Black Forest to Alsace, France

7 min readApr 30, 2019

The weather forecast called for extended rain in the Alps so I shifted gears and decided to head west across the Rhine to the Alsace (pronounced al-ZASS) region in France. I know about six French words so this was definitely out of my comfort zone.

To get across the border, I first had to drive from Mössingen west through the Black Forest. My first stop was in the village of Schiltach, which I’d visited earlier back in 2015. It was still beautiful (and steep).

I walked around Schiltach’s fountain and immediately found a good representation of Cade blowing a stream of water out his mouth.

My next stop was just down the road in the Black Forest town of Haslach im Kinzigtal. I especially liked the Rathaus with murals of local people in traditional Schwartzwald dress.

I’d read about another town just 15 minutes north of Haslach so I made a quick detour to check out Gengenbach. The town had already installed its traditional maypole in the Marktplatz in preparation for the first of May.

I hiked a full circle around the Altstadt in Gengenbach. It certainly was worth the detour. There must be some sort of college located in the town because I noticed a lot of students. After research I learned the University of Offenburg had a campus of Business Management located here.

Sure enough, I found the local student Mensa. Lunch is the main hot meal of the day in Germany (unlike dinner back in the States). German universities provide low-cost, hot meals at lunch here. The thing is, if you show up and pay your 2.90 Euro, you can get a Mensa meal too.

After lunch with German college students, I hiked back to my car. Along the way, I noticed several political signs.

With the European Union under assault from Brexit and the rise of nationalism spouted by the Far Right, it was interesting to see how the more mainstream conservative and progressive parties in Germany were responding. I thought the split-screen image of the Reichstag in ruins from 1945 compared with today was particularly powerful.

Germany and France have been the two heavyweight rivals on the European continent for several centuries. They’ve fought three major wars in the past 150 years. The European Union at its core is an effort to bind Germany and France to each other economically so that another war would be incomprehensible.

Concerning Brexit, I read a German perspective that England was an island and hadn’t been invaded in recent memory. The Brits hadn’t experienced the horrors of war on their home soil (the 1940 blitz not withstanding). From the German and French perspectives, the economic ties furthered by the EU are an important measure of security.

I changed countries on my GPS and headed west. Shortly, I crossed a bridge over the Rhine, departed Deutschland and was waved through a French security checkpoint. I then headed for my Airbnb in the small village of Husseren-les-Châteaux.

The Alsace region runs north-south with Germany and the Rhine to the east and the rest of France over the Vosges mountains to the west. The mountains are the reason the Alsace experiences a unique micro-climate suitable for vineyards. It’s warmer and dryer here than it would be without the sheltering mountains.

It was obvious the Alsace was a blend of French and German cultures. Many of the town names end in “heim” and the half-timbered homes (minus the French shutters) looked German. There’s a good reason for this. The Alsace has traded hands between France and Germany several times over the years.

The Kaiser took the Alsace for the German Empire after victory in the Franco-Prussian War in 1871. It was returned to France in 1918 after Germany’s defeat in the First World War. In 1940, Nazi Germany incorporated the Alsace into the Reich before American and French forces liberated the area in 1945.

Inside the Catholic church in Husseren-les-Châteaux, everything looked very French. Until I realized the titles of the paintings were written in German.

The French war memorial in the middle of Husseren-les-Châteaux looked very different however from the German war memorials across the Rhine.

My Airbnb is located on the top floor of a building inside the walls of a wine estate. I believe the building was originally built in the 1700s. It’s been smartly renovated on the inside with a modern kitchen and bath. One of my windows looks out over the courtyard with a view of the church.

Here’s a photo of Christophe Scherer and his wife who welcomed me to their estate. They both spoke English and some German which was a great relief since I don’t speak French beyond bonjour.

Christophe offered me a bottle of wine from the estate which was a very kind welcoming gift.

This looks to be a great base to explore the Alsace. It’s quiet, safe and atmospheric. It’s just a short drive to several interesting Alsatian towns. The larger cities of Strasbourg (France), Freiberg (Germany) and Basel (Switzerland) are within easy driving distance if there’s a rainy day.