Christmas in Alsace, France.

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There are places where "Christmas" is more "Christmas", where the parties are sincere, the most respected tradition and the people involved more than elsewhere.

One of these places is Alsace, a region in France for a little ", on the border with Germany where the German influence is evident with its style and its customs.

A German tradition is respected as the Christmas markets and the cult of Christmas in general.

We start in pairs from Varese to the first light of a Friday in early December.

France reach smoothly through the Gotthard and a mid-morning we're already in Alsace, the first step in the program is the castle of Haut-Koenigsbourg. This is a very well preserved castle, well furnished, for the occasion was also pleasantly decorated for the holidays. Environments we visit freely and the beautiful courtyards. We recommend a visit to a nice bar-restaurant, furnished in style, with an adjoining gift shop.

Just back from the castle we make a brief visit to the country all'adiacente S. Hyppolite, colorful village of winemakers.

Then we reach Colmar, a town where we are already in the past but when we come back willingly. Housed in the most characteristic hotels of the city, which has hit especially during our previous visit. This is the most photographed place in the city due to its characteristic structure, overlooking the picturesque canal of the "Petite Venise". A Colmar visit the various Christmas markets located in each square of the city and make the first purchases. Dinner based Alsatian specialties, including the "tarte flambée" (cross between piadina and pizza) and then walk through the streets by skillfully illuminated Christmas illuminations.

2nd Day

The good days we can see in the morning with a rich buffet in the delightful restaurant of our hotel and immediate departure for the nearby Strasbourg. Here we find the hotel easily (always booked via internet) situated in one of the main squares of Strasbourg Kleber place. The location is convenient and parking is very close.

Begin to scour the many Christmas markets scattered throughout the city. The best is the one in the place de la Cathédrale, in the square there is also a characteristic house with richly decorated façade called "Maison Kammerzell" and inside the cathedral is the famous astronomical clock, which at 12:31 every day offers the traditional parade of characters driven by the clock mechanism itself.

But the area of Strasbourg, which we like most is the "Petite France", a typical district with old timbered houses overlooking the canals. Even here there is a small Christmas market of traditional products we buy here and Alsatian traditional Christmas Beer of Alsace

Lunch with the delicacies (sweet and salty) that we find in the stalls, without a precise order. We appreciate in particular the brezel (special braided bread salt) which is smooth, covered with cheese or bacon. For dessert we choose the gauffre (SQUARED hot waffles stuffed with what you want) and the usual drink hot spiced wine, or those who do not drink alcohol, it can warm up with the orange juice served hot or warm apple juice flavored with cinnamon.

In the afternoon we visit a must for shopping French: Galerie Lafayette, but we are too tired and do not buy niente.Torniamo at the hotel to rest and then go out to dinner in clubs near the Cathedral. After dinner, strangely, the markets are still open and take advantage to visit with more calm and less crowds than in the afternoon and is not even so cold!

3rd Day

"The morning has gold in the mouth" and so we leave early to direct a small Alsatian village (of which we have read something somewhere) called Riquewihr. We arrive and stand amazed by her beauty: here the houses are even older, even more colorful decorations even more evident and the atmosphere is fantastic. The principal is fully engaged on Christmas marketplace with exposure to all the traditional products but there are also many shops. There's even a large store of Christmas decorations of the famous chain Kathe Wohlfahrt, who invite you to visit for her special (provided that there is too many people inside).

We leave reluctantly Riquewihr to reach the final stage of our journey: Kaysersberg. We have read of this place in a magazine that described as a place where Christmas was heard. In fact we are delighted and decide from that this is perhaps the most beautiful place of our trip (but it is really hard to draw up a list of places). Kaysersberg Riquewith and are so close but very different if the first recalled a fairytale village, Kaysersberg recalls a landscape from the traditional Christmas card. The festive atmosphere is almost to excess. E 'Sunday is there so many people but, oddly, this is not bad and helps to make even more cheerful landscape. Here the market is not great but they are lots of beautiful clothes shops in celebration. The main square is amazing. The country is well decorated but the decorations are almost redundant as early as the architecture is one of the same decoration. The area near the river, with a nice jumper and colorful houses facing, particularly strikes me. We buy in a biscuit of wonderful Alsatian biscuits from many different tastes. We recommend in particular those with the taste of cinnamon.

And again with the memory of the smell of cinnamon and eyes full of colors and lights we head home.

Our short trip is over but we are also happy because we were really good.

Dani and Max
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texts by Daniela
Photos of Max