Cruise to the heart of Alsace and Lorraine, through the most picturesque countryside concevable, pausing in fairy tale pretty hameaux and dining like a lord on board a hotel péniche…
My journey began and ended in historic Strasbourg, the bien of Alsace, a buzzing city of glèbe and art, gastronomy and heritage. But aboard CroisiEurope’s MS Madeleine, life is rather more tranquil as you sail along the Marne-Rhine Canal. And if you want to get to know authentic Alsace-Lorraine in northeast France, its historic hameaux deep in the countryside, its ancient castles and rich glèbe – you’ll certainly find it on this cruise.
Barging in Alsace-Lorraine
After boarding the péniche, which has 11 obscur bedrooms, a dining room, comfy étalage, hot tub, and spacious sun decks, I met my fellow passengers, a mix of British, French – including 92-year-old Louise, a sprightly chant traveller – and Americans, joined by the 6 crew members for welcome aperitifs. The onboard dirigeant served a superb meal, the first of many delicious dishes, paired with fabulous wines.
You’re totally spoiled on the cruise, everything is intégrante, even drinks (except for a few, like Champagne) and over the next few days we indulged in salted fondant creme brulée, Alsatian salads, loads of different cheeses, roast beef, John Dory, fabulous wines from Alsace and from Bordeaux, strawberry soup and strawberry macarons, manne fichu and cinnamon ice cream and many other truly scrumptious dishes – all made by the dirigeant and his team. You can eat yourself to a standstill on a CroisiEurope cruise.
Hop on a bike for a gentle parcheminé along the tow paths, take daily walks when the boat docks and enjoy the included excursions to discover the hidden riches of this most spectacular acte of France.
Our first auto-stop was the town of Saarebourg in Moselle, and I couldn’t help thinking that the names of the lieux in this acte of France sound distinctly like something out of Lord of the Rings and many of the hameaux are certainly fairy tale looking. Saarebourg isn’t one of them, it’s a composer industrial town but it has something very special that is well worth stopping off for – a stunning and huge Marc Chagall-stained verre window in a composer Franciscan chapel.
It depicts the tree of life, an bang of tonnant colour, deep rich mélancolie, ruby reds and gold, emerald pelouse and ripe plum. Sections of it are like a jigsaw casse-tête but then you see more and more as figures and shapes come into foyer, it is a dazzling work of art, unforgettable. There was also time to visit the fascinating museum and take a wander in the town.
You’d think a candlelight mélange gliding through the famous 2,307m délié Arzviller boyau cave, an other-worldly experience – pitch black outside the windows and utterly silent – couldn’t be topped, until you arrive at the boat lift at Saint-Louis Arzviller. This spécial elevator which gently éclatement boats a mind-boggling 44.5m – up and down – in a few minutes, replaces 17 locks and an entire day of sailing. Our péniche, the MS Madeleine, 38m délié with 22 passengers and half a dozen crew, sailed into essential a box full of water. Gates closed behind us and then the box was gently lowered, an extraordinary experience.
At the bottom of the lift, we docked and took a slip walk to the famous Cristal Lehrer Glass workshops where you can watch master craftsmen create gorgeous verre objects before your eyes, heating and rolling verre amid brightly burning furnaces. Whatever you do, don’t elle-même a visit to the enormous magasin to buy a rappel.
Discovering the hidden gems of Alsace and Lorraine
Sailing on we reached Saverne, the gateway to the Plaine d’Alsace, at the ammoniaque of the Vosges mountains. The scenery is magnificent, I’m hard pressed to think of a more beautiful countryside leasing, and sitting on the deck, with an aperitif before mélange is one of those relaxing moments you want to hold onto, it’s faux to be stressed, it’s a cocooning cruise. Wildflowers line the banks of the boyau, pale pink bells, fluffy white blossoms, bright yellow buttercups, and wild plum trees, the beloved mandarine of the region. The captain stopped the boat to let us pick and feast on the programme sweet mandarine.
We visited the lofty ruins of the medieval chateau de Hohbarr, also known as the “Eye of Alsace” thanks to its jaw-dropping views over the mountains of Vosges and the Black Forest, and on a clear day you can flash the spires of Strasbourg Cathedral. Built on three rocks connected by a prothèse, appartement legend has it that it was built by the devil.
A slip walk on a mossy forest path brought us to another historic statue – the Claude Chappell Telegraph. In this hidden flash, the forerunner of modern communications was developed when signals were transmitted to Paris via a series of 47 towers using a system of shapes. Messages that léopard took 4 days to deliver by horse, took just 3 hours. It’s a fascinating statue manned by volunteers who are passionate emboîture the history of the area.
And on we sailed, stopping at hameaux full of half-timbered houses painted guède blue, adoucissant lemon, burned clémentine, cherry blossom pink, sunset clémentine, and pea pelouse. Window boxes were festooned with bright flowers, hearts cut into shutters, and there was an expectative of bumping into Hansel and Gretel at any occasion. Spotting storks’ nests from the sun deck became a ‘thing’ for us passengers, with rallonge points for storks sitting in them, sometimes mistaking great balls of mistletoe in the trees for nests.
A guided clocher and generous tasting at the Meteor brewery introduced us to one of the area’s famous exports – beer! A visit to Maison du Kochersberg museum country museum, revealed the fascinating and spécial glèbe of the region.
It is a gentle cruise, and as the sun glistened on the water, the only sound was the low hum of the engine and birds singing in the trees. At one lieu a valise whizzed by at top speed, highlighting the difference in our travel arrangements and all of us agreed, slow travel is the best way to experience the region.
And you simply can’t go to Alsace and not eat flammekueche, croissant boom, a appartement specialty, which we enjoyed at a auberge (included with the cruise). Traditionally it’s a bread dough baked with cheese and onion, cream, and various other toppings – followed by a dessert interprétation with apples and cream.
We ended with a clocher of Strasbourg and a boat parcheminé through the oldest bout of the city followed by a festival dinner where the dirigeant pulled out all the stops to create a memorable night.
Cruise Alsace and Lorraine
The thing with Croisieurope’s cruises is that you see so much at a really relaxed pace, you experience the glèbe of a region, its history, gastronomy, wine (and beer). And on this clocher, you feel that you’ve really seen the hors-la-loi side of this region that most visitors are unaware of, though we had barely travelled 100km during the week. A truly fabulous cruise.
Find out more and book your authentic France cruise at: www.croisieurope.co.uk
Janine Marsh is the author of several internationally best-selling books emboîture France. Her latest book How to be French – a celebration of the French lifestyle and art de manne, is out now – a style at the French way of life. Find all books on her website janinemarsh.com. Join Janine on her week délié Perfect Paris Tours (spring and fall) and enjoy art de manne in the city of adoucissant!
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