3-4 August - Last day in Colmar, Chateau de Haute Koenigsbourg

For our last day in Colmar, we decided to head to a pool in the morning for a few laps. This time the pool was indoor, and despite the weather it was pleasantly cool. We had some issues with trying to swim laps - the French pool staff do not seem to have 'fast, 'medium' and 'slow' lanes marked, so it is a bit of a free-for-all. There is no knowledge of pool etiquette, so slow swimmers may wait at the end, then start off just as you are about to turn. We had the odd gentle collision trying to swim past people.

In the evening we sat down at a domaine's outlet and tried a few of their whites. The pinot gris was very clear, light and remarkably tasteless. Their chardonnay had more flavour but, like many of the Alsace whites, was rather sweeter than we prefer. For once in my life I sent back a corked wine, which they were initially dubious about and after tasting decided that it was indeed off.

Heading to Nancy in the morning, we managed another early start in an attempt to beat what was forecast to be the hottest day yet - 37 or 38C. Our first stop was the pretty little village of Riquewihr. This was yet another Alsation half-timbered village, but had its own flavour compared to Ribeauville just 10 minutes north.

Riquewihr - random decorative elements are an Alsace thing

Riquewihr

Two minutes north of Riquewihr was Hunawihr, where we stopped for a coffee. The cafe owner turned out to be particularly pleasant, and spent a few minutes talking about his lovely building, where he'd found original 15th century mud and straw packing between the floor joists when he chipped off the old plaster from the ceilings. He'd given us a tiny aniseed biscuit with our coffee - a petit anis. We stopped at the next decent village, Bergheim, to try to buy some, but had no luck.

Cafe at Hunawihr

Alsace grapes as far as you can see

The main port of call for the day was the Chateau of Haute Koenigsbourg. This was a fabulous castle dating again from the 12th century, kept in use for centuries, finally abandoned, but rebuilt by a German Kaiser in the late 1800s. It was set up as it might have been in the Middle Ages, so made for a very interesting couple of hours.

Chateau de Haute-Koenigsbourg

By 1:15pm we were back on our way east to Nancy. No nice places to lunch on the way, so we picnicked from our chilly-bag's contents and a loaf of bread. Amazingly, there was a brief period of rain, but not enough to make any difference to the temperature. It wasn't a long drive to Nancy, so we arrived a bit before reception opened at our cheap hotel. A wander around the neighbourhood and it was check-in time at 5pm. The reception was like an oven, with everybody using anything they could to fan themselves while waiting. The room was fiercely hot, but thankfully came with a fan, otherwise it would have been unbearable.

On our quick neighbourhood tour we'd found an interesting Vietnamese-French restaurant - Cook-ki. It did Vietnamese cooking lessons during the day, but in the evenings was a normal restaurant. We had a delicious meal, with pho and other dishes bringing back good memories of our Vietnam trips. With a couple of local bio craft beers, it was one of our best meals out.