In Love With Eguisheim
25 May 2018
As much as I do love Ribeauville, love Riquewihr, and love Kaysersberg... the town of Eguisheim is the one village that I think of most when I dream of Alsace. That beautiful, medieval, circular town encompasses everything I love about this part of the world. It was an absolute necessity to return on this trip, and we scheduled a few days in the town. We wanted to really settle in this time, and while we ventured out to full days in other towns while we stayed in Ribeauville, we were going to focus on Eguisheim primarily while there.
We strolled along the old cobblestoned streets. It felt good to walk around the town, considering the last time we were here I was struggling with a painful joint issue in my ankle that really slowed us down and limited our exploration. In many ways, it was missing out on seeing all we wanted because of this ankle issue that helped to inspire a return trip so soon. This time we were able to see much more as we could cover ground easier, and I intended to make up for the lost experiences on our last visit.
Eguisheim is an old medieval town, and it has basically kept the shape of the original fortifications. The Church and castle area are about the center of town, and the village forms a circle along what was once the outer walls. There are two ring roads – Rue du Rempart and Rue du Allmend. Rue du Rempart sits on the outer ring where the walls used to be, and today it is a circular row of beautiful, brightly colored, and well decorated houses, their backs to the outside of the town, presumably as these were once built backing up to the wall. Along Rue du Allmend sits a ring of buildings that exist in a stark contrast to the beautiful houses. Most of these are used as agricultural or building material storage, or others used like garages. You could imagine that back in the days of a poor medieval town, this is what most of the buildings in Eguisheim would have looked like. Moving between the two rings really feels like you are moving back in time. In many ways, the crumbly old broken buildings are every bit as beautiful as the well-maintained houses. I love walking among them both.
We made our way back to the center square and took an outdoor seat at Restaurant A. Edel. The church and castle are set up higher than the roads and sitting on the square gave them the impression of really towering over us. The restaurant was on its “vespers” break, though they were still serving drinks and snacks. We watched the servers deliver a magnificent berry sundae to a neighboring table, and we just had to order one ourselves! In the spirit of this little afternoon break time, we relaxed at the table and looked out over the square.
Ready to work off that ice cream, we walked around the rings again, going along roads that I wasn’t able to see last time. We watched the stork perched up on the top of the tower, found little shops including one dedicated solely to mushrooms, and dropped in for a tasting at the Emile Bayer winery. It’s funny how the shape of the town makes it feel contained, and you can walk the full length of one road only to wind up where you started. It feels like its own little, beautiful world.
We found a little place for dinner behind the church called Kaz’fratz. Beth had a potato scramble called Croesti that was like a hashbrown with layers of cheese, and I had the Alsacienne Tartiflette, basically a baked mashed potato gratin loaded with bacon, onions, sauerkraut, and cheese. With a local made Belgian-style abbey ale, this was a hearty dinner that really hit the spot!
A late-night stroll through town led us to some nice pictures and the Bar St. Leon. We haven’t had many nights out at the pub on our travels, and this looked like a nice spot to just hang out. We sat at the outside seat with their house punch and a great wine and took in the pleasant night. At about 11pm the outdoor spot was closed and so we moved inside, where we got a seat at the bar. We watched our attractive bartender make a beer with the Amer liqueur added, and while we liked the Amer on its own, we have not tried mixed with the beer as intended. So, we ordered a round of those, and it was tasty for sure.
A group of younger guys came in and set themselves up in the corner by the door. They were obviously employees at local wineries who were dropping in for a drink after a long day. Out from under the bar they pulled a large log that was standing on end. Two of them started taking turns hammering a nail into the log in some sort of bar game. We had no idea what they were doing, but their reactions told us there was some heavy competition happening. The bartender must have seen us watching them and we most likely had a look of confusion written clear across our faces. She came over to us, and with a sexy shake of her head, a mischievous glint in her eye, and a tone of voice that was seductive yet slightly condescending – a collection of traits absolutely perfected by the French – she leans in to us and says, “It’s such a stupid game!” She flashed a playful smile and went back about her work, leaving us no less confused yet now a bit infatuated. If those aren’t the feelings you should have during a night at the pub, then I don’t know what are. A loud thump of a hammer followed by one of the guys throwing his fist in the air and shouting, “Oooouuuuuiiiiiiiiiii” led us to believe an epic comeback was just had and was shortly followed by a round of shots that were previously set up on the bar. I’m not sure if there is an advantage to winning other than just bragging rights. When we used to play Bear-Ninja-Cowboy at our old hangout, the loser had to buy the round!
Late at night, after a fun time at the Bar St. Leon, the streets of Eguisheim were dark and empty yet they were no less beautiful. We walked slowly back to the room, as if the slow pace of our steps could somehow slow down the time that was flying by. Only a couple days left on our return trip to Alsace, and we’re going to savor them all!
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