrating stork is the pride and mascot of this region... you see stork stuffies and other stork-related items everywhere! However, this was my first time seeing the real thing! Incredible... the massive nest atop the bell tower of this church! Plus, a few of us tourists were the happy witnesses to the parents feeding their hungry young... the baby storks were hard to see, but the doting parents were quite animated and visible! What a thrilling sight to behold! A perfect ending to a truly amazing day... 










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