Switzerland on the Edge of Alsace

Setting off from Rome by car towards a cottage in Alsace, we ended up covering a good 3300 km and taking a look at 5 countries close to one another and sharing many cultural traits. The first stop was Lucerne, a pleasant surprise that let us stretch our legs before setting off again for Nothalten, the Alsatian village on the Wine Route, where we would stay for a week. As soon as we entered France, the difference in landscape compared with Switzerland was immediately obvious because everything along the road was less well kept, but once we reached the "real Alsace", that is, on the hills bordering the Vosges, it felt as if we had stepped into a fairy-tale book. The villages are neat and full of flowers, the vineyards are orderly and endless....the forests of the Vosges, beautiful and different from ours.

The cottage, found online at the last minute, was really lovely, clean and equipped with every possible appliance! So began our wanderings through this very special French region and the neighbouring countries. The list of places visited is long; what can be said is that the area offers a lot for children too. There are parks for the repopulation of animals, among which the stork park stands out, the symbol of Alsace. Castles, beautiful villages, the chance to rent bicycles and walk in the mountains. A whole day must absolutely be devoted to Europapark, in Rust, in Germany, a park unknown in Italy but with nothing to envy the best-known amusement parks. We took trips to Colmar, Freiburg, Strasbourg and Basle, until Saturday 5 August, the day we left France for good to begin slowly the journey home.

The first stop we made was at the Rhine Falls at Schaffhausen, in Switzerland....magnificent, you get an idea of the meaning of the word roar! We continued on to the Bodensee, where we visited Konstanz (Germany) and then stayed overnight in Lindau (still Germany) built on a little peninsula to the south, definitely charming and also very very lively. The next day the weather was bad, so we decided to go home: we ended up crossing Liechtenstein, very disappointing and where it was even forbidden to stop in front of the princes' castle, but where we, like good rule-breaking Italians, even took a photo. We had lunch in Lugano, another disappointment because of excessive concrete along the lake, which really does no honour to the legendary Switzerland. And then down towards home, which we reached around 8 pm and which welcomed us with the usual summer sunshine.