Alsace is also the main beer-producing region of France, thanks primarily to breweries in and near Strasbourg. Alsace is also well known for its foie gras made in the region since the 17th century. A gastronomic symbol of the région is the Choucroute, a local variety of Sauerkraut. The festivities of the year's end involve the production of a great variety of biscuits and small cakes called bredela as well as pain d'épices (gingerbread cakes) which are baked around Christmas time. In recent times, villagers started to paint the rendering white in accordance with Beaux-Arts movements. The traditional habitat of the Alsatian lowland, like in other regions of Germany and Northern Europe, consists of houses constructed with walls in timber framing and cob and roofing in flat tiles.
- The region was originally populated by Celtic tribes who founded Argentorate (now Strasbourg) towards the end of the 3rd century BC.
- However, because of its concentration in wine-growing, tobacco, hop, hemp and sauerkraut cabbage production, agriculture in Alsace is reputed to be high-value-added.
- The constitution of the Fifth Republic states that French alone is the official language of the Republic.
- The traditional habitat of the Alsatian lowland, like in other regions of Germany and Northern Europe, consists of houses constructed with walls in timber framing and cob and roofing in flat tiles.
- Thus, a proportion of the HGVs travelling from north Germany to Switzerland or southern Alsace bypasses the A5 on the Alsace-Baden-Württemberg border and uses the untolled French A35 instead.
- Since the 17th century, the region has passed between German and French control numerous times, resulting in a cultural blend.
In spite of consecutive wars between Germany and France, which have severely affected Alsace, the region has been able to protect its rich heritage of churches and castles. The hilly region is covered with pine, beech and oak woods, orchards, pastures, fields and ponds filled with carp, dotted with a multitude of wealthy villages. Located between the Plain of Alsace, the Rhine River, the Vosges and the Jura mountains, the Sundgau region has its own distinctive geographic character. These villages are gems of the wine country and often comprise old medieval ramparts, winding alleyways that bloom with magnificent geraniums, winstubs, half-timbered houses and medieval churches. The position of Alsace within the Holy Roman Empire at the time of the Reformation further complicated the fragile political balance in the Upper Rhine region.
La Dolce Vita sur la Petite Venise à Colmar…
Alsatian does not have official status in France and can only be offered as an optional language at school. Locally known as Elsässisch, it is an Alemannic dialect, part of the High German language. The Alsatian dialect is estimated to be spoken by a population of 400,000 to 700,000.
Sundgau
However, the abandoned Maurice-Lemaire tunnel towards Saint-Dié-des-Vosges was rebuilt as a toll road. Thus, a proportion of the HGVs travelling from north Germany to Switzerland or southern Alsace bypasses the A5 on the Alsace-Baden-Württemberg border and uses the untolled French A35 instead. At that time, the French trunk road left of the Rhine not been built, so that traffic would cross into Germany to use the Karlsruhe-Basel Autobahn.
- During the Lutheran Reform, the towns of Alsace were the first to adopt the German language as their official language instead of Latin.
- A string of picturesque villages, well-known wine-producing towns and exceptional landscapes await you, for a delicious getaway.
- French is the most commonly spoken language in Alsace nowadays.
- The bird practically disappeared around 1970, but re-population efforts are continuing.
- The Alsace region covers an area of 8,280 km2 (190 km long by 50 km wide), which represents 1.5% of the total area of France.
The touristic itinerary Route Romane d’Alsace (Romanesque Road of Alsace) links the region’s best examples of Romanesque architecture in Alsace. Like the rest of France, only the spire of the parish church signals the presence of colourful and elegant villages between two hills. At each mountainside, the road travels along bucolic countrysides, opening up views of mountain passes, rounded mountains, lakes, rocks, pastures and forests of majestic pines.
Wine Sold Under Bond
Long a center of the German-speaking world, after the end of the Thirty Years' War, southern Alsace was annexed by France in 1648, with most of the remainder conquered later in the century. For more than 300 years, from the Thirty Years' War to World War II, the political status of Alsace was heavily contested between France and various German states in wars and diplomatic conferences. On 1 January 2021, the departments of Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin merged into the new European Collectivity of Alsace but remained part of the region Grand Est. Territorial reform passed by the French Parliament in 2014 resulted in the merger of the Alsace administrative region with Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine to form Grand Est. Until 1871, Alsace included the area now known as the Territoire de Belfort, which formed its southernmost part.
Others ventured to Canada to settle in southwestern Ontario, notably Waterloo County. The German language remained in use in local administration, in schools, and at the (Lutheran) University of Strasbourg, which continued to draw students from other German-speaking lands. On the other hand, Mömpelgard (Montbéliard) to the southwest of Alsace, belonging to the Counts of Württemberg since 1397, remained a Protestant enclave in France until 1793. A stop on the Paris-Vienna-Orient trade route, as well as a port on the Rhine route linking southern Germany and Switzerland to the Netherlands, England and Scandinavia, it became the political and economic center of the region. Part of the province of Germania Superior in the Roman Empire, the area went on to become a diffuse border region between the French and the German cultures and languages.
