Thursday, June 16, 2022

Ribeauville, France

 

I'm still in the Alsace region cycling through vineyards. As mentioned previously the wine growing  encompasses an area roughly 100 miles long and 12 miles wide--mostly lying in the foothills of the Vosges Mountains. My destination is Ribeauville (population 4,500), the last of the "must see" villages according to the tourism guides. I pass this house and the yard is filled with flowers and all kinds of nik-naks.   
After snapping the photo of the yard in the previous photo I spot this woman in the front yard and decide to ask her about the nik-naks. Jeez, what an idiot! Turns out the woman isn't real. Sure fooled me.
This is the main street through Ribeauville. 
Clock tower on main street of Ribeauville. You know I love trivia. Here's a fun fact that'll impress people at a cocktail party: the largest giant Sequoia tree OUTSIDE the USA is here in a nearby forest. 
If you look up on the hill you can see ruins of a castle. Actually there are three separate castle ruins on separate hills and it's popular for tourists hike up the trails and do all three at once. 
In the previous photo you saw the castle ruins of one castle. Here you can see all three.  

However, the most spectacular castle in the region is Haut Koenigsbourg Castle. The medieval castle was rebuilt from 1900-1908 by German Kaiser Wilhelm ll. It's a major tourist attraction and I visited the castle back in 2010. If you scroll through my blog back to 2010 you'll find it.  Also nearby is Fort Mutzig, an underground fortress built in the early 1900's and was used during World War l--it's massive and could house 6,500 soldiers! It is also part of my 2010 blog. You can also type in the addresses below as it won't allow to click on the links.  


https://travelswithpaulwolsfeld.blogspot.com/2010/08/haut-koenigbourg-castle-near.html


https://travelswithpaulwolsfeld.blogspot.com/2010/09/fort-mutzig-france.html

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