Coach Tour
Mulhouse-Colmar-Strasbourg-Verdun-Nancy
Day 1: Mulhouse
Arrive in time for lunch at Mulhouse. The town used to be scattered with factory railways in its industrial hey day and we visit the French Railway Museum, with its fine collection of engine wagons and carriages. On to Colmar. Dinner and overnight in the region.
Day 2: Mulhouse
With its canals and half-timbered houses, Colmar, sometimes called the Venice of the North, sometimes the Wine Capital of Alsace, is an incredibly pretty town and we take a tourist train round the main sights. Lunch before we set off along the wine route, with its mediaeval villages and reputed wine-growing estates. Wine tasting with local kugelhopf cake along the way. Back to the hotel for dinner and overnight.
Day 3: Colmar
Seat of the European Parliament, Strasbourg sits on the rivers Rhine and Ill, criss-crossed by canals and its by boat that we admire the old district of « La Petite France ». Lunch is a traditional choucroute (pickled cabbage with pork meats and sausages). We continue to Commercy, famed for its "madeleines", plump buttery shell-shaped cakes, infamously connected with French writer Proust who claimed the taste takes you back to your childhood. On to our hotel in the region for dinner and overnight.
Day 4: Colmar - Strasbourg
Guided tour of the town of Verdun, whose underground stronghold of some7 kms of tunnels was home to over 10,000 men during the famous World War 1 Battle, one of the costliest of the war. Lunch then on to visit Metz and the imposing Gothic Cathedral of St Etienne. Grown in Nancy and in Metz is the small, sweet, dark yellow Mirabelle plum and we take a guided tour of a Mirabelle distillery making alcoholic beverages followed by a tasting session. Back to the hotel for dinner and overnight stay.
Day 5: Strasbourg
Visit to the splendid old town of Nancy, its fortified remains and lovely town houses. Lunch, or the option of a lunchtime cruise.
