I enjoyed very much this journey through the villages of Alsatia: a very nice region of France with its own identity.
First of all the flower-decked villages of Alsatia: many villages of this region have received the title of best flowered villages of France: in Mussig the mayor Jean-Luc Scheider is proud of his village and Jean-Louis Goetz, an amateur gardener, dedicates all time time to his geraniums.
Alsatia is also famous for its half-timbered houses: the woods were quite available and cheaper thatn stones and besides this type of building is more flexible in case of earthquakes. We meet a young couple, Delphine and Aymeric who habe bough an old half-timbered house (built in 1711), a house full stories and they have restored it.
Besides There is the "Ecomusée d'Alsace" near Ungersheim where there are 70 half-timbered houses recreating the life at the beginning of the 20th century (with also a tradional sawmill moved by a watermill and 40 nests of storks).
I enjoyed very much the zoom about Ungersheim, a village in transition: the horse-drawn carriage brings the young boys and girls to school and later back to their home,on the public builings there are many solar panels (primary school for example), besides the town hall manages an organic garden where children learn to grow vegetables used in the school canteen.
Alsatia means also vineyards and wines: there are hot air balloon tours over the "La route des vignobles) ,; Glenn Ford , who says that Alsatia has the best white wine in the world, organizes bike tours through the vineyards of Alsatia, tours which ended with wine tasting in some cellars of Alsatia.
In this landscapes of Alsatia there are now 900 couples of storks nesting: Patrick Barbier explains that in the commune of Mutterscholtz there are 100 stork's nests:the storks have returned to Alsatia for nesting. Besides ornithologists are also taking care for the little owls which lives in the orchards of this area: Dominique et Jean-Marc are putting rings to the young little own and observing the lives.
Alsatian people have the sense of celebration: for example the festival of the sauerkraut in Geispolsheim ( and also in Krautergers): parades with decorated floats, the chef Henry will prepared sauerkraut for 1.000 local persons and visitors: the people enjoy eating sauerkraut (choucroute in French) with pork chop and sausages, as salad or baked as flammekueche.
Then we have the marriage of Frankental: in the church of Stosswhir the bride and the broom of Frankel celebrate their wedding in traditional costumes (an Alsatian version of the Romeo and Julit story). In these celebrations the Alsatian people enjoy eating , drinking and dancing. We see also the the "Groupe d'art populaire" of Berstett; there young Alsatian adolescents learn the traditional Alsatian dances.
Besides there are craftsmen in the Alsatian villages: glass bowers in Kaysersheim, potters in Soufflenheim, Betschdorf and Riquewihr.
I enjoyed very the encounters of Ismaël with Mathieu and Stéphanie Glinginger in Eguisheim ( the village was voted in May 2013 favorite French village), with Jean Grineisen (the great moment in the castle of Haut Koenigsberg), with Oliver Nasti, the chef and Frédéric Michael, the blacksmith in Kaysersberg , with Sébastien and Christelle Sissler in Stosswhir (the wedding of the broom and the bride of Frankental), with Noémie Sissler (the 16 years old daughter of Sébastian and Christelle who explained that young and old people are together in the celebrations), with Christian Brüls, the Belgian lama breeder in Blancherupt and with Thierry Walter, the boatman in the Rhinau Island nature reserve and employee of the Europark: very nice encounters with kind Alsatian men and women.