The In Between

The stay in Corre allowed us a little bit of time for some sightseeing in the vicinity. A sign at an intersection in Corre alerted us that the nearby village of Jonvelle was the site of a Gallo-Roman archeological site. Something that old was a sure draw for us, and a 9 km bike ride didn't seem too difficult to tackle, even with the hills in the vicinity. Of course, we should have known that Google Maps would incorporate an unimproved path through a farm field into its suggested bike route, so we ended up biking a bit further to avoid getting mired on a grassy path.

We were fortunate to have available time on Sunday, June 1, because at this time of year the archeological museum was only open on Sundays and holidays. The discovery of the baths of a Roman villa 1 km to the south of the village of Jonvelle was made in 1968 by Abbot Emile Descourviers of the local parish. The villa was constructed at the end of the 1st century CE and seems to have existed until the barbarian invasions of the 4th century. The baths were the most intact remains discovered. Around 1990, a tile workshop was discovered close-by, but as those ruins are still on private land, they were not available for viewing.

The ruins of the Roman bath are part of a multi-purpose museum.
The building at upper left covers and protects the remains of the bath,
as well as other archeological objects found during excavations in the
area. The building at right houses a small, but rather impressive museum
with artifacts ranging from the Neolithic to the Merovingian. The open
door of that building leads to an exhibit on machines from the 19th to the
early 20th century. A third building has antique farming machinery and
is under development as exhibit space.

Upper: The Roman Baths, the changing room and
frigidarium at the foreground of the photo, and the
areas for the warm and hot baths toward the top.
Lower: The pride of the museum is the intact mosaic
in the floor of the frigidarium. The dolphins in two of the
corners are an interesting, Mediterranean touch, as there
are definitely no dolphins in the Petite Saone River.

Other artifacts have been found in the general area, including bournes
from the Louis XIV area and older, marking administrative boundaries,
and this sundial with the rather philosophical inscription, "Time passes; 
death comes; the earth remains."

The marina was probably the most active part of Corre. Agriculture is also an important part of the local economy, but otherwise, it is a rather sleepy town. We're fortunate that it had a small-to-moderate sized grocery store--and even more fortunate that we were able to arrange for a rental car there. The marina had a nice, family-run restaurant that we took advantage of on our arrival day in Corre (and also again with cousin Frank the night before we departed for the Canal des Vosges.)

Upper: the view from our mooring in Marina de Corre.
Lower: moored in Corre. We don't usually have to 
moor in this kind of perpendicular-to-the-dock orientation,
 so it required all of Lon's boating skills to avoid
 making the docking a "contact sport."

The June 3 drive to Epinal only took an hour and our meet-up with Frank went seamlessly. Because we couldn't immediately check into our Airbnb apartment, we took advantage of the time to have lunch in the center of town and briefly walk a few of Epinal's streets. 

Epinal is the capital of the Vosges department in the heart of the Grand-Est region of France. The original city was formed during the Carolingian era, and during the Middle Ages and the modern era, Epinal protected the Duchy of Lorraine against attacks by Burgundians and the French. It derived its wealth from the wood, paper, and textiles industries until the Thirty Years' War of the 17th century, when its city walls and castle were destroyed by the armies of Louis XIV of France. It eventually became part of France in 1766. Epinal was annexed by Prussia after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, and it was about this time that the Canal des Vosges was built.

Two branches of the Moselle River run through Epinal.
A whitewater kayak course has been set up on one
of the branches in the center city and is the site of
international races.

The Place des Vosges was the political and economic hub of the city. It was the liveliest place
in town when we did "Round 2" of our city walk later in the evening of June 3.

Frank atop the remains of the town ramparts. The ramparts were erected in the 13th century,
modified in the 15th, and were torn down at the time of Louis XIV's siege of Epinal.

"Liberté" is a sculpture from 1989 to celebrate the
bicentennial of the French Revolution. The two fingers
are symbolic of the idea that the quest for liberty
is never-ending.

The "Quartier du chapitre" near the Saint Maurice Basilica 
contained an alley lined with the mansions of noblewomen (above), depicted
comically in a neighborhood fresco (top photo).

A side view of the Saint Maurice Basilica (11th-13th century).

