Traveling – Colmar, France

As we neared the end of our 2003 driving trip around France, we drove through the wine region of Alsace and visited the beautiful city of Colmar. Situated in the Northeastern corner of France, Colmar has a very pronounced German influence in its architecture and food.

We enjoyed walking through the old town of Colmar as well as some of the small surrounding towns. In Kaysersberg (birthplace of Albert Schweitzer), we walked the town and watched the famous storks nesting on the rooftops.

We ventured into the hills to Le Lingnes, a hilltop site of WWI fighting. It was amazing to see that the two opposing forces dug trenches within ten feet of each other all along the hilltop. We were not able to venture off the main trails are there are still sections covered with barbed wire and large sections of the woods still filled with mines. Outside of visiting the American cemetery in Normandy, our most sobering moment was when we rounded a corner on the road back to Colmar and encountered a WWI Germany cemetery shrouded in fog and extending well beyond our visibility.

In Colmar we enjoyed a great dinner of local foods. My entrée was three types of pork on sour kraut: pork shoulder, pork slice, and pork sausage. This is the Germany influence, but I loved every bite. We ate dinner with one of the fine white wines from the region and finished dinner with an apple pastry.

Over the last several hundred years the Alsace region has been controlled by both Germany and France, I don’t know if I should have said “sehr gut” or “très bon”, which every language, it was very good!

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell