Ribeauville located close to the Alps in North France in the region Alsace, is an amazing little village amongst green grassy hills with beautiful nature. We were stunned by its charm and beauty! Some say; ‘Alsace is a party.. . ‘ and when you visit Ribeauvillé, you understand the full meaning of the sentence. Here the ancient walls, the streets, the old houses and their wood beams are always decorated just waiting for the first note of music:
Ribeauvillé has a long history first mentioned under “Ratbaldovillare” in an official document circa 768 AD. It meant “Villa of Ratbold”, in old German “Ratbold” signified “the boldest man of the counsel”. Property of the Dukes of Alsace, the Counts of Eguisheim, the Emperor of Germany and the Bishop of Basel, it was the Counts of Ribeaupierre who were the last lords of the town before the French revolution.
We visited this charming city as part of our trip by car – together with TorAa and Anna – from the adventurous Blog Gathering at Claudie and Pierre in Ollioules, South France (see links to my posts from the gathering at the end of this post!).
Ribeauvillé is an improbably beautiful village, uncharacteristically neat and tidy, the stuff of which fairy tales are made: higgledy-piggledy, half-timbered houses alight in summer with cascading geraniums and petunias; richly decorated wrought iron inn signs; great wooden doors from beneath which waft insistent, irresistible smells of onion tart, freshly baked bread, new wine and old barrels. No wonder, I went crazy with the camera (my Nikon Coolpix). Click to see all the photos in details at my Flickr account:
My regular readers know I consider food and wine an important part of exploring a region’s culture. Here is our splendid dinner at the Hotel au Lion:
Main course: Cog au vin d´Alsace et spaetzle and of course; wine de la castle!
Left, starter: Escargots “Maison” – Right, dessert: Münsterkäse
This will be the last post from our adventurous trip through Europe after the loveliest Blog Gathering at the charming hosts Claudie and Pierre in Provence. To me it has been wonderful to recall and memories these special experience and share them with you. Hope you have enjoyed it too and here are links to the previous posts:
1: Building friendships at Blog Gathering in South France
2: Blog Gathering at Ollioules in Provence France
3: Blog Gathering in Provence France visits Le Castelle
4: Norwegians visiting Montreux by Lake Geneva in Switzerland
The chicken in wine sounds good, and I love spaetzle, but I don’t know if I’m adventurous enough to try snails or not, lol. that dessert looks yummy too!
Happy weekend, Renny! :-)
Love and hugs,
Diane
Yep, like in a fairytale for sure. Very charmy indeed. Hubby would have loved the Escargots!!!!
And you know, I absolutely am stunned by the beauty of this village and this is definitely my 2nd most favorite place to Montreux. As you said, the food and the village is so beautiful! I am a bit mad that I did not try to visit here more often while I was living in this region. My last big visit was in 2002 and really I don’t recall enough, just that it rained a ton!
Great pics, for sure going to look again on flickr. :) This is the charm I’ve fallen in love with!
What a charming little place indeed. You are right it’s neat as a pin. Love all the colors.
Thanks for all the great food too. Now I’m hungry. I love escargot very much. That and French bread can make a meal.
Thanks for sharing your adventures with the rest of us. We enjoy going along too.
Have a terrific day. Big hug to you and Diane. :)
Wow…you went everywhere !
Hmmm… makes me hungry too !
Nice! A place rich in history and charm. Not to mention the food looks great too!
The place seems to bot be clean, interesting and have good food – in other words: well worth visiting!
This is another wonderful post. it looks like a wonderful spot for a vacation and as for the food well let’s just say I had to go heat up my left over lasagna!
But, I would love a piece of that cake. Oh my it loooks delicious!!
Renny you scared me when you made that comment about MBL and BC. I thought I was a member and that I had favored you.
So I rushed right over to make sure and I I am a member and I had favored you but not left a review. I left one now!!
I honestly thought I had reviewed before. I also signed up for your feed. But, I am the world’s worst with it. I never read via my reader.
I watch my blog roll and when a new post pops up on my roll I try my best to head over.
Sandee is next in line. she just popped up as having a new post.
As for this week I have been behind on everything due to technical issues with my blog and my modems.
Oh my I have written a small book here. But, it’s such a wonderful post!! I don;t ave any cake but I do have some M&M’S.
I hope you have a great evening Renny…thanks for sharing this with all of us!!
We like wines from Alsace!
Dear friend, this is a great post from a very special and charming region, rich of history, as it is in the Midlle of several old cultures. Situated between the Vosges and Black Forest Mountains, the Climate is very good and it has been called Jardin d’Europe or Europes Garden for Centuries.
I remember very well our walking, and wining and dining in very charming Ribeauville. In fact, it was you that proposed to stay there, because you were charmed by the name of the Village. Remember? (Even a hour before we arrived to Alsace. You have the nose for it;-)
That was only fair, as we descided the first stop after our memorable blogger meeting: Aix-les-Bain.
You know, I have a short brake in my postings from our Vacation due to our trip to our wonderful Dutch Friends this Weekend. Hugs to both of you from Marjolein and Wim.
I have posts for several weeks to come.
My best French friend here in Ottawa is from Alsace and told me about the food, the cute cities there so many times. It is very different from Brittany, where I grew up, but lovely!
Still eating well I see ;-)
What a beautiful place, Renny. I just love the window boxes and hanging baskets filled with colour. It looks so cheerful and welcoming. What a lovely time you’ve had.
“improbably beautiful village” ……This is very luring description. Want to see it myself some day, the fairy tale like place. Thanks for sharing. : )
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Travel through the eyes of a local
Love the beautiful architecture of the buildings in this city! It would be a lovely plcae for me to explore.
The food looks delicious and I have not heard of that dessert. What does it tastes like?
RennyBA
It was delicious and the dessert was kind of an ice cake (vanilla) with a taste of nuts.
Cool pictures Renny! What a charming, fairy tale-like place. The food looks good too. Check out my recent holiday pictures on my blog and Flickr to enlarge them. :-)
what a lovely place! my friend was named alsace after the place.
and, wow, renny, look at all the food! <3
My maternal grandfather was from Alsace and I always wished I could visit the area, but so far I have not, so it was nice to read your post. My grand-dad liked the vin blanc d’Alsace, too. Your meal looks delicious
I love Alsace! It’s one the most beautiful regions of France and the wines and the Alsacian food are awsome! Did you try the flammekuche? It’s delicious!
What a chaming beautiful town that is…I can see why your camera was snapping away. So colorful and Happy looking—Beautiful colors everywhere and YUMMY YUMMY Food! I wish I had been with you all….What a GREAT Trip you have had, my dear.
It sounds like the trip of a lifetime to me, Renny. Now you can settle in for the long winter’s nap. HA!
I really hope we can go back sometime. That village was just so charming, and the local food was fantastic.
it look tasty, sir . but is it a donut ? look like donut to me :)
you’re right. it’s really like fairy tales.
but i’m sorry… i didn’t find the food appetizing
What a pictureseque town. Renny your and the food on it just make me hungry
The meal looks good but the dessert looks divine! I never lost my sweet tooth even though I’m diabetic! It’s a curse!!!
You guys are so lucky to travel and see new places! You don’t have to go far to be in a new place. Our land is too large for that.
Such lovely structures. I’m glad you had a nice time. The food looks good.
I love Alsace! It’s one the most beautiful regions of France and the wines and the Alsacian food are awsome! Did you try the flammekuche? It’s delicious!
Such lovely place this is very much appreciate me.
Alsace was the more German province and Lorraine was along for the ride during WWI. The problem you face is that they don’t have a single archives for records, every province has separate “departements” like Vosges and Meuse or Meurthe-et-Moiselle. They are like counties in the US and they keep their own records in their own archives.