One of My Favourite Places with Two of My Favourite People

Today, we went to Eguisheim, arguably one of the prettiest Alsatian wine villages.  Apparently, the buildings and "ruelles" (narrow streets) here have been used to inspire images in a number of Disney movies, such as The Beauty and the Beast.  

Eguisheim is a medieval village not far from Colmar and is on the southern part of the Alsace Wine Route. This typical Alsatian village features brightly coloured houses with pointed roofs and timber-framed façades on its narrow streets arranged in three concentric circles in its old town.  Many of these houses date from the 1600s. The central Château Saint-Léon is a centuries-old castle. Eguisheim's charm has earned it the designation of "Un des plus beaux villages en France" and it won the title of "France's Favourite Village" in 2013 on a TV show presented by Stéphane Bern.

The village square

Midday, we met up with two of my Swiss friends at the Freudenreich winery.  This has become a regular stop for me when I am in this area because the setting is lovely, the staff are friendly and knowledgeable, and the wines are very good plus affordable by any standards.  We enjoyed a "degustation" (wine tasting), made our purchases and wandered off to find somewhere to have our lunch.  

We all decided to have une tarte flambée for our midday meal.  It is an Alsatian specialty composed of bread dough rolled out very thinly in the shape of a rectangle or oval, which is covered with fromage blanc or crème fraîche, thin-sliced onions and lardons with Emmentaler cheese is grated onto it before it is put in the oven.  There are some variations including one called Forestiere which has mushrooms on it.  The restaurant where we ate had some other different and novel combinations including one that had escargots on it. That would so not be for me!  I forgot to take a photo of ours so have added one from the Internet of a typical tarte flambée .

After our lunch, we took the opportunity to wander around the village's streets and enjoy its beauty and charm.  The buildings are so unique and pretty that it is like being on a movie set rather than a real place where people live and work.

This building, a pigeonnerie, is possibly one of the most photographed in France

Then, it was just a matter of collecting our wine purchases, saying good bye to our Swiss friends, and heading back to Rhinau where we are staying.  We will be taking it easy there for three days as we have been going non-stop since we arrived and Paris was very tiring.  

Our last stop on this adventure will be Heidelberg where we will go in a couple of days.  Until then, a bientot.