Alsace vibes: Strasbourg & Colmar

Have you ever heard about Strasbourg? It is a city located in Alsace, France. It's pretty close to German so you can see a lot of German influences throughout the city. Not to mention, a stunning Cathedral in the middle of the city who successfully steal the attention of both tourists and locals.

We So I visited Strasbourg for 4 days (3 nights). I booked the ticket & hotel quite late because at that time we didn't know when my partner would have his day offs. So it was in Spring 2018 and I found an aparthotel near the city center. We stayed in City Residence Strasbourg Center, on booking.com and you can have 15€ discount if you use this code. 

We arrived in the morning with a TGV (French fastest train), really early, I could say. And it was rainy. Just one quick note for everyone, rainy morning in Strasbourg means (at least for me) doing nothing for hours. Strasbourg is a beautiful city where most places are reachable by walking. We spent around 3 hours and a half just finishing our coffee and eating croissant in Café Broglié. Just an honest review, it was nothing special. Just a place we've found directly when we got off from the tram.

​Got into the hotel and the first thing we did just after was strolling around the city. It went crowded quickly just after the rain stopped. Tourists are everywhere, I'm quite impressed because I thought Strasbourg was more of a calm, student-ish city. To see a group of tourists, was not on my list. I have to agree that Strasbourg was charming though.

Lunch time, we decided to went to a restaurant with Alsace cuisine specialty. Food from Alsace, just like I've mentioned, had a lot of influence from German. And of course the main dish that we were aiming to eat was...  choucroute. Choucroute is actually a pile of choux or cabbages, with a lot of charcuterie... Doesn't seem so healthy, but trust me, neither do the rest of the foods there! And also a lot of beers (oh I'm not joking when I said there's a huge German influence here).

We kept strolling for the next day and trying to enjoy Strasbourg a lot more. It was sunny, and people went out. We went to see the river and admiring the typical Alsacean architechture. Until the next day we went to what I could say the cutest city in France, Colmar.
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We went to Colmar by train. Maybe around 30 minutes from Strasbourg and cost us around 15-20€, which I found correct for this trip. When we arrived, the walking distance from the train station to the city center was about 10-15 minutes (and yes that's including taking pictures on our way). It was... stunning! It's a little town with a lot of small bistros & pubs in the small alleys. Quite romantic, I could say. Local people say it's a little Venice!

You can take the small boat to do a sight seeing of the town but to be honest, the town is really small and you can enjoy it even by walking. The buildings were just terrific. Full of different colors and flowers were blooming in every corner of the city. I would definitely recommends people to go here in the end of spring / beginning of summer so they can make the best of this beautiful city. 

In the terms of foods... It's still the same taste like in Strasbourg, typical Alsacean dish with charcuteries and sausages. I even bought a salad, where the sausages stood out than the greens. I admit that I craved a lot of vegetables here because all restaurants in Strasbourg & Colmar were offering either Choucroute or Flammekueche, pizza-like dish. We sat at Le Stam for a while and enjoyed the sun on our skin.
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After the day ends, we went back by train for Strasbourg and rest for a while. We did go out to find some beers (you will be surprised with the choices you can have in the pubs!). 

The next day we took the train to go back. We almost lose our temper because our train just got cancelled, they did it a lot at this time just because people go on strike. But luckily we got home safely.

It was a quick long weekend that we had for a getaway. It is a nice place if you want to discover lest touristy place of France and not too far from Paris. Until next time!