 Alsace is like a narrow ribbon from the swiss border in the south up to the German border in the north of Strasbourg. Craddled by the Vosges mountains and the river Rhine.
Sheltered by the Vosges mountains, the province enjoys a semi-continental climate with hot summers and long warm autumns, ideal for market gardeners, wine growers and
visitors alike. Alsace is an improbably beautiful place, uncharacteristically neat and tidy, the stuff of which fairy tales are made : medieval towns and villages with higgledy-piggledy, half-timbered houses alight in summer with cascading geraniums and petunias ; south facing slopes neatly contoured with row upon row of vines; richly decorated wrought iron inn signs; great wooden doors from beneath which waft insistent, irresistible smells of onion tart, freshly baked bread, new wine, old barrels.
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There are three big towns in Alsace, the cultural, intellectual and financial center is Strasbourg, the industrial and business center is Mulhouse, the agricultural and wine center is Colmar.
The people of Alsace are a sort of crossroads where seriousness and gaiety meet, a, engaging combination of Germanic thouroughness and reliability with French "joie de vivre". |
