Bergheim, Sunday October 5

We slept late after our big day in Strasbourg, stayed around home till after lunch, and then took off in the direction of Riquewihr, a bit to the southwest. It has the reputation of being a very pretty and interesting place. Unfortunately everybody else (especially the bus tours from Germany) seemed to think so as well, and we couldn’t find a vacant parking space anywhere in town. So we decided to put it off to a non-weekend day, and headed back toward Bergheim.

But along the way we spotted a small town sitting on top of a hill, called Zellenberg. It looked like it would offer nice views in all directions, so we drove up the hill to one of quite a few open parking spaces, left the car, and walked around the periphery taking in the sights of mountains, vineyards, and small settlements. It was really quite lovely there.

 Panorama

Closer view

A painting in progress

All done

 

In the middle ground is the village of Riquewihr, the very much appreciated village. See the tour buses?  We managed to get there the next day.

  The harvest, the vendage, is very nearly over. The leaves of the grape plants are turning a very bright yellow.

The Vosges Mountains are in the far distance.

 

 Above is a view where the focus is on the mountain range where it meets the fields.

Below, a few more views around the hillside, as we walked in a large circle around the village. It was all dirt roads, with not a tourist in sight, but some hikers.

 Chevrons

  

 Grape leaves in transition

 Very interesting steel gate, with grape leaves outlined in perforations and pressed outward

Then back to Bergheim

There was a concert going on at the church near our house, a benefit for the African nation of Burkina Faso. We have no idea what the connection might have been that brought the concert here to Bergheim, and judging by the sparse attendance neither did too many other people.

The sound is a bit muffled, and the echos and locale do make one tend to believe that it must be church music, but turn the volume up and listen carefully.

 

Two more lovely homes nearby 

 Then back to this view of the Auberge des Lavandières, scene of the Tartes Brulées of the other night. This time we wanted to illustrate the trough along the side of the road, occupied by a swiftly flowing stream and originally used as a place to do laundry, scrubbing out the especially dirty spots on the stone pavement. Lavandières, built on the same root as the verb laver (to wash), means washerwomen. Though it does also sound very much like the name of the aromatic plant. And the building is lavender color.

An illustration of the washing process at another location, shown on a nearby wall

Now to wrap things up for the day, a couple of maps to help put some of the places we’ve written about in context.

 

Alsace - With an emphasis on Bergheim
So far we’ve stayed pretty much in the flat country, the valley of the Rhine.
 The Vosges mountains are to the west, with Lorraine on the other side.

Bergheim

 Our house is near the blue dot just above #10