The idea of also walking to the ruins of the city chateau on a hill above the town was a bit too much for one day, so as we began our drive to the city of Colmar on June 4, we made a brief detour to take in the castle grounds.

The Chateau de Epinal was built by the Bishops of the city of Metz in
the 13th century. Its height provided for great surveillance over the
Moselle River valley. It was destroyed by the troops of Louis XIV in 1670.
Substantial excavations were carried out in 1980. Upper: looking up at
the castle remains. Lower: Lon and Frank in the inner courtyard of the 
castle grounds.

We enjoyed our climb and wandering through the ruins.

The drive to Colmar was an "up and over" experience through the Vosges mountains--really more like glorified high hills. It was a green and beautiful drive, if somewhat wet and rainy from time-to-time, and with several stretches of switchbacks in the road, it took about 2 hours for us to reach the city from Epinal.

Lon and I had been to Colmar in 2019, as a land "side trip" during our cruise that summer on the Rhon au Rhin Canal. Frank was anxious to see the city because of the city name's importance in Cedar/Wojtowicz family history. Frank's grandfather Wasyl Cedar and Lon's grandfather Nick Wojtowicz, both employees of the Canadian railroad, had an argument in 1916 in the village of Colmar, Saskatchewan, which resulted in a rift in the family and Lon's grandfather's move to St. Paul, Minnesota. Despite the fact that Colmar, France had no bearing on the argument, the name was a sufficient reason to visit this beautiful French town.

Colmar is famous for its well-preserved old town, full of medieval and Renaissance timbered buildings. Being in Alsace so close to the German border, it has moved between France and Germany many times over the centuries, so the German language and German culinary influences make themselves known. Colmar is on the Alsatian Wine Route--a 170-kilometer-long road that crosses the main wine producing areas of the region--and considers itself to be the capital of Alsatian wine.

Some general street shots of Colmar. Left: The 13th century
Collegiate Saint Martin is visible at the top of the photo.
The picture at the upper right is of the building where our
 Airbnb apartment was located. The apartment was modernized
 and beautiful, and the location in the heart of
 town couldn't have been better.

More Colmar. Definitely a tourist town, but it wasn't overly
crowded when we were there.

Upper: Lon and Frank just outside a crepes and 
pizza/tarte flambé restaurant where we enjoyed
lunch and evening dessert crepes on the 4th.
Wonderful owners and great food.
Lower: One of Colmar's main streets.

Everywhere you looked there were wonderful decorative
elements on buildings.

Lon and Frank prove that they can be in (a) Colmar without fighting.

And again . . . leaving no doubt where they are.

The final stop of our road trip adventures "in between" our just-finished cruise up the Petite Saone River, and our yet-to-be-completed cruise on the Canal des Vosges, was the village of Eguisheim, just outside of Colmar and on our route back to the marina in Corre. Eguisheim had come to my attention recently courtesy of an on-line travel article that talked about the unusual circular layout of its medieval center. It turned out to be a pretty place, but as one of the "Most Beautiful Villages in France" and as part of a Rick Steves' tour itinerary, it was definitely "touristy" and not "off-the-beaten-path."

An aerial photo of Eguisheim on a brochure from 
the Tourist Office showing its circular design.

 

Like Colmar, Eguisheim was full of beautiful timbered buildings.

Upper: "Most Beautiful Villages" must have a contractual obligation to
have lots of flowers.
Lower: Eguisheim is on the Alsatian Wine Route, so vintners and their
caves were everywhere you looked.

Beauty can be in the little details. Upper: an arch from 1599 encompasses
the (contractually mandated) flowers.
Lower: Houses in the Middle Ages were routinely marked with the date
of the building (1680), the initials of the couple that owned the house
 (GHM), and a reference to Jesus Christ (IHS).

Remnants of a castle, and a chapel (the pink building) 
dedicated to Bruno of Eguisheim, who became Pope
Leon IX (1049-1054). The storks seem to like the bell tower.

Arrival back in Corre on June 5 involved taking advantage of having a rental car to shop for the heavy groceries. On the morning of June 7, we left Marina de Corre, left the Petite Saone River, left the "in between", and entered the Canal des Vosges.