Eguisheim

Eguisheim is built in rings. Instead of a main street, the Alsatian wine village wraps itself in circles around a central square where a castle once stood, so that every lane curves back on itself and the half-timbered houses lean together in an unbroken, colourful arc. The layout is a fossil of the Middle Ages: the settlement grew up around a fortress raised by the Dukes of Alsace in the 11th century, and the ramparts that enclosed it date back to 1257.

At the heart of the rings stands the Château Saint-Léon, an octagonal structure of a rather unusual plan, assembled between the 13th and 19th centuries. A neo-Romanesque chapel was added in 1888–1894 on the foundations of the old keep, honouring the village's most famous son: Bruno of Eguisheim, born here on 21 June 1002, who became Pope Leo IX. An octagonal fountain dedicated to him stands in the square. The Rue du Rempart, which follows the line of the vanished walls, is lined with timber-framed houses from the 16th to the 18th centuries. The parish church of Saints Peter and Paul, first built around 1220, keeps a tympanum of Christ in blessing and a 14th-century "opening Virgin", a statue of the Madonna and Child whose body unfolds like a shrine.

Above the village, on the slopes of the Vosges, rise the ruins of three towers, the Dagsbourg, the Wahlenbourg and the Weckmund, known together as the castle of Haut-Eguisheim; the Wahlenbourg is recorded as early as 1006 and the Weckmund was raised in the 13th century. Between village and towers lie vineyards, including two classified grand cru sites, Eichberg and Pfersigberg, on limestone soils. Eguisheim sits on the Alsace Wine Route, belongs to the association of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France, and in 2013 was voted the French public's favourite village. The village also keeps a small park for white storks.

Getting there

Eguisheim lies about 5.6 km southwest of Colmar, which has a railway station on the Strasbourg–Basel line. The nearest airport is EuroAirport Basel–Mulhouse–Freiburg (BSL), about 52 km away.