So into France we go from Switzerland to the Vosges in the Alsace region of France along the German border. This region is covered in vineyards, in some areas as far as the eye can see, with the town of Colmar and its wonderful old centre containing half -timber houses, built during the 16th and 17th centuries. With styles more reminiscent of what is found in fairytales with a mixture of colour and design. Our walking tour took us past many of these buildings, and yummy bakeries, which we really enjoyed. Colmar has a section of the town known as “little Venice” (there seems to be more than a few references to that famous city on this trip) with canals running through the old centre and small boats almost like punts, like the ones you would find at Cambridge University in England.

In the foothills (West of Colmar) of the Vosges, are numerous small villages of more half-timber houses amongst the vineyards. Like Colmar the towns of Kaysersberg and Ribeauville, which are even prettier as they don’t have the modern construction around them, like Colmar. While most of the chateau’s are now ruins, one has been rebuilt into an impressive looking fortress, this is the Chateau Koeningsbourg. The original medieval chateau was destroyed but the fortress was rebuilt during the 19th Century incorporating many designs to reflect a medieval fortress. From the towers of the Chateau you could see the Black forest in Germany, and it has the most interesting designed fireplaces within it, almost an Asian design of terracotta material?

The Vosges Web gallery