2026-05-08 Basel Switzerland

 

map from Logelheim to Basel

What to say about Basel? On first impression as we drove into the city, it's big, modern, busy, lots of bikes and trams and tram wires. Oh, and construction everywhere. (OK, only where we wanted to drive.) Our goal here is to visit the old parts of Basel. Despite rerouting us several times when GPS wanted us to go down a closed for construction street, or one-way going the wrong way, Dale was able to steer us to a parking garage just a couple blocks from the Tourist Bureau. 

This fountain had all kinds of sculptures shooting water at one another.

Tram traveling through the historical part of the city.

A couple things to know: In Basel, they speak German (Swiss-German). Self-guided walking tours don't exist, but they have maps of the old part of town with locations of monuments. There are lots of steep hills. (By the time we got back to the car in the afternoon, my battery was ready to quit.) There are lots of self-cleaning bathrooms. Do not go into a WC when the door opens. Let it close and do its water cleaning routine before entering or you will get wet. That said, Basel is really clean - no trash to be seen.

Armed with maps and finished with the WC, we first headed up to a hilltop church. Both Dave and Dale took turns pushing the scooter up hill so I could also visit the church. (Many thanks!) It was worth the effort. 

Dale found this map of the old city in 1615 hanging on a wall in the cathedral. It's way better than the map from the tourist office!  You can see the double  fortified walls surrounding the city and interesting monuments. (However, this map is actually upside down. The old town is on the south bank of the Rhine, not the north bank.)

view from the terrace of St. Leonhard's church

St. Leonhardskirche - the Collegiate church of St Leonhard

The 14th century church was built against city walls, closing the normal west entrance. A gated walk via the cemetery continues to serve as the entrance to the church. The first mention of a church on this hill was in 1002. An Augustinian convent was added in 1135 and a Romanesque crypt was added in 1280. The earthquake of 1356 demolished everything but the crypt, which still exists. A new church in late Gothic style was built almost immediately. Late Gothic construction (1480) added the interior space with three naves identical in height. 

the crypt

three naves of the same height in late Gothic style, something I had never seen before

The Gothic vaulting is light and airy 

As in most of Europe, the Basel church has experienced problems between various Protestant denominations and Catholics. But because Switzerland adopted Protestantism early in the 16th century, the church was spared the kinds of desecrations endured by other churches during the Reformation. Catholic paintings and iconography had already been moved and stored and the church was offering Protestant services.

Janis and Clark headed to the Munster and we decided to meet them there just after lunch. The rest of us followed Leonhardsgraben which followed the line of an older city wall that we guessed had a moat as well since "graben" translates to moat.  Along the way we found some interesting buildings.

The Spalentor (Spalen Tower) was the northwest entry to the walled city. It still sports its portcullis and gold-tiled roof, not to mention its formidable looking defensive turrets.

Spalentor

Notice the portcullis

We continued toward the river to the Markt Platz where the daily market takes place.  The Rathaus (City Hall) is also on this square. It's pretty impressive. It's red sandstone blocks contrast with the other buildings around the square.

The daily market in front of the Rathaus

The Rathaus is pretty ornate!

Inside the courtyard of the Rathaus

Courtyard of the Rathaus

From there we headed a bit north to the Middle Bridge (Mittlere Rheinbrucke) over the Rhine. We spotted a place for lunch across the river, so we crossed the bridge to the other bank.

looks like a good lunch spot

Mittlere Rheinbrucke

lunch by the Rhine River - Lynn, Dave, Kim

View across the river from our lunch location

After lunch, we headed back to the south side of the Rhine, past Markt Platz and down Freistrasse to get to the Minster where Janis and Clark were enjoying the shade and views over the Rhine on the terrace next to the church. After a WC break (self-washing toilets), we headed into the church.

Originally Roman Catholic, now Reformed Protestant, the Minster stands out for its tiled roof and red sandstone on the exterior. 

Basel Minster backs on to the wine

note the tiled roofs

the Minster cloister

The original cathedral built in the Romanesque style in the late 12th century was partially destroyed in the 1356 earthquake and rebuilt over the next couple of centuries.

View toward the altar

view toward the west entry and the organ

I was fascinated by the sarcophagi found along the sides of the cathedral. 

This one in particular struck my fancy. Buried in this sarcophagus is an Archdeacon, a church maintenance man, and others (und andere). Did they find unidentified bones somewhere in the church?

Cloisters were added in the 15th century and are beautiful and calm to walk through

view across the cloister

view out a cloister window

Kim at one of the cloister windows

We returned home a bit earlier today than usual which allowed time for sitting outside in the beautiful day , or as Clark would say, time to photograph the bottles drunk since arriving. 

Kim outside at our high-top bar table that says "Happy Feelings"

Our wine bottle collection - the total comes to 41. 

Tonight is our last dinner together (sniff) as both couples leave tomorrow by train from Strasburg. 

2026-05-07 Huniwihr & Haut Koenigsburg Castle & Return to Sick-Dreyer Winery

 

Another day, another Plus Beaux Village. There are 15 in this region, so we have many more to visit. Today is again grey and rainy, but like the intrepid tourists we are, we headed out anyway. Our first stop was Hunawihr, a small village along the Route des Vins (Wine Route). 

Thanks to missing a turn on the north side of Colmar, we were treated to a replica of the Statue of Liberty in the middle of a round-about. (Sculptor Bartholdi is a Colmar native.) We went around the round-about twice to try to get a shot out the window. This is the best we got.

