We ditched our van in Offenburg a few days ago and have been enjoying being car-free again and exploring this region by bike. We stayed first at a lovely upstairs apartment in a quiet village north of Offenburg - a nice balcony and great views from both sides. The owners are a very nice German couple who have lived in North Carolina.
We needed to rest a few days so we got a camping cabin near Eguisheim to catch up on sleep, correspondence, planning, posts, laundry, and organizing. And to eat some high-veg home cooking for a change. Eguisheim is a small ancient wine village built in several concentric circles as the town grew with interesting narrow alleys and lots of public fountains. Nearly all the towns in Alsace end in "heim" - somebody's home showing the strong German heritage. During our stay we enjoyed lots of festivals, wine tastings, vineyard rides to other wine villages and riding into Colmar for lunch.
We took a side trip to ride on the Marne Au Rhin Canal and see the amazing Arzviller Incline Lock. This amazing engineering feat that lifts an entire section of canal with sometimes 3 or more boats up 45 meters was constructed in 1964-1968. The Marne Au Rhin connects Paris to Alsace Lorraine, the Rhine, and Germany. The 313 km (194 mi) long canal was the longest in France when it opened in 1853.
The hardest part of posting about our idyllic, too short, two night stay in Annecy is picking the photos! We stumbled on Annecy quite by accident just picking what looked like a nice place on the map (how did we ever travel before Google?) and booking what looked like a good bikable location at the apartment hotel Villa due Port. Then later Willy and Gert and their friends Yvonne and Pieke told us Annecy was a wonderful place and we should try to stay longer, so we booked a second night - we were lucky to get the same hotel but had to move to a different room - and they had no more rooms
This post is taking some time to write, because it has been so special and had such a profound impact on us. Since 2001 we have been hearing from our dear Dutch friends Willy and Gert Rietveld about their special place and it's been one of our life-goals to see and experience it for ourselves. We met Willy and Gert in 1981 in the Maldives - off the coast of India when we were on a winding path back to the US after 3 years working in Munich. Both Willy and Gert were long-term KLM professionals as purser and pilot so they've always been able to travel everywhere and have taken full advantag
After Saintes Maries, we landed in Lacoste more by accident than design. We wanted to escape the heat by getting up in the mountains and didn't have a lot of time to research options. I remembered the name Lacoste because Maggie LaCoste (who publishes the great website https://experiencefrancebybike.com/ ) mentioned it so the name was stuck in my mind. Then I found a pleasant looking airbnb cottage with a great pool, so that cinched the deal.
We spent 5 days in Saintes Maries de la Mer in the Camargue - the Rhone delta where the great river reaches the Mediterranean. It's a land with a kind of stark, desolate beauty. Once the tourists left around midnight Sunday night it reverted from "Beach Party Central" to a quiet historic village.
Imagine stepping into and totally immersing yourself in the world of Van Gogh. La Nuit Etoilee Carrieres de Lumieres was just that.
On Monday the weather was much cooler. We rode into town looking for the market but it turned out it was Tuesday, not Monday as the Tourist office said so we went to Intermarche and back for breakfast and then headed out for our ride. We planned on about a 40 km loop ride - the only ride recommended by the tourism office that did not require fat tires - with a ferry across the Petite Rhone near the beginning. The crushing weight of the heat combined with the overwhelming crowds was lifted and it was a beautiful day to be out riding.
On Sunday we packed up and headed for the Camargue (Rhone Delta) home of sun, beaches, white horses, bulls and crazy bull games. We were bound for Les Saintes Maries De La Mer and didn't want to arrive too much before check in time, so we stopped off at the ancient walled city of Aigues Mortes. The name means Dead Waters - it's in the middle of a huge desolate salt marsh. Like Sommories a walled city and of course HOT!
