Alsace Tour 15-22 June 2023

After a late morning tunnel crossing, we take the autoroute southeast to Valenciennes. On route most of us visit La Coupole the V2 rocket launching site (now a museum and planetarium) near St Omer before continuing to our hotel and group dinner at the wonderful Moulin d’Artres.

Next day we head through the Avenois and then the more dramatic Ardennes following the French/Belgian border along the rivers Meuse and Semois. We’ve been here before but it’s still wonderful scenery and a great drive.  We continue on the Belgian side of the border before turning south to our overnight stop at Marville northwest of Metz. Marville is a small town, and we eat together on the terrasse of the Auberge de Marville with our cars parked about us in the town square.

There followed a gentler day, travelling south through the Forest of Verdun before turning east to cross the Moselle at Pont-au-Mousson and continuing cross country for an early arrival at our Hotel Europe in the historic and picturesque town of Saverne on the Marne/ Rhone canal northwest of Strasbourg.

Then we are finally on our way to Colmar, first along the canal to the Plan Incline de Saint-Louis-Arzvillers, a modern marvel of canal engineering where the barges are lifted through a height of 45m. We are most impressed. We then head for the glorious scenery and mountain roads of the Vosges mountains. There are plenty of stopping places and look out points along the way, Rocher de Dabo, Cascade du Nideck, the Neuntelstein, and the village of Le Hohwald. We drive quickly past most of them before descending then ascending for an afternoon visit to the Haut-Koenigsbourg, a restored 12th century castle overlooking the Rhine valley. From there it is a short run to our home for the next 3 nights, the Grand Hôtel Bristol, in the centre of Colmar.

We unload our bags and bits and, at 5.30pm we assemble our 20 Giuliettas and Giulias in the central Parc du Champs de Mars, joined by the beautiful red SS of our local contact, Serge Piazzon, and a few more old Alfas. We are warmly welcomed by the Mayor of Colmar, Mr Éric Straumann, and his First Deputy, Mme Odile Uhlrich-Mallet. Giulietta Register Club Chairman, Duncan Ferns presents Éric and Odile each with a bottle of fine English Nytimber King Charles III Coronation champagne in appreciation of the hospitality shown to us, in particular a most helpful parking arrangement in the new municipal car parking building just across from our hotel brokered by Serge.

Our first day in Colmar is rest and recreation and we do just that, some explore medieval Colmar and it’s Petit Venice canal area; some enjoy wine tasting and lunch in nearby, even more delightful Eguisheim, possibly the prettiest village in the Alsace, and some even visit the incomparable Schlumpf car museum in nearby Mulhouse.

So by day 6 we are rested and ready for a Grand Tour des Vosges, a circular tour from Colmar taking in the whole of the Route des Cretes from Ste-Marie-aux-Mines to Cernay. We’ve been here before in 2008, 2010 and 2014 but it’s still a spectacular and hugely enjoyable drive. There are numerous restaurants on route and famous viewing points at the Hohneck and the Grand Ballon, the highest mountain in the Vosges. Keen (or foolhardy) drivers amongst us extend the route and take in the Ballon d’Alsace to the east of Cernay before returning to Colmar under a threatening sky.

Next day we start our return journey in heavy rain, crossing the Vosges for one last time over the Col de la Schlucht to Gerardmer before heading west to cross the Mosel at Nomexy, south of Nancy. We   turn northwards to Chalons-en-Champagne and the excellent Hotel d’Angleterre. Our group’s last supper together at Restaurant Le Vulcano, started promisingly with delicious food and friendly service. However, our number eventually seem to overwhelm the kitchen and our al fresco dinner stretches on late into the night, but entente cordial prevails as we last few take one for the road and our leave in the rain.  A leisurely start and after 200 mostly motorway miles we are back on the train under the Channel to Folkestone.

This was a truly international group, with 42 members (including navigators) from USA, New Zealand, Germany, France, The Netherlands, and UK in 21 Giuliettas and Giulias. In France we drove around almost 1200 miles in eight day away. There were no breakdowns that required opening the boxes of spares we carry on these tours.  All in all, a successful and most enjoyable tour.