A Patisserie, A Castle-Church, And An Old Pope
26 May 2018
When you are in a romantic room in a romantic hotel in a romantic French village, you tend to be, well... romantic. How cliché is it that as soon as the morning cuddles start, the cleaning crew starts pounding on our door!
Seriously, you have no idea how many times this happens to us!
We wandered out from our interrupted morning and made our way to a little café called Patisserie Marx. The pastries and fresh breads we’ve seen through the window have been taunting us since we arrived in town. We both got the petit dejeuner with rolls and jelly, a nice cup of coffee, juice, and choice of a pastry. Scrumptious!
Last time, I was in too much pain to climb up to the castle-church in town. Beth went in alone and came back with pictures, but I had to miss out. Not this time! I climbed the stairs and went through the doors just fine, and the reward was perfect! The church at Chateau Saint-Léon was stunning. It was small, sure, but there were lots of little details in the tiny space. The church was similar in style to what we saw earlier in the week in Sankt Peter or like we saw last time in Gengenbach, with the white walls and ceiling decorated with very detailed paintings throughout. Seriously, the amount of detail on every square inch of the walls and ceiling is just remarkable. The amount of time this artwork had to take, the level of talent needed to do it, it is just something to cherish. As stunning as any painting you will find in a gallery for sure.
The paintings along the ceiling depict the life of Pope Leo IX, also known as Saint Leon, who was born right here in Eguisheim. St Leon was an important pope from what I understand, so naturally he is the town’s most famous and historically significant resident. The church is a nice dedication to him, and he is cited around much of the town- including our hotel La Ferme du Pape (The Pope’s Farm) and the pub from last night Bar St Leon. The hometown hero is pretty popular in these parts, and rightfully so!
We popped in to Freundenreich Winery for a quick tasting before the afternoon shutdown. We wanted to taste some wine in town, but honestly we also just wanted to go into the neat looking building! We walked along the outer road just beyond the old city walls and eventually made our way back to the hotel for a bit of a relax…
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