It borders Germany on the north and the east, Switzerland and Franche-Comté on the south and Lorraine on the west. German is also taught as a foreign language in local kindergartens and schools. Alsatian is taught in schools (but is not mandatory) as one of the regional languages of France.
- The touristic itinerary Route Romane d’Alsace (Romanesque Road of Alsace) links the region’s best examples of Romanesque architecture in Alsace.
- They maintained their own customs, Yiddish language, and historic traditions within the tightly knit ghettos; they adhered to Jewish law.
- This tragic wartime episode gave them the name “les Malgré-Nous” (“in spite of our will”).
- The friendly white storks, the iconic emblem of Alsace, are found in large numbers throughout the region.
- By 1790, the Jewish population of Alsace was approximately 22,500, about 3% of the provincial population.
In addition to the AOC, the notes “Late Harvest” (Récoltes Tardives) and “Selection of Noble Grains” (Sélection des Grains Nobles) designate rare wines, which are most often the most mellow or syrupy. The wines of Alsace (except for sparkling wine) are still sold in gracefully-shaped bottles, which are named “Alsace flûtes”. In Alsace, the wines are mostly named after the variety of the grapes and not after the land on which they are produced. The local microclimate is favourable for the slow and prolonged ripening of grapes and the formation of grapes of great finesse.
Hotels in Alsace
Fall in love with the most mythical of wine routes In the hollow where the Lorraine plateau meets Northern Alsace lies a secret region with rich, rugged landscapes. Small in size but big in its diversity, Alsace is an endless source of surprises and variety, promising a truly exceptional time! Alsace is the most bicycle-friendly region of France,citation needed with 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) of cycle routes.
- 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.
- To the north-west of Bas-Rhin the landscape changes as you enter the Regional Natural Park of Vosges du Nord.
- Hunspach is one of our favourite Alsace villages, in part because of the many well maintained gardensSee Hunspach
- Alsace is one of the regions of France that has retained the most medieval castles.
- 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.
- In the South-West, the Gate of Burgundy opens Alsace to Franche-Comté, while the crest of the Vosges mountains serves as a natural border with Lorraine.
- From Colmar, next to the foothills and at the base of the Vosges mountains, clouds arriving from the West are forced to rise and fall as precipitation over the high summits, hence protecting the lower area from rain.
The climate of the Alsace region
Mulhouse (a city in southern Alsace), which had been part of Switzerland since 1466, joined France in 1798. "La Marseillaise" was played for the first time in April of that year in front of the mayor of Strasbourg Philippe-Frédéric de Dietrich. France continued to maintain its customs border along the Vosges mountains where it had been, leaving Alsace more economically oriented to neighbouring German-speaking lands. By the time of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, Strasbourg was a prosperous community, and its inhabitants accepted Protestantism in 1523. After the conclusion of the war, France was again free to pursue its desire to reach the Rhine and in 1444 a French army appeared in Lorraine and Alsace. During the next century, France was to be militarily shattered by the Hundred Years' War, which prevented for a time any further tendencies in this direction.
La Route des vins d’Alsace
The Alsace region is bordered by the German Länder of Rhineland-Palatinate to the north and to the east, across the Rhine, by Baden-Württemberg. 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 end of the Second World War signalled that it was time for the reconstruction and reconciliation of the peoples of Europe. Alsace had changed hands four times within 75 years between France and Germany. Cultural life was, in part, suppressed by linguistic pressure from French authorities confronted by regional culture.
Le Massifs des Vosges
Since the 1st January 2016, the administrative region of Alsace has been part of the new Grand Est region along with Lorraine and Champagne-Ardenne. In the postwar years, however, French hegemony reclaimed Alsace, though some cultural ties to Germany remained. During the interwar years, German influence remained strong in the two recovered régions, and in the early 1940s Alsace was once again annexed by Germany, for the duration of World War II.
Alsace within the Holy Roman Empire
"Alsatia", the Latin form of Alsace's name, entered the English language as "a lawless place" or "a place under no jurisdiction" prior to the 17th century as a reflection of the British perception of the region at that time. The local German dialect was rendered a backward regional "Germanic" dialect not being attached to German. It is almost four times longer than it is wide, corresponding to a plain between the Rhine in the east and the Vosges mountains in the west.
Symbolically, the Route des Crêtes marks the border between Lorraine and Alsace, between the Romance and Germanic language worlds. Throughout its course, it is sometimes in Lorraine and sometimes in Alsace. Many town names have become synonymous with rich traditions, friendliness, prosperity and great wines. Several cities and villages along the Alsace Wine Route have become famous and attract a very large crowd of visitors during the summer months and Christmas, where they have beautiful Christmas Markets.
Alsace is furthermore famous for its vineyards (especially along the 170 km of the Route des Vins d'Alsace from Marlenheim to Thann) and the Vosges mountains with their thick and green forests and picturesque lakes. Derived from the above, "Alsatia" was historically a cant term for the area near Whitefriars, London, which was for a long time a sanctuary. The bird practically disappeared around 1970, but re-population efforts are continuing.
This tragic wartime episode gave them the name “les Malgré-Nous” (“in spite of our will”). From that time, the Alsace region was ruled by France and remained under its national colours until 1871. The region was originally populated by Celtic tribes who founded Argentorate (now Strasbourg) towards the end of the 3rd century BC.
The constitution of the Fifth Republic states that French alone is the official language of the Republic. Increasingly, French is the only language used at home and at work, and a growing number of people have slotrize casino no deposit bonus a good knowledge of standard German as a foreign language learned in school. This situation has spurred a movement to preserve the Alsatian language, which is perceived as endangered, a situation paralleled in other régions of France, such as Brittany or Occitania. Few young people speak Alsatian today, although there do still exist one or two enclaves in the Sundgau region where some older inhabitants cannot speak French, and where Alsatian is still used as the mother tongue. Though the ban has long been lifted and street signs today are often bilingual, Alsace–Lorraine is today predominantly French in language and culture.
Strasbourg and the region of Wissembourg were the main bastions of Protestantism, while the rest of Alsace remained Catholic and loyal to the Habsburgs. Strasbourg officially became Protestant in 1532, along with Basel, Montbéliard, Mulhouse and Zurich to the south. French is the most commonly spoken language in Alsace nowadays. It is common to see new official bilingual street signs in Alsatian cities and villages.