Mont Sainte-Odile

Our hosts had left us a mound of tourism literature to go through. We do the same for our guests. Marianne is very diligent in going through the mound and found a convent called Mont Sainte-Odile where there was supposed to be a very good view. Since we like good views, we decided to go there.

It is a very curvy steep road that climbs up to the top of a mountain. Nevertheless we saw a few bike riders struggling up the road.

There were so many other tourists that we had to settle for a car park a couple of hundred yards from the entrance.

Lots of trees. In fact you don't see too much as you ascend the mountain other than tall pine trees.

Eventually we reached the approach to the entrance. For those of you who like to have people in photographs, you will be happy with this blog.

General overview of the Abbey which you can read about here.

Free entrance.

Part of the Abbey has been converted into a hotel. If you are staying at the hotel you get to park in the closest parking lot.

Lots of flowers everywhere.

You can tell a view is coming up.

The trees are very tall and straight. I would estimate well over 100 feet high.

In this area, the villages are only a few miles apart.  It takes a while to drive any long distance since the speed limit is 50 kph in the towns and villages. 

The Abbey. I believe it is still used as a nunnery as there are numerous signs asking you to keep noise levels down. We did not see any nuns however.

Vineyards through a zoomed lense. There are so many wineries in the area that I wonder how they all make a living.

You can barely see it with the naked eye and Marianne wanted to know what the red and white thing was. It appears to be some sort of silo. After further research I found that it is the Kronenbourg Beer factory on the outskirts of Obernai.

There are two little chapels close to the most northerly point of the Abbey grounds.

The gold just takes your breath away.

This little chapel is light and airy.

Standing at the northern tip is like standing at the bow of an enormous ship.

Strasbourg is way out there but we could not see it because of the haze. You can see the red and white of the beer factory.

We entered into the other little chapel and it was so dark that initially we could not see much at all.

After a while our eyes became accustomed to the dark. It was even possible to take photos.

The photos are amazingly light. It was very dark in there.

I presume you went to one chapel when you were feeling good and the other when you were feeling down in the dumps and wanted to enjoy it.

The mountains and trees go on and on. They formed a natural barrier between Germany and France more so than the Rhine River.

It was quite pleasant sitting on the seats looking out at the view. It was now lunch time so the number of people looking at the views had diminished.

A farm off in the distance illuminated by the sun with the dark forest surrounding it.

We went inside the Abbey into this long corridor.

The Abbey has a spiffy restaurant.

The courtyard.

There are some small chapels off to one side.

The church.

There is also a cafeteria with tables and seating outside.

Part of a description of the history of the Abbey.

The tomb of Sainte Odile. She is the patroness of good eyesight as well as Alsace.

We headed back to Sainte Marie. On the way we saw this old castle perched on a hill side surrounded by the tall trees.  It is very much a fairyland landscape.