Today, my challenge was to give Tom a taste of Alsace.  Over the years I think I’ve been at least 4 or 5 times with Mum and Dad, so it was quite strange being here without them to start with!

The day started well with lovely morning sunshine.  We started with a visit to the “Parc Des Cigognes”.  Storks are a famous feature of the area, mainly because of the way they have been bred and cared for, after numbers dropped to just 9 breeding pairs last century (there are now over 200).  I started taking photos through the net that they were kept behind, but the “stork keeper” then kindly let us into the enclosure to take more close up snaps!  They really are beautiful birds and didn’t seem bothered by our presence at all.

Next we pottered down into Eguisheim.  The village has lovely, old “remparts” – cobbled roads set out in concentric circles.  The majority of the old, wattle and daub houses are beautifully kept and most have stunning displays of flowers in window boxes and hanging baskets.  It won “Village of the Year” in France this year!  We popped to Hebinger’s (a small wine producer that my family have been visiting since our first visit to Alsace 24 years ago) to book a tasting for this evening, before heading to our next destination.

Kaysersberg is another typical Alsatian village with more lovely flowers and Tudor-style buildings, as well as a river running through the middle.  After hiding from the torrential rain that had started just as we parked up, we explored a local market, buying delicious (and cheap) apricots to snack on.  Tom also found some fancy cured saucisson and a jar of terrine to treat himself to when we get home.

We then had a lovely wander through the main street, looking in the odd shop and enjoying more yummy ice cream.  One of the local delicacies is “Pain d’Epices” (a sort of soft gingerbread) and we found one place that sold the spices to make your own at home.  It’ll be a nice way to remember the holiday and relive some memories later in the year. 🙂 The weather continued with sunshine and showers, but we managed to escape the worst of the rain.  We’d found a boulangerie offering some delicious looking deserts on our way through the village and had decided to buy some for dinner on our way back to the car.  Unfortunately, we’d forgotten the French tradition for taking long lunches, and they were shut when we returned. 🙁

After confusing SATNav a few times, as she wanted to send us up a closed road and could not be persuaded otherwise, we found our way to Riquewihr, yet another beautiful town.  We started with a little bit of car tweaking; the speedo had stopped working on the way there.  It turned out that the cable had corroded and eventually simply snapped.  There’s not much we can do about that while we’re away, but luckily the SATNav works our speed out for us anyway, so it’s not really a problem.  As always, I was impressed by Tom’s confidence and quick understanding of the problem. 🙂

We had a short wander down the main street, then decided to find somewhere for lunch.  We indulged in another local delicacy – Tarte Flambé.  We think it’s a batter that’s cooked very quickly and very thinly to produce a sort of crispy pancake.  As it’s cooked, it’s topped with cream and toppings of your choice (in our case, onions and mushrooms).  We shared one with a portion of frites, and it was quite delicious!  Another recipe to search out when we get home!  We then headed back to the car, via a shop that sold lovely Alsatian wine glasses with green stems (see the photos).

On our way back to Equisheim, we stopped off at an E Leclerc supermarket to purchase a few items for tea.  It was unbelievably huge!  The male slipper section alone was at least 10 yards long -I don’t think I’ve seen such a selection of slippers anywhere!  To make up for the boulangerie in Kaysersberg being shut, we found some amazing looking mille-feuille topped with strawberries for our desert this evening.

Back at the bed and breakfast, we parked up the MR2 and headed back to Hebinger’s for our wine tasting.  It was the son of the family who lead the tasting and he was brilliant (and thankfully spoke excellent English!).  I think he has been studying wine at university (now why didn’t I think to do that?!) and explained everything very clearly and with lovely enthusiasm.  It was fascinating how the make-up of the soil can affect the taste of the wine so much, even with exactly the same type of grape.  You carry out the tasting in the cellar where the wine barrels are kept, with some of the seats also made of smaller barrels.  The smell is sensational!  We had to behave ourselves, being aware of the lack of space in Tom’s car, and only ordered two cases.  I think we’d have had to really reign ourselves in if we’d had more room!  After deciding on our order, we asked if we could also buy a bottle fresh from their fridge to have with dinner this evening.  We had decided to treat ourselves to a bottle of Gewurtztraminer Grand Cru, but he insisted on asking us what we were having for tea and then told us that a Riesling would go much better with the cheese!  We tasted it and agreed completely.  He then insisted on letting us have the bottle for free (even though it was worth more than 10% of our total order).  Apart from the fact that their wine is completely outstanding, there’s definitely other reasons why my family continue to come back to this wine-maker year after year.  I just wish they were a bit closer to Sheffield!

Unsurprisingly, the Riesling made a perfect accompaniment to our dinner of bread, cheese and salad, which we enjoyed sitting at the table of our room, in the window, overlooking the three castles on the hillside, the rows and rows of vines and the storks sitting on their nest on the roof of the church.  This may not be Switzerland, but Alsace certainly has plenty to offer to keep us very happy and to keep this holiday as epic as it has been so far.

Tomorrow, we head to Belgium, to our cottage and our first (and only) more permanent stay of the holiday.  It also means that it’s not long at all until The Nurburgring and the grand prix!

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