Most people back home don't realise how big France actually is. The long diagonal trip across the centre of France to Mulhouse was over one thousand kilometres. We did it with two long day drives.We crossed the heart of France which is dominated by the Massif Central, a huge geological uplift that dominates the middle of France. Its like a giant patch of barnacles that are actually extinct volcanos weathered away into long chains of mountains and hills. The western lowlands give way to fertile upland pastures, then forested hill and mountains and in places deeply incised gorges. The entire area is the mother of rivers. To name just a few that are born in the Massif are the Lot, Dordogne, Isle, Indre, Cher, Loire, Saône, Seine, Tarn, Ardèche, Allier, Aveyron, Charente, Vienne and the Creuse. The journey was cold and bleak but the scenery, even with an overcast sky, was breathtaking.
Our first night we spent in the former resort town of Vichy. Famed for its thermal baths, the French puppet government of Adolf Hitler, a former hangout of the preening and prancing rich and famous in the 50s & 60s and the namesake of a brand of French cosmetics. It fell into decline after the “beautiful people” found other haunts in the 80s & 90s. It has had a renaissance this century with much of its fading grandeur restored and expanded with the vast pedestrianisation of the city and reinventing itself as a centre of health and wellbeing. Basically it is still trading on people's vanity. We only stayed the night as we spent all our vanity last time we were here. We left humble and in the rain and skulked off on the second leg of out crossing.
Our route was to the northeast. The land slopes down from here across The Morvan region and into the vast lowlands of the Saône-Rhône valley system know as the Rhône Gap. This is a long and wide stretch of territory that lies between the Haut Alps to South and the southern end of the Vosges Mountains to the North. The Vosges are a hundred kilometre stretch of rugged mountains that defines the western extent of Alsace. We traveled along the Doubs river valley that forms most of the Rhône-Rhine Canal, past Charming Chalon sur Saône and Beautiful Besançon to Murky Mulhouse.
Mulhouse is one of those cities you either love or hate. It is the southernmost city of Alsace and has its fair share of photogenic architecture, cultural heritage and a few world class museums but it has never jelled for us. Just like its Swiss doppelgänger Basel which is so close to here it shares an airport. It was on the way back and we decided to give the place a second look – different season different attitude maybe. Nope, it just didn't happen. If you are an automobile or train freak this is your nirvana. But its not for us. We stayed two days and headed across the Rhine and back into Germany to the Black Forest Capital Freiburg.
Freiburg is chocolate box, Christmas market, medieval German Bliss. There is something about a Medieval City with Trams. Can't explain it but it makes me think of all the movies I love. They're in European cities, have great plots and trams. Amsterdam, Prague, Munich, Strasbourg, they all have trams. Yes Mulhouse has trams but the closest you'll get to a movie there is a Peugeot commercial. They're made there. Even on a bitterly cold Autumn day Freiburg is beautiful. It was eerie, walking around the weekly market that surrounds the Freiburger Münster with the cloud slowly creeping down the hillside behind the church and engulfing the forest. And it was All Hallows Eve. I half expected to see headless horseman riding around and witches come cackling out of the gloom. We had coffee and pastries at the warm and friendly Cafe Schmidt and rugged up with the supplied blankets at the outside tables of the Schwarzer Kater Bar for a beer and wine. We loved it here, even the cold and drizzling rain couldn't dampen out spirits. We would love to come back here for the Christmas Markets.
We bid farewell to Freiburg and drove back across the Rhine into France and our last week here. We headed back to Colmar as its one of the only place with a campground open in November apart from Strasbourg which will be the last stop before we return the van to Mannheim. Wow we can't believe its almost over.
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