The Final Hike: Alsace Wine Route

Today we started the last of our five hikes on this ten week trip. For the first time since Portugal, we walked in temperatures in the upper 70s. Fortunately, the leg today was only a bit over five miles.

But, our day started out with a bit of sightseeing.

After four fantastic days in Strasbourg, France, we left to catch an early train to the town of Colmar, France—a town that calls itself the little Venice of France. We didn’t actually catch that early train because the system here is not as reliable as that of Germany. One was cancelled, another delayed. The notices said there were “People on the tracks.” Protest? Accident? Lost hikers? We don’t know. But when we did reach Colmar we used a Rick Steves guide for a foot tour. Unlike many European towns, there was no prerecorded audio guide on the RIck Steves app. Trev read the foot tour guide in his best Rick accent. A worthy effort. Fortunately for Rick, Trev has a day job to keep him occupied when he returns.

Colmar is the home town of Frederic Augusta Bartholdi—the designer of the Statue of Liberty. Bartholdi statues populate public areas in this ancient town. Colmar is one of the pretty towns that you could spend days exploring. Due to the late train we only had two hours to explore. When we tried to catch the bus to the town where our hike began we found that the local bus system is as iffy as the train system and had to resort to Uber for the first time on this adventure.

Our four day Alsatian wine country hike is through relatively flat country and on a paved bike route. The vineyards are extensive and we’ve already spotted castle ruins in the hills above us. The forecast for the next three days of the hike is sunny and clear. Hopefully that holds, and hopefully our next place has better Wi-Fi so I can share more photos. For now, you’ll have to depend on Laurie’s Relive video.