Strasbourg, The Black Forest and Alsace
- Amanda Harris
- Jun 13
- 6 min read
May 2025
One of the great joys of travelling in Europe by train is the seamless crossing of borders and that sense of being welcome to travel - for those of us fortunate to be legitimately able to do so... We were staying with dear friends on the German side of the Rhine from Strasbourg. Our first outing was to catch the sunset as we walked across the Passerelle Miriam; a foot and cycle bridge between France and Germany linking two of the most fought over regions through history. In my diary I wrote
This bridge which is not only practical but is also a beautiful web-like tensile structure rising like a sail over the majestic Rhine. There is no boundary here, no nationality rather a celebration of the connectedness of people. It is optimistic and a statement of joy. As I stood on its span I wanted to sing, while the cyclists whizzed past, weaving between evening strollers, lovers and dogs.
There are of course downsides, people being people, apparently it has created an easy getaway route for house burglers ...
I don't know this part of France and Germany so everywhere was new and intriguing. To begin with the Black Forest which I have known as a name for ever through the 'gateau' (we didn't eat any though we did have delicious brezeln, German pretzels, for breakfast). What we did do was stroll through the hilly, wooded landscape which opened up to well tended vineyards, houses with steep sloping roofs indicating snowy winters, and ornate churches with their distinctive wood-carved statuary. We also ate lots of strawberries, sold direct from from the fields. They were delicious. Coincidentally since returning home we been watching The Black Forest Murders mini series on BBC4 (German Spuren) and enjoying the landscape.
One evening my friend guided us around her large village of Kork and shared some of its stories. Such as a certain Herr Keifer who was a very successful vinegar distiller in the late nineteenth century but as an entrepreneur he was never satisfied. Spotting an opportunity with prohibition in The States, he began to have alcohol delivered to Kork by train, distilled it, in plain sight, in the vinegar factory and then exported it to America. It turned out to be an exceedingly lucrative business enabling him to build a very large house in Kork, employ a lot of staff and donate funds to the village and local good causes. Inevitably, the business was rumbled, he was made bankrupt and lost everything. However, he remained a bit of a local hero with a plaque on his factory and a monument in the cemetery.
The other story has a feel of the myth about it and is much much older. Kork became a centre for justice in the region and a court was held there annually to settle disputes. Many of these were about boundaries, in particular with neighbouring villages. This got to such an impasse that it was decided to release a blind bull into the forest and wherever he went that would mark the boundaries between Kork and the other villages. Its work done, so the story goes, it returned to the village square, impaled itself on a stick and so sacrificed itself for the good of the community - who no doubt came together for a night of feasting before finding something else to squabble about ...
Buhl Platz, Kork-Kehl
From the village we set off to visit the impressive French city of Strasbourg by tram - another recent innovation and new bridge. Strasbourg looks and feels like an extraordinary place where the medieval and modern coexist. As we only had a day, we focussed on the magnificent gothic cathedral and its museum as well as a bit of meandering and ice cream eating. Once again we encountered Vauban and his splendid Barrage, serving as weir, bridge and defensive structure. Nowadays you can walk along the top to get views of the very busy Petite France district but also inside where there are curious gatherings of statues contained like prisoners behind bars ... We then popped into the Protestant church of St Thomas where Mozart played on their Silberman organ in 1778 on one of his concert tours. He wrote to his father lamenting how few people had attended ... Today, of course, they would have flocked.
The Cathedral is huge and magnificent with so much to see. We have to return. Its towering spire is visible from afar. Our friend knows it well so she gave us insights that we would have missed without her. One of the most famous objects is the breathtaking, carved Astronomical Clock which was built in the Renaissance but with a nineteenth century mechanism. It is a work of art and technology with innumerable moving parts. What I enjoyed especially was a small stone carving of a man looking over a balcony nearby who is said to be the creator of the magnificent edifice. Then there was talk of a small stone dog nestling into the pulpit - the whimsy of a stonemason or the bishop of the time's much loved pet? The exterior of the Cathedral is covered in religious statuary, too much to take in at one time, but we were drawn to an arch which depicted the good and foolish virgins of the bible story. They had such character. The goodly maids glow with their righteousness. The foolish ones who were open to temptation giggle while their handsome tempter peruses a tasty apple and has a troupe of toads crawling up his back ... signs that he's not to be trusted, surely?
We then spent the afternoon in the superb Musée de l'Oeuvre Notre Dame where many of the original statues were housed and you could peruse them close to. We had chosen not to climb the cathedral spire but an amazing VR headset placed us at the top looking down its magnificent core - I felt so dizzy I thought I was about to fall down it!
On our final day we were asked if we'd like visit a humanist library in Alsace. Yes please. So we set off down the autoroute to Selestat, a beautiful town between Strasbourg and Basle in Switzerland which became the three centres for humanist learning in the region. Humanism was the main intellectual movement that grew out of the Renaissance in Italy and the re-discovery of ancient Greek texts of writers such as Plato and Aristotle.
After a delicious lunch at the Bon Piochet and much time delighting at the nesting storks, we visited the Bibliotheque Humaniste which is now a Unesco World Heritage Site for its magnificent collection of original fifteenth and sixteenth century books collected in the main by the remarkable Beatus Rhenanus. He was born in the town in 1547, the son of well to do butcher and the beneficiary of a really good education which at the time meant studying Latin. Since 2018 the library has been housed in a purpose built new building on the site of its previous home in the Corn Market. The original books are on view behind glass but are almost touchable for visitors and researchers. I was entranced and felt like I was a student again when I had studied 16th century French writers such as Montaigne and Rabelais who would have been so influenced by these texts. It is remarkable that the library has stayed intact through revolutions and so many deadly conflicts. I cannot do it justice here but do visit the website if you want to know more
And to add to the cultural riches we payed a flying visit to the Musée Unterlinden in Colmar which houses the extraordinary Issenheim Altar tableaux by Matthias Grünwald in around 1516.
It was commissioned by the monks of St Anthony who treated victims of plague and ergotism (poisoning by an ingredient in bread). From the initial graphic horror of the crucifixion scene it moves through several vast tableau to the ascension into heaven. Designed to give comfort to those acutely suffering.
It was so powerful and overwhelming that we needed some light relief. This was provided by wine tasting and a bit of purchasing in the wine central village of Ammerschwihr at the domaine of Maurice Schoech.
What a rich trip. We saw and learned so much. We received such wonderful hospitality and am now a huge fan of Alsatian wine. As we left it started to rain, so maybe time to go. We left Strasbourg at 8am, were in Paris by 10am, London by 1pm and home in our lovely cottage in Kernow by 8pm. It was seamless! Now I'm hungry for more ...
When we got home, there was an invite from an old friend of several decades ago to a pre-Flora Day gathering in Helston. Am delighted that this friend, Tim Koch, will be writing the next blog.
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