2026-06-15 Route des Vins and Rouffach

 Monday, June 15,, 2026

After grocery shopping in the morning and lunch at home, Dave suggested we follow the Route des Vins starting at Pfaffenheim and going south with stops at Rouffach and  Guebwiller, borh one star towns in the Michelin Green Guide. We've already seen the towns north of  Pfaffenheim, so today we're picking up where we left off.

Of course, the scenery is, as usual, spectacular with rolling hills, towns dotting the landscape, vineyards everywhere, and the Vosges mountains for backdrop. We never get tired of seeing these expansive scenes of Alsace. 

The central square of Rouffach is Place de la République where both the Tourist Office and the church, Notre Dame de l'Assomption (Our Lady of Assumption) are located. And, bonus, there's parking right next to the church. After a brief stop at the Tourist Office to obtain a walking tour, we began our exploration of the city.

Notre Dame de l'Assomption

Our walking tour says "Rouffach was built on land occupied by humans since the Neolithic Age" around 6000 BC thanks to its dry, sunny climate, fertile lands, and sources of water. Of course, the Romans built a villa in the 1str century, placing it where the Place de la République stands today (smack dab in the center of town). Property of the Bishop of Strasbourg, with 11th century walls didn't protect it from being destroyed several times. Rouffach became a city in 1238 and flowered in the Renaissance. Rouffac was surrendered to the French in the 30 Years War. It was annexed by Germany in 1870, became French again in 1918, was annexed by Germany in WWII and freed by French and American soldiers in 1945. (We've heard this story in so many villages. 

Number one on the walking tour is the church. It seems a very grand church for a city of less than 5000 inhabitants. But our guide says the church was owned by the Prince-Bishops of Strasbourg, thus grandeur was necessary.  The church is very impressive from outside, although difficult to get far enough away to get the whole church. It's a mishmosh (is that a word?) of styles having been built in the 13th century and renovated in later centuries. One of the 19th century towers was never completed due to the war of 1870. 

The inside is both familiar and yet different from other churches. 

This baptismal font was carved in 1492 while the copper cover was created in 1906

Dave was intrigued by these lights which seemed to spread light up and down and around without bulbs. (They have to be there somewhere!)

Lynn found this effigy in the back of the church. It is of the knight Werner Falke, probably 14th century. His legs were cut off in the French Revolution

We followed the city walking tour, which took longer than we expected. 

map of walking tour of Rouffach

Yes, we walked to each of these historic buildings: From R to L: former granary, former stonemasons workshop, witches' tower, former city hall.

The square in front of the former town hall was named for a WWII hero, Joseph Freyeisen. The bottom of the inscription reads, "His memory obliges us to defend liberty, refuse the arbitrary, and keep the Republic alive."

We saw storks nesting in trees. That's new.

And, of course, storks nesting on roofs

The reason we were seeing so many storks is that Rouffach has been instrumental in growing the stork population. They have a netted and fenced sanctuary where they raise baby storks for the first 3 years. This erases their instincts to migrate (and never come back) and these storks live year round in Alsace. Babies of these parents do migrate, but return to Alsace. In 1974 there were only 9 pairs of storks in Alsace, due to electric wires, thirst, hunger, and poaching. As of 1997, there were 220 pairs of storks. Hooray!

One last sculpture in a fountain (literally) comes from a 1699 legend that townspeople, who had suffered a bad grape harvest, dumped the statue of St Urbain, patron saint of winegrowers, into the Ohmbach river.

St Urbain fountain

Out of time, we scratched the tour of Guebwiller and headed back to Logelheim. Tonight, Dave grilled chicken for dinner, so we need time to get the charcoal lit. 

2026-06-14 Mittlebergheim, Andlau, Route des Vins

 Sunday, June 14, 2026

Mittlebergheim, Andlau, Route des Vins

Today is beautiful. Sunny, cool breeze, high of 80. A beautiful day to visit a beautiful village (Plus Beau Village). Mittlebergheim is 35 minutes north of Logelheim in the direction of Strasbourg. 

