ALSACE CYCLING TOURS
You'll love riding through small pretty villages, lined up one after the other through the vineyards, and get to cross the border to Germany on our easy Alsace bike tour!
Strasbourg - Obernai- Ribeauville- Colmar
6 nights / 7 days Alsace biking tours
Strasbourg - Obernai - Ribeauville- Colmar - loop into Germany
Alsace biking tours
Alsace is a northeastern French region on the Rhine River plain. Bordering Germany and Switzerland, it has alternated between German and French control over the centuries and reflects a mix of the 2 cultures. Its capital, Strasbourg, is centered on the Ill River’s Grand Ïle island, bordered by canals and home to the Gothic Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg, with its animated astronomical clock.
Strasbourg is the capital city of the Alsace region in northeastern France. It's the seat of the European Parliament and sits near the German border, with culture and architecture blending German and French influences. It's known for its Gothic Cathédrale Notre-Dame, featuring daily shows from its astronomical clock and sweeping views of the Rhine River from partway up its 142m spire.
Strasbourg Cathedral or the Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg, also known as Strasbourg Minster, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Strasbourg, Alsace, France
Obernai Alsace biking tours
Obernai commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France. It lies on the eastern slopes of the Vosges mountains.
History[edit]
The Obernai region, which was the property of the dukes of Alsace in the 7th century, is the birthplace of St. Odile, daughter of the Duke, who would become the Patron Saint of Alsace.
The Obernai name first appears in 1240, when the village acquires the status of town under the tutelage of the Hohenstaufen family. The town then prospered. It became a member of the Décapole in 1354, an alliance of ten towns of the Holy Roman Empire in Alsace. Obernai's status reaches its apex in the 15th and 16th century. In 1562, Emperor Ferdinand I visited the prosperous town of Obernai.
The Thirty Years' War (1618–48) damaged the town, which was occupied by the Imperial troops then by the Swedes. The town was ransomed and ceded to France in 1679, and started to recover some of its prosperity, without totally recapturing its former glory.
The town was annexed by Germany in 1871 with the rest of Alsace then was returned to France after World War I in 1918.
History[edit]
Known in the 8th century as Rathaldovilare, the town passed from the Bishops of Basel to the Lords of Rappoltstein, who were among the most famous nobles in Alsace. The Lord of Rappoltstein was the King or Protector of the wandering minstrels of the land, who purchased his protection by paying him a tax.
When the family became extinct in 1673, this office of "King of the Pipers" (Pfeiferkönig) passed to the Counts Palatine of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld. The minstrels had a pilgrimage chapel near Rappoltsweiler, dedicated to their patron saint, Maria von Dusenbach, and here they held an annual feast on 8 September. Ribeauvillé was commonly known as Rappoltsweiler until the 19th century.
Colmar Alsace biking tours
Colmar is a town in the Alsace region of northeastern France, near the border with Germany. Its old town has cobblestone streets lined with half-timbered medieval and early Renaissance buildings. The 13th-century, Gothic Eglise Saint-Martin church stands on central Place de la Cathédrale. The city is on the Alsace Wine Route, and local vineyards specialize in Riesling and Gewürztraminer wines.
Eguisheim Alsace bike tours
Eguisheim is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace-Champagne-Ardenne-Lorraine in north-eastern France. Eguisheim produces Alsace wine of high quality
History[edit]
Human presence in the area as early as the Paleolithic age is testified by archaeological excavations. In early historic times it was inhabited by the Gaul tribe of the Senones; the Romans conquered the village and developed here the cultivation of wine.
In the early Middle Ages, the Dukes of Alsace built here a castle (11th century) around which the current settlement developed. The commune was the alleged birthplace of Pope Leo IX in June 1002.
Tourism[edit]
ALSACE REGION
The village centre receives many tourists, as the Alsace "Wine Route" passes the village. The village is also a member of the Les Plus Beaux Villages de France
History[edit]
Originally the property of the Dukes of Württemberg, the town was converted toProtestantism in the 16th century. Historically, Riquewihr served as a Winzerdorfor "wine village" as a trading hub for Alsatian and German wine.
Sights[edit]
Riquewihr was one of the few towns in the area not to be badly damaged during World War II. The town is surrounded by its medieval fortifications and is overlooked by a castle from the same period that is today a museum.
There is a museum about Alsace during World War II and a torture chamber (La salle de torture).
The village is a member of the Les Plus Beaux Villages de France
History[edit]
Work began on the fortified town in 1698, to plans drawn by Vauban, a military engineer at the service of Louis XIV. Vauban died in 1707 and this, his last work, was completed by Louis de Cormontaigne.[1] The city's layout was that of an 'ideal city', as was popular at the time, with a regular square grid street pattern inside an octagonal fortification.[1] Generous space was given to a central square across the four blocks at the middle, flanked by an impressive church. Individual blocks were offered for private development, either as affluent houses in private gardens, or as properties for commercial rent. Simpler housing was provided in long tenement blocks, built inside each curtain wall, which also had the effect of shielding the better houses from the risk of cannon fire. Access was provided by large gateways in the principal four curtain walls.
The fortifications are Vauban's final work and the culmination of his 'Third System'.[1] There are two lines of defence, an inner enceinte de sûreté, the bastion wall around the city, and an outer enceinte de combat, a system of concentric star-shaped earthworks. The curtain wall was largely octagonal, with each flank separated roughly into three and the outer bastion projecting slightly, so as to flank the centre of the walls. Each corner had a raised outwardly-projecting pentagonal bastion tower, the highest points of the system. The outer earthworks were deep and occupied a greater area than the city itself. The inner walls were surrounded by tenailles before the centres of the curtain walls and counterguards before the bastions. In front of the centre of each curtain face was a large tetrahedral ravelin, those in front of the gateways also being topped by a reduit to the rear. Outside all of these earthworks was a covered way.[1]
The city suffered damage in World War II, but still represents a very clear example of the latest in fortification work at the beginning of the eighteenth century.
In 2008, the new town of Neuf-Brisach was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as part of the "Fortifications of Vauban" group.
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