Colmar 2: Poor man’s Bruges, a great night out, you call that a market?

We have been in Colmar since Sunday afternoon. We were excited to go for a walk in the old town Monday. The area is inside where ramparts were built around the city many centuries ago for protection. It has many pretty buildings, plazas and even canals that have caused it to be labeled Little Venice. Also, a lot of tourists. For the above reason I compare Colmar old town to Bruges old town.

One of the most striking buildings in old town is The House of Heads. This 17th century one time bourgeois residence is notable for being decorated with 105 grotesque masks.

Below is pictured the Saint-Martin Collegiate Church, construction begun in 1235 and completed in the late 14th century. Itis supposedly exquisite from the inside, but we were there at the wrong time for that.

There are also differences between Colmar and Bruges. The streets in Colmar were decidedly less crowded than Bruges and there was no worry of being trampled by horse drawn carriages. Colmar has far fewer food shops, and seemingly far fewer drinking and eating establishments.  In general, the energy in Colmar lacked. As far as we have discerned, the trends of lack of energy and bars, restaurants, cafes seem to have extended outside the confines of old town Colmar. Our apartment is less than a mile from the old town, and though we have walked several different routes there, it appears there is a dearth of cafes, bars, restaurants, shops and medium size grocery stores. The most common type of shop I have seen is “coiffures”, women’s hair stylists.

Coffee shops are rare here. We found one about half a mile away and decided to try it out Tuesday morning. Furstross, like other cafes we have seen is primarily a Boulangerie, bread store. It did have tables and chairs though. The drinks were fine, the atmosphere was lacking. During the time we spent there the only other coffee customers were two elderly men (look who’s talking) who buried their noses in the newspaper, not quite the atmosphere we were looking for.

Last night our host, Amar, invited us to the home of Myriam, his partner, for wine and snacks. Myriam’s sister Evelyn also attended. We drank two bottles of very good Alsatian sparkling wine, Cremant, while Amar drank beer. All three of our host/hostesses speak passable English so we were able to have a lively multi-faceted conversation. Amar took the picture so you do not get to see him.

This morning we were walking back to old town for the Farmer’s Market when we stopped at the best free library I have experienced. It has more books, some even in English, and a Louis Lamour novel, set into a 45×15 foot plot of wild gardening full of interesting objects.

Alas that was the highlight of our Farmer’s Market trip. About 20 vendors was the extent of the market. Only 3 had produce and it was overpriced, as was the cheese, charcuterie and epicurie booths for vendors. We bought nothing but got about three miles of walking.

Tomorrow we up the ante with a train trip to Salzburg. Strasbourg Cathedral, constructed of pink sandstone from nearby Vosges mountains is the symbol of the city.  It took nearly 3 centuries of work to complete. I am sure there will be plenty more to see it this reportedly beautiful city. The following day we take the kutzig bus through a number of small Alsatian towns. The trip lasts all day and we get to decide when to get off and how long to stay. The buses cycle through 6 towns once they leave Colmar. It appears in each of the cities every 90 minutes.

Here are a few more photos of interesting old Colmar buildings.