Le Chateau de Haut-Koenigsbourg

As we drove to Colmar on Sunday, we saw a castle on top of the pointiest hill around. On Monday, we visited it – the Chateau de Haut-Koenigsbourg. (Yet another fine mix of French and German names here in Alsace…) This castle has had a hard life. First mentioned in 1147, it was destroyed in […]

A Charming Town

On Sunday we visited Colmar in the Haut-Rhin (upper Rhine) region. It’s about an hour south of where we are staying in Gougenheim. I had read that it is one of the prettiest towns in France and it’s true. No matter where you look, there’s a half-timbered house in a pleasing color, a cobblestone street, […]

More Countries, More Cities, More Fun?

This year we’re returning to Europe, but not just France. We’re traveling in Germany and France, plus a couple of nights in Austria and Switzerland. This trip will be quite different than our 2019 and 2022 adventures. In 2019 we stayed two months in each rental. In 2022, around a month. In 2023 we’ll only […]

Market Day

Céret has the nicest weekly market we’ve seen in France. It’s a great mix of fruit and vegetable sellers, prepared foods, handmade items, and clothing (and a few sellers of junky plastic stuff – there’s no escaping it completely). It’s also very easy to get to – right outside our door! The first week we […]

The Hunt

While MM visited, we took a Sunday hike to St. Ferréol’s hermitage (l’ermitage de St. Ferréol). It started in Céret, at the point where three bridges cross the Tech river – one antique, one for cars, and one train bridge converted to a rail trail. The old bridge is called the devil’s bridge (le pont […]

Collioure

As we soon as we started walking around Collioure, M asked, “Why aren’t we staying here?” I couldn’t have agreed more. If I’d known how gorgeous it was, we would be. Ah, well, there’s always next time… We’ve visited twice, once on a blue-sky day and once, with our guest MM, with a few sprinkles […]

Welcome to Céret

We’re now just 12 km from the Spanish border and the Mediterranean is visible in the distance when we climb the hills just out of town. Things look very different here! Céret is at least 1300 years old, which explains the winding narrow alleys in the old town. Put out your arms and you can […]

Biking, Biking, Everywhere

We had a great two weeks on the Île de Ré – love those bike trails! G and B joined us for the second week, when electric bikes were used by all, even M. We all enjoyed the extra oomph, especially when the wind was blowing. We visited the church in La Couarde for the […]

Hello, Sunshine!

We were sorry to leave Brittany, but the brilliant sun and cloudless blue skies over the Île de Ré have brightened our moods considerably. Our rental in the village of Sainte-Marie-de-Ré is a perfect spot for enjoying this delightful weather. Large doors let in the sun and can be fully opened, making it feel like […]

Farewell to Finistère

Five weeks went by in a flash! Last time we stayed for eight, and the weather got worse as the end of our stay approached, so we were ready to head south. (To lots more rain, but that was another story.) This time it was the opposite – the weather got nicer and it was […]