We found this plus beau village to be rather ordinary. On arrival, there were no signs for a Tourist Office or for Parking. There was no town map at the entrance to town. The Green Guide and the Plus Beau Villages books said nothing about the town other than its vineyards and Grand Cru Sylvaner wine. We parked on the street partway up the hill and started walking. All the buildings looked the same drab beige colored plaster. There were no flowers to brighten the houses. As we walked down the hill, we found a few signs explaining a building but for the most part, we were wandering aimlessly. We didn't stay long. Even later when I tried to search for information on Mittlebergheim, I couldn't find a website that talked about walking around the town. Disappointing.

vigneron's house - Renaissance style

a vignerons house

St Etienne catholic church - built in 1890. 

The Mairie (Hotel de Ville) - no signs or maps here either

an oil press in an open barn along the main street

This former catholic church was taken by the Lutherans during the Reformation (16th century)  As happened in many villages, the church became mixed in 1680. That is, both Catholics and Lutherans shared the same church. As the number of Catholics in Mittlebergheim grew, more conflicts arose in sharing the church - a new bell, times of worship, etc. In 1890 the Catholics gave up any claim to the church and built St Stephen. This church seems to have kept the name St Stephen from before the reformation and most references just call it the Paroisse Lutheran de Mittlebergheim (Lutheran parish of Mittlebergheim) 

view from Mittlebergheim over the vineyards that surround the town

Of course, there's a storks nest along the main street of town

The next town along the Route des Vins was Andlau. This town had many parking options. We chose a large lot near the sports complex that invited tourists. Signage was good in Andlau. A large map was posted right next to where we parked. While it didn't provide description of the sights, it did have numbered and named stops along a walking tour. Dave took a photo of the map and it worked well for guiding us along the walking tour path. So off we headed. 

I liked this flower box

Andlau has a story that involves a bear and a noble woman later canonized as Sainte Richarde. The legend says that Richarde, accused of misconduct (and acquitted by walking through fire), left her chateau and was visited by an angel. She was told to found an abbey in a place where she found a bear. While the facts are a bit different, Richarde was indeed a noblewoman and was "set aside" by her husband. She did indeed found the abbey of Andlau which took in noble women who were free to come and go without taking religious vows. 

statue of Richarde and the bear

There are plenty of sculpted bears around the city and even one strange wood sculpture of a dragon and a knight. 

not a bear, but a knight and dragon made out of wood scraps

There are no signs left of the abbey, but the church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul had several notable features. The crypt is from the 11th century although the church was rebuilt in the 16th century.  The carvings above the portico doors show Jesus with Peter and Paul. A frieze is sculpted all around this portico end.     

This is the well from the abbey, but it is not in its original location

St Peter and St Paul

the 11th century crypt

St Peter & St Paul

I liked the stained glass in this church., even though it is modern. It portrayed women of the church. This woman is St Isabeth

The L'Andlau river runs through town. The sound of the water going over the spillways, presumably from former mills, was a lovely surprise.

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On our way out of town, we passed by the chapel of St Andre, located on the edge of town near the sports fields.

We had some time, so continued along the Route des Vins. 

a  house in Itterswiller

view from Itterswiller

Dambach-la-ville had several interesting buildings. 

The chapel of St Sebastian sits on a hill above Dambach-la-ville

view from the chapel of St Sebastian

Medieval entrance to Dambach-la-ville

This tower was on the opposite side of town

Castles near Dambach-la-ville

We were home early enough for Dave to go for a walk around town. His pictures show Logelheim at sunset. This is the town we've been living in for the past 8 weeks.

the restaurant-hotel in town - where we tried to eat once but were turned away because a large party was using all the space. 

one of the farms in town - house, barn, and machine shed

From the end of our driveway, looking across the fields to the next town, Appenwihr