Continuing with our fall trip to the Alsace region of France brings us to our next stop, the small and charming village of Riquewihr.
Similar to Kayserberg and Ribeauville, Riquewihr is a quaint and colorful town, but in this case, somewhat to an extreme.
Fairytale is a word that comes to mind almost immediately when you enter its old world gate.
If Disney was given a few billion dollars and told to build a fairytale village, Riquewihr is likely what they would create.
I actually read that the village is one of the towns that inspired the sets in the live action film, Beauty and the Beast.
Not surprisingly, Riquewihr is also a member of the Les Plus Beaux Villages organization, which is a list of the most beautiful small towns in the country that have some sort of historical significance.
It's definitely one of the prettiest towns that we have been to in all of France.
Most of the buildings date back to the 16th century and since the town took on very little damage during WWI and WWII, most of the buildings have been pristinely preserved.
I mentioned in my previous posts about the region that the Alsace was once (or twice) a part of Germany and that the entire area has a very distinct German quality about it. You can definitely see this is the architecture of the buildings, some of which are German through and through.
The half timber construction, the steep roofs and brightly colored paint jobs remind me of some of the towns we've seen in Bavaria. In some ways Riquewihr is very similar to Rothenburg ob Der Tauber another town that has serious fairtale vibes.
It has that same perpetual Christmas feel about it as well and it's not at all surprising that Käthe Wohlfahrt, the famous German Christmas shop chain, decided to open a shop there.
One of the most interesting things that I read about the Alsace is that the colors of the buildings used to hold a lot of meaning and actually signified which trade that they belonged to. Apparently each type of shop was represented by a specific color and all of the shops of a given industry were painted in the same fashion.
For instance, bakeries were all painted one color, butcher shops another, and florists, tailors and shoe makers another still. This is apparently why its so common to see buildings painted in such drastic colors in the Alsace region.
Today the towns people are free to paint their buildings in any color that they choose, but most are still painted in a variety of blues, reds, yellows and oranges.
Wine and Vineyards
Like many of the towns of the Alsace Riquewihr is located along the Alsacian wine route and the town itself is completely surrounded by vineyards.
You can actually see the grape vines that border the town just by looking down many of the narrow alleyways of the main street.
They're kind of just always there in the background.
The region specializes in growing reisling and pinot gris grapes among a few others and there are plenty of wine caves that offer samples for you to try.
One really nice thing about the wines of the Alsace are that they are pretty inexpensive compared to the more famous regions of France like Bordeaux and Burgundy.
You can buy a bottle of a vineyards superior brand for only around 8€ or so, a bargain compared to the 20+ euros you need to spend in Bordeaux.
Dolder Tower
Possibly the most emblamatic structure in town is the Dolder Belfry. It's a 25 meter tall tower that was built in the 13th century and which acted as a defensive gateway for Riquewihr. It was built to protect its citizens from foreign invaders.
The interior side of the tower is adorned with a half timber facade, a clock and a bell that was used not only to signal the time of day but also to raise an alarm if ever the town was under attack.
An inscription on the bell reads the following:
It is the joy, it is the alarm that my sound produces. By day I announce the din and the rest of the night.
Today the tower hosts the town museum and people can go inside and see the caretaker's living quarters.
There is a lot to explore on the main street and that is where most of the restaurants and shops are located. But it's also worth taking a walk and checking out some of the side streets as well.
There are some quaint little shops tucked away here and there as well as some interesring details to view and explore.
For instance, I saw this shop with a bunch of dried corn hanging on the outside that I thought was kind of neat.
I'm not sure if the corn is meant for the birds or to be a natural sort of decoration, but it definitely adds to the old world charm of the village.
What else can I say about Riquewihr?
The town is touristy as you would expect from such a pretty village but it's not at all tacky or cheesy in any way.
It actually feels very authentic despite looking like it came directly out of a story book.
That being said it does draw a large crowd and is likely to be busy with tourists during the peak seasons.
We were there in the late summer/early fall and there were quite a few people visiting.
Still, we found parking relatively easily and overall the town didn't feel very crowded.
We probably spent a few hours there exploring and taking in the sights be for heading out.
Overall, I think that Riquewihr is a must see location in the Alsace and would even go as far to say that it's the prettiest village in the region, possibly even all of France.
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