Paysage is the French word for “landscape.” But in French the word paysage often carries a broader meaning than the English word landscape typically does, as it can also describe a cultural or historic landscape, that is, a place shaped over millennia by the interaction of natural features and human activity.
For part of our trip we traveled along the “Alsace Wine Route,” a paysage shaped by plentiful small vineyards, nestled in valleys often running along the foothills of the Vosges Mountains, linking a chain of compact, centuries-old villages.
One thing I’ve learned since returning home is that in France governments at all levels—local, regional, and national—recognize that the paysage itself is a major economic asset and have developed a complex web of land use and farmland preservation policies (which I’ll make note of later) designed to protect and foster this asset.
Foremost in Alsace, of course, is a strong interest in maintaining a thriving and profitable wine-growing sector. But not far behind appears
to be an appreciation for tourists from around the world who specifically set out to visit and explore this scenic and historic part of
France.
I came across a fascinating travel journal by artist / writer George Wharton Hamilton, Alsace-Lorraine. Written in 1924, Hamilton explores life in this region still recovering from World War I. The book includes many beautiful illustrations by Hamilton. You can probably find a used copy online. To give you a flavor for his book, here’s a short excerpt about the landscape of castle ruins:
“The wooded heights grow into mountains all crested with ancient gray ruin of historic strongholds. . . . Cannon and powder brought the doom of the great strongholds so long deemed impregnable. The massive towers fell like ninepins under the blast, and many vanished into dust, leaving hardly a trace to mark the site now so exquisitely draped in ivy. Thus the whole region became what the tourist calls ‘picturesque.’“
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Paysage et château du Wineck à Katzenthal (Haut-Rhin, France). Photo by Gzen92.
Creative Commons Attribution-Share
Alike 4.0 International license.
Among the factors making up this wine country paysage are: small, well-preserved villages often centered on historic churches and municipal buildings (hôtel de ville). These villages are set close by vineyards or farmland. From what I saw, and later read, there is much less evidence of sprawling development cutting up this kind of productive land than you’d see in the United States.
Unique to the Alsatian paysage are the numerous centuries-old castle ruins—along with a few restored castles, such as the Château du Kœnigsbourg—that are set across the Vosges Mountains, overlooking villages and vineyards below.
One element that helps minimize sprawl is the presence of a well-used and -maintained passenger rail network. This network is actually one of the most important, though sometimes overlooked, reasons Alsace’s wine country paysage remains intact. Good rail service reduces the need for using one’s car and makes infill housing in towns and cities more attractive, in turn reducing sprawling development.
Fortunately Alsace has a favorable geography for rail, with a long north-south corridor with the Vosges Mountains on one side and the Rhine Valley on the other. Towns line up naturally along this corridor, making rail service efficient. In France, as in most of Europe, government policies promote rail service. Yes, there are highways in France, including in Alsace. But in France the balance between road and rail tilts more toward rail than it does in the United States.
Traveling through several of the small towns along the wine route, we could get a feel for their compact development pattern.
Above and right: Rounding a corner in the center of the village of Kintzheim,
by the intersection of Rue de la Liberté and Rue du Général De Gaulle. The beautiful
brown
sandstone Hôtel de Ville with its tower is on the right side of the street.
Use link for close-up view.
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Continuing
down the street in Kintzheim: a variety of building styles, but everything seems to fit.
Use
Google Street view
to walk around the center of town.
Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) in the village of Saint-Hippolyte.
City
Hall in Saint-Hippolyte is next door to the boulangerie. A good combination to have in the center of town! Plus nice road pavers.
Our lunch stop was in the more tourist-oriented, but also attractive, town of Ribeauvillé.
It’s a town that has a love for storks.
We spotted a pair lodging on a rooftop. Storks have apparently nested in Alsatian villages for generations, and towns often install and
maintain nesting platforms. They are viewed as symbols of good fortune, family, and regional identity.
Above:
Apparently a popular nesting spot for storks.
Below: Our group heads down Ribeauvillé’s main street.
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I
had to give this photo plenty of space so you can read this Test de Vue Alsacien (eye chart). Suffice it to say it focuses on wines, ending
with S’gilt, the Alsatian word for “Cheers.” I guess if you start drinking when looking at the top of the chart you’ll need the giant size
letters by the time you get to S’gilt!
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