We’re up early and head into the centre of Ribeauville. The main street is once again full of painted
half-timber buildings. Some of the
detailed carvings around the windows here are the most impressive we’ve
seen. There are also lots of Pied Piper
statues dotted around, I meant to ask at the tourist office what that was about
but forgot! Looking up along the high
street you appreciate the great surroundings of sweeping hills covered in grape
vines and 3 big castles set high on the hill overlooking the town. Apparently there’s a walking route you can
follow to visit them all if a 10km hike is your idea of a good time! We don’t mind a bit of walking but that’s a
little too much for us! Instead we opt
for a leisurely walk around the picturesque quarter accompanied by some tasty
sugar coated tasty treats from the local patisserie.
It certainly is picturesque though not quite as charming as
the last couple of spots we’ve visited, perhaps because there are a few more
modern buildings thrown into the mix.
What can I say, we’ve been spoiled!!!
We walk all the way through town including a stroll alongside the river,
taking in the marvellous views as we go.
We find ourselves on the very far side of town amongst the more affluent
houses, most of which appear to have fallen out of the Grand Designs Fairytale
Edition and just look utterly adorable. We
see and admire all that this pleasant little spot has to offer before heading
off to our next spot of Bergheim.
It’s another little village we spotted on the map and
decided to check out based on the assumption that every village in this region
is adorable, and we were right! Bergheim
whilst tiny is very lovely indeed. You
enter the town under the large clock tower in the middle of the rampart walls,
a great welcome! The main street is so
similar to many in this area, full of medieval frontages in an array of bright,
bold colours. There’s a small fountain,
a pretty church with lovely gardens and some interesting towers built into the
rampart walls. Not a huge amount of
sights but these villages are just wonderful to visit and soak up the delightful,
unspoilt architecture.
It’s just a fleeting visit before grabbing some lunch and
moving on to Selestat. We park up in an
awkward, sloping side of the road spot and set off to find a better one on
foot. The town centre seems to be a
little more functional and less fairytale than the last few but there are definite
attractions. We find the mediateque on
the far side of town with a handy carpark just over the river so we fetch the
van and bring it over. We’re a little
overwhelmed from all the sight-seeing of late and so decide to spend the last
of the day in the mediateque, writing and enjoying the free wifi. We’ve been so
lucky to see such amazing places over the last little while that we need to
just take a bit of a break from it to stop us getting complacent! I’d hate to take any of these places for
granted. 
We leave the mediateque at closing time and head back to the
van for dinner and movie time. Thankfully it’s been much milder of late so we’re
not mourning the loss of our heating too much at the moment. I’m sure we’ll get the gas replaced soon though
if only to get the cooker back; the sandwich diet is getting a little dull! 
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