Colmar, France

After a day in Strasbourg, we were ready to leave the big city and head out to see some quaint little towns. We drove about an hour south to Colmar, France. Right as you enter the city they have a huge Statue of Liberty monument dedicated to the sculptor (Frederic Bartholdi) who lived here.

Colmar was picturesque. Timbre framed houses, tiny little streets, flowers in the windows, we all fell in love with this town right away!

 Half a house?

 Luke and his grandma

 Everyone has an opinion on where to go

 Another picture compliments of Jack the photographer

 And another

 "Petite Venice" area of Colmar

 Yay for randomly placed play equipment!

Castles!

During our drive from Strasbourg to Colmer we spotted no less than 15 castles along the way. Some were huge and others were in ruins, but they were castles nonetheless and I couldn't wait to explore them!

The first castle we visited was the Chateau du Haut-Koeningsbourg which sits atop a hill overlooking the Alcatian plain. It is unknown when this castle was first built, but the first mention of it was in 1147. 

Here is the entrance to the castle: 

Pictures of the castle I took off the internet

A model of the castle

The entrance

In the courtyard

Jack laying down on the drawbridge

A view from above

View of the Alcatian plains from the window

After the castle, we stopped for lunch at a nearby B&B. Jack enjoyed playing on the castle playground

We all discovered the wonderful world of Tarte Flambees (here is the definition from Wikipedia):

Tarte flambée is an Alsatian dish composed of thin bread dough rolled out in a rectangle (traditionally) or a circle, which is covered with crème fraîche, thinly sliced raw onions, andlardons. It is one of the most famous gastronomical specialties of the region.

After Haut Koeningsburg we drove around to find another castle. We ended up stopping at a hiking trail and we followed the trail to the Chateau du Bernstein. Apparently this is one of the oldest castles in the region being built sometime at the beginning of the 11th century. Parts of the surrounding wall are from prehistoric times. All that remains now is a shell:

A dark hole. We must explore!

After climbing the steps in the dark tower we arrived to the top with this amazing view

Luke and Grandma at the top of the tower

One last castle

 On our drive back home we noticed a castle in the distance just calling our names:

We drove around until we found the trail head which was in the middle of a vineyard

 Starting the long, long hike

 As it was naptime, Jack fell asleep within 30 minutes into the hike

 So close!

 Chateau de l'Ortenbourg

 Awake and excited to explore!

 Picture compliments of our little photographer

 From one of the windows you can see the ruins of another castle (Ramstein) in the distance

 The tower we tried so hard to find the entrance to

 Jack loves castles almost as much as I do

 View of the city on our hike back

 Hiking back to the car with the castle in the distance

 My guys