Bartholdi statue in Colmar

Huniwihr, a village of 555 people is too small to even have a tourist office. That also means we're almost the only visitors, allowing us the calm to take in this village's history. Luckily, we had picked up some tourist information at the Riquewihr Tourist Office. 

Stained glass in the Hunawihr church

Hunawihr was settled in the 7th century by Hunon and his wife Huna after whom the village is named. Converted to Christianity, the couple built the first church. According to legend, Huna washed clothes of the poor and needy in the village's fountain. Huna was also credited with miracles, including turning the water in the fountain into wine after a bad grape harvest. She was sainted in 1520 and the church became a stop on the one of the routes of Saint Jacques de Compostelle. Protestantism was introduced in 1537 and in 1687, the Simultaneum was introduced by Louis XIV which allowed both Catholic and Protestant services to be offered in the same church.

Kim walking through the graveyard of St Jacques Majeure

The church clock has grapes & leaves - symbol of Hunawihr

The current church dates from the 15th century. It sits on a hill at the edge of town, surrounded by walled fortifications. Around the church are both a catholic and protestant cemetery and offers great views of the surrounding vineyards.

defensive walls around the church

View of the town from the church graveyard

French graves are "rented" - that is paid for an amount of time - note the grave is for the family. Small plaques and mementos remember the names of those buried there. 

Views overlooking the town and nearby vineyards were stunning, even on this cloudy day.

We worked our way down the steep hill from the church to the west end of town. Besides interesting houses, this town has many door lintels with carvings. With street signs and house addresses in short supply, it took us a bit to find some of these. 

The pinmaker' sign in the center of the year 1565

The door and lintel of the 1565 house

A key denoting the innkeeper

The butcher's emblem

As we're about to finish explore the last 11 buildings and lintels, the rain began, not hard, but enough to get wet. Janis and Clark and Kim and Dale opt to go back to the car and Dale moved it to the end of the street Dave and I were exploring. You can always trust Dave to find every item on these discovery tours and he wasn't giving up for a little rain.

Looking through the gates of houses reveals sheds and barns in a courtyard used by the vintners and vignerons

Dave in front of a cool house

Looking through the gate of another winemaker's house. House on the right, barn on  the left and shed in the back

We worked our way down this main street of the village checking out houses and lintels. It is clear that this has been and is still a wine producing village. (In fact, one of the Alsatian Grand Crus, Rosaker, is a product of this village.) We decided this village is worthy of a second visit, in good weather.

Half-timbered house with barn/sheds on the ground floor

Notice the tractor in the arched doorway

At the bottom of the Grand Rue, we met Dale and took the car to the Saint-Hune fountain and wash house. Every Plus Beau Village must  have at least 2 culturally significant monuments. In Hunawihr, these are the 17th century fountain and the Sainte-Hune fountain and wash house. 

Sainte Hune fountain and washhouse

Sainte Hune covered wash house

Luckily, we had decided to have lunch at home as the rain continued all the way home.

Dave ate the leftover choucroute garni from yesterday

The afternoon itinerary is a trip to Haut Koenigsburg castle, since much of that tour would be indoors in the completely restored castle. Since it's not handicapped accessible, I stayed home (and took a nap!)

First mentioned in 1147, this château fort (fortified castle) has changed hands multiple times and was also pillaged multiple times. Owned by the Hapsbourgs in the 15th century, it was pillaged by a gang of knights. It changed hands and was again pillaged and burned in the 30 Years War (1618-1648). Left as a ruin for 200 years, it was acquired by the town of Sélestat in 1865 and was then offered to German Emperor Guillaume II (Wilhelm II in German) in 1899 when he annexed Alsace to Germany. Guillaume completely restored the castle (1900-1908). After WWI (1919) Haut Koenigsbourg was given to France. Since then, France has improved the visitor experience and maintained the castle. Whew! 

Janis & Clark about to enter the castle

Haut Koenigsbourg can be seen from many spots in this region as it crowns the top of its peak in the foothills of the Vosges mountains. 

Koenigsbourg scene from the valley

This castle is stunning, both outside and inside.

Can you find the dragon?

Looking down from the high tower

After the tour of Haut Koenigsburg, the crew stopped at Sick-Dreyer to pick up a few bottles of their most excellent wines. Etienne invited them into his tasting room and enthusiastically offered samples of his wines. An hour later, they collected their 6 bottles of wine and headed for the LeClerc grocery store. 

Janis, Clark, & Etienne

These were opened and drunk in 1971 by Etienne's father and grandfather. They had been bottled in 1834 and 1895. Amazingly (to me at least) the wine was still good.

These are the wines they sampled

LeClerc was crazy busy with so many people shopping at the end of their work day. Luckily the list was small and they escaped with only minor bruises.

It was almost 7 when the crew got home - too late for aperos. Janis made a delicious chicken stir fry for dinner.  The poor dear wasn't even allowed to rest after dinner as she made one more bread pudding for tomorrow's dinner. I'm not sure we can let Janis go home! She knows where everything is in the kitchen and can work all the appliances!

As if today wasn't crazy enough, there is a beer fest in town. Dave and Dale walked the few blocks to the fest. They tried a couple of Luxemburg beers, neither to their liking. Dave said it was like a German beer fest.

 

Dale & Dave & beer