Riquewihr, 2023: 2

 Continuing our visit to Riquewihr...

Ever more floral up-cycling

A cul-de-sac in the former ghetto (pogroms in the
14th and 15th centuries)

Now a museum

Of interest manly because in the upper right you can see houses
and such built right into the city wall

Ever-popular European torture museum

13th century wall

Another tower/portal

Avec portcullis

Interesting ancient signage above a house with a--click to enlarge--
danse macabre representation; a couple weeks later we'd see a major
danse macabre in a parish church in Burgundy; stay tuned

Beautiful half-timbereds all over

Further confirmation...

Love what they do with the vines

Still processing this one, although we're pretty
sure part of it is Renaissance

More storks

Another street scene, with the little Hotel de Ville at the end

Medieval torture instruments?

The touristy crap is there, if not very conspicuous

Loaded pretzels (loaded with ham and cheese)

And others, differently loaded; and the ever-popular kugelhop cake

Riquewihr, 2023: 1

We visited Riquewihr in 2011, enjoyed it thoroughly, and were sure to include it in our little tour of the Alsace this year. Of the several les plus beaux villages de France we have visited in Alsace, it is still our favorite, and deserves two posts. Again, it is old, dating back to the 1200s at least, it is deep in wine country, and fortunately survived both World Wars fairly intact.

Helpful map; you can see where the walls were...

Helpful map if you're arriving from the 16th century

Mostly small producers, as I understand it, with a few larger
negociants, like Dopff and Irion, who blend and market more widely

Vicki at Dopff and Irion, degustating, in 2011

And again, in 2023

Lots of buildings of this vintage

Small court near the former chateau

Altar of Liberty, 1790

Dates on this building are 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries; the
communal forge in 1606; now, another confirmation of my theory
that in time everything becomes a restaurant

Package deals

Even in Alsace, one does not live by wine alone

Floral up-cycling

Street scene, main drag

Definitely weinstub country

Roofing and sundial

Kosher wine?

Interesting carving on many of the half-timbered types;
this guy maybe a carpenter?

Tower/portal at one end of the village

We're close enough to Deutschland for there to be a Kathe Wohlfahrt
outpost

More floral up-cycling 

Hunawihr

Next up was the village of Hunawihr, located in a sea of Riesling and Gewurztraminer vines, reknowned mostly for its fortified Medieval church and its views of the three ruined feudal castles above Ribeauville. Hunawihr is named for St. Huna, who died in 629, wife of the Lord Hunon. She was really nice to the sick, the poor, et al., and got canonized by local boy Pope Leon a millennium or so later. The importance of this will become apparent when we visit Eguisheim. Anyhow, after visiting Hunawihr we spent the next couple nights at the campground near old friend Riquewihr.

Hunawihr street scene

We theorize these trough were not always troughs

Valley view

Three ruins above Ribeauville

Approaching the fortified church

Helpful plan; Hunawihr's church is notable too in servicing both

Catholic and Protestant congregations, since the 17th, when Louis XIV

"liberated" Alsace from the Protestants; not always amicably

Tower/keep

Foundations from the 10th century, mostly later Medieval

Within the walls...the town cemetery

Note slits for cross-bows, muskets...

A little landscaping too

A much-simplified astronomical clock, only does
months (for retirees?)

Sea of vines

Note bunches of grapes on clock hands...interestingly,
all the church towers we've seen in France have clocks
that actually work

Hunawihr and environs from the church

Theft-proof mailbox

Dragon downspout...not available from Home Depot