Colorful Colmar

There is one town in France that I particularly love - the colorful medieval Colmar. It is located in Alsace, not far from Strasbourg. I've been there twice and I'd go there again. Colmar was one of those rare European towns that were barely touched by WWII, thus never destroyed and rebuilt. The allies avoided bombing old Colmar. What you see here is original; those beautiful 15th and 16th century half-timbered houses are authentic.

 Founded in the 9th century, this town is relatively small (just a little over 65,000 people live here). Yet this Alsatian marvel is always popular among tourists.

The houses in the town center are painted in all sorts of colors: red, yellow, blue...

Some houses are squeezed between the others and deformed, as time does its work. This only adds to the charm of the town and makes you feel that this is one of those real old European towns. It's hard to imagine how people manage living in such houses today.

"I love you!"

I never grow tired of admiring those old timber houses - I love them so much! They remind me of fairy tales I had read as a child. Sometimes, I imagine who among those fairytale characters is living in a given house. Let's see... Brothers Grimm's Rapunzel lived over there, below the roof of the Maison Pfister.

This yellow-red one was probably occupied by Cinderella's stepmother and her daughters, allowing poor Cinderella to live in the cold attic. And the Brave Little Tailor lived in a yellow house. Under the roof, of course.

And in this red house lived Little Red Riding Hood (isn't that 'logical'?). I can't explain why I link the German fairy tales to this town though.

People of Colmar like to decorate their windows and balconies with pots of flowers. Flowers are abundant here.

My favorite thing to do in Colmar is to look up at the windows with colorful shutters. Each time I come to a town like this, I seem to gaze up more than in front of me. :-)

Colmar is the hometown of the French sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi who created the Statue of Liberty that was given as a gift by France to the United States.

An interesting part of Colmar is La Petite Venise (Little Venice) that is packed with restaurants along the canals.

Some practical information:

The best time to visit Colmar is late spring. It is the time when there aren't that many tourists yet, so you can enjoy the town without big crowds. There are many hotels in this town, but in the high tourist season it is better to book ahead. But summer or autumn are great too. Colmar is the second driest city in France, so you have a good chance for fair weather. Christmas is also a lovely time to visit Colmar to enjoy all the street lights and decorations.

If you like fine wines, this is the place for you - Colmar is the capital of the Alsatian wine region.