Wine Tour Day 6 - Mont Saint Odile

Friday and a day for quiet contemplation and sculling around in the Spa pool and Sauna, wrapped around some ‘degustation’ of fine Alsace wines.

After a short walk to a superb local patisserie to load up with mouth-watering baguettes and pastries for later we were soon off up a winding, picturesque road to the “mountain-top” monastery - Mont Saint Odile.

Realistically this was up a large hill rather than a mountain but the monastery itself was an establishment of some renown.as it has been in existence since around 750 AD and has been the subject of multiple Papal visits over the centuries, most recently with the globe-trotting Jean-Paul II in 1988. Saint Odile was the daughter of a local Duke who was born blind but recovered her sight after being baptised and went on to perform a number of miracles. She is the Patron Saint of good eyesight and the Alsace region.

The monastery is a genuinely peaceful place, even when swarming with chattering Italian families, where I imagine that it would be entirely possible to commune quietly with whatever God you worship. Personally, with the utmost respect intended to those to whom God is the thing (and there quite a few people in quiet prayer in the chapels), we just enjoyed the peace, the picnic and the view.

After lunch we returned to Obernai and strolled 10 minutes up the road to a local Wine Seller where we were treated to some wine tasting by the Matriarch/Owner who was pleasant, knowledgeable and sloshed a wide selection of wine down our throats in pretty generous amounts. We liked the Cremant Blanc and Rose, the Pinot Blanc and the Riesling, so we bought some of each and trotted off 40 minutes later back to our hotel with a happy “glow”. As if to prove my point for my Epernay entries when I confessed to being something of a Philistine when it comes to expensive Champagnes, I thought the Cremant Rose at 11 Euros a pop was divine! A perfect summer evening wine to get your Barbecue off to the appropriate start.

Some splashing around in the Spa pool, cooking in the Sauna and Steam Room was then followed by dinner at a small intimate Thai restaurant where the choice was (deliberately) very limited but the food was gorgeous and so fresh it felt like it had been picked/cut that very day. English restaurants could learn from this “less is more” philosophy.

Tomorrow we drive the middle part of he Alsace Wine Route and a meander through a host of tiny, picture postcard villages and 1000s of acres of vineyards stretching across miles of rolling hills.

Can’t wait!