As an administrative entity, it encompassed the départements of Haut-Rhin (“Upper Rhine”) and Bas-Rhin (“Lower Rhine”) and was bounded by the régions of Lorraine to the west and Franche-Comté to the southwest. A string of picturesque villages, well-known wine-producing towns and exceptional landscapes await you, for a delicious getaway. The line plans to link up the interchange of Hœrdt to the north of Strasbourg, with Innenheim in the southwest. At present, plans are being considered for building a new dual carriageway west of Strasbourg, which would reduce the buildup of traffic in that area by picking up north and southbound vehicles and getting rid of the buildup outside Strasbourg. The A4 toll road (towards Paris) begins 20 km (12 mi) northwest of Strasbourg and the A36 toll road towards Lyon, begins 10 km (6.2 mi) west from Mulhouse.
Experience ecotourism in alsace
Between 100,000 and 130,000 Alsatians (of a total population of about a million and a half) chose to remain French citizens and leave Reichsland Elsaß–Lothringen, many of them resettling in French Algeria as Pieds-Noirs. France ceded more than 90% of Alsace and one-fourth of Lorraine, as stipulated in the treaty of Frankfurt; Belfort, the largest Alsatian town south of Mulhouse, remained French. Antisemitic local riots occasionally occurred, especially during the Revolution of 1848. However, local antisemitism also increased and Napoleon turned hostile in 1806, imposing a one-year moratorium on all debts owed to Jews.
According to a 2022 study, 46% of the population of Alsace still describe themselves as dialect-speakers. While 39% of the adult population of Alsace slotrize casino no deposit bonus speak the dialect, only one in four children speak it, and only one in ten children uses it regularly. However, visitors to Alsace can see indications of renewed political and cultural interest in the language – in Alsatian signs appearing on hoardings and in car windows, as well as in new official bilingual street signs in Strasbourg and Mulhouse.
Many Alsatians campaigned to obtain some recognition of their local status concerning local administration and dialect. In the prosperous city of Strasbourg, the bourgeoisie took over the local authority of the bishop. In addition to these three dynasties, the region was divided into many territories meshed with each other, operating under the authority of little lords, laymen or clergymen. In 58 BC, Julius Caesar’s troops conquered the region and brought with them the Roman culture, built roads and imported vines.
Alsace is a prosperous region, ranking third in France after Ile-de-France and Rhône-Alpes. Alsace is the first export region of France based on the export value per inhabitant. Taking the shape of a crescent, this “blue banana” is a continuous corridor of urbanisation with a population of 110 million, which adds up to three-quarters of the EU’s purchasing power. The Upper Rhine region, of which Alsace is part, is located at the heart of the European Megalopolis, which stretches from Liverpool to Geneva. Until the 1st January 2016, when it was integrated into the Grand-Est region, Alsace was the smallest region of metropolitan France. White storks are one of the region’s most beloved symbols, and for many centuries, they return every year from Africa to announce the coming of spring in France.
At about this time, the surrounding areas experienced recurring fragmentation and reincorporations among a number of feudal secular and ecclesiastical lordships, a common process in the Holy Roman Empire. The Alemanni were agricultural people, and their Germanic language formed the basis of modern-day dialects spoken along the Upper Rhine (Alsatian, Alemannian, Swabian, Swiss). From the time of Augustus to the early fifth century AD, the area of Alsace was incorporated into the Roman province of Germania Superior. In 58 BC, after negotiations with Ariovistus failed, Julius Caesar routed the Suebi at the foot of the Vosges near what became Cernay in southern Alsace. The culture was characterized by "timber longhouse settlements and incised pottery … favoring floodplain edge situations for their permanent villages … and small clearings in the forest" for their crops and animals." By 4000 BC, farming arrived in the form of Linear Pottery culture in the region from the Danube and the Hungarian plain.
The area was conquered by the Roman legions of Julius Caesar in the 1st century bce and had been profoundly Romanized by the time of the invasion of the Alemanni in the 5th century ce. A network of motorways traverses Alsace, and a regional airport is located in Strasbourg. Textile manufacturing, based in and around Mulhouse, is one of the region’s oldest industries, though now it has little importance. Parts of the alluvial plain of Alsace (e.g., west of Strasbourg) are devoted to cereals, but industrial crops are also widely cultivated and include sugar beets, hops, and tobacco.
Hotels in Alsace
As in previous times, these castles still seem to dominate the Alsace Plain even today, watching over the Vosges valleys, communication channels and sometimes the abbeys. Even if they are for the most part in ruins, their silhouettes, perched at the top of the Vosges Mountains, have been a part of the countryside for centuries, thus defying time. More than 500 are situated here, mostly distributed from north to south, in the foothills of the Vosges. Alsace is one of the regions of France that has retained the most medieval castles.