Ok, now THIS was the part of our trip that I was most excited for: the Fairytale Villages of Alsace! From Obernei, we drove south through miles and miles of vineyards. I love how they just let the wildflowers grow between the vines <3
We spotted a huge castle on top of a mountain to our right and I was determined to get up there. You can see it in some of the photos above. Oddly enough, we didn't see as many castles up here as we usually do farther south, so we were excited to check on out!
I found it on Google maps and saw that we could hike up to it, so we parked and set off (hobbling, of course, because my foot was still killing me). A couple miles later, we came up to a large parking lot with plenty of spots available...go figure. It ended up being one of the cooler medieval castles that I've ever been to! Apparently, it's also a major tourist attraction bringing in over 500,000 visitors each year...I guess I should have done more research! It's the Chateau du Haut-Koenigsbourg from the 12th century and it's been destroyed and rebuilt a few times over since then.
We stopped at the castle's café for peach iced tea and pretzels and then I sent Brian all the way back down for the car to come and pick me up before making our way to the fairytale villages of Alsace! Our first stop was Riquewihr, which was the inspiration for Belle's hometown in Beauty and the Beast. It definitely felt like a Disneyland attraction with all of it's little shops, cafes, and colorful facades. This was my favorite of the villages we visited and was also the most crowded, but it was a Saturday, so that's to be expected. The houses here date between the 15th and 18th centuries and the outer gate is from the 13th century. Brian bought a lighter from WW2 at one of the antique shops in town but it sadly was confiscated at airport security on his way back home :(
This dog was chilling beneath a pretzel stand <3
The next village we stopped in was Eguisheim where we took a guided tour through the town and the vineyards.
That night, we stayed in Besencon. All of the buildings there are built out of stone with a blue marbling, which I hadn't seen anywhere else. The city also seemed to be full of artists and a younger crowd, though it was especially sleepy for a Saturday night. We had pizza in a bar a few blocks from our hotel and slept like rocks.
The next day we checked out the Citadel up above the city. We had no idea that it was also a zoo until we crossed over the "moat" and saw a family of monkeys down below. Needless to say, we were just a little shocked. Turns out that there were tigers, goats, different kinds of monkeys, llamas, kangaroos, and warthogs there. The facilities actually seemed kind of nice and each animal had an area to wander around with vegetation and water and shade. Anyway, the fortress is from the 17th century and occupies 27 acres of hilltops along the Doubs river. We even got to witness the rescue of a kayaker on the river from the fortress's walls.
