Five Countries...in One Day

I normally wait until I've crossed the Channel before visiting a vinyard, but for this trip I started early! Its a long drive to the Channel Tunnel from where we live,so I broke the journey at the Denbies Wine Estate just off the M25, near Dorking. Nestled in the South Downs this vinyard is located in a very picturesque setting. As well as the wine tasting on offer (that I had to forgo for obvious reasons) the site had a farm shops, coffee roasters, EV charging points and, importantly a restaurant serving lunches. After lunch we stretched our legs on a sunny day strolling by the grape vines and taking in the views of Box Hill. 

Grape vines growing at the Denbies Wine Estate, Surrey

Feeling refreshed we carried on along the motorway until we reached our overnight accomodation in Hythe by late afternoon. By the time we arrived the weather had changed and a heavy shower had just passed over as we pulled into the hotel car park. A rainbow gradually faded over the sea and the sun reappeared so after checking in we had a stroll along the sea front to get some fresh air before having dinner in the hotel restaurant.

The next day brought an early start. We left the UK just before 8.00 am and arrived in France 35 minutes later, bang on time. It was a long drive to our first overnight stay and our route took us across the rather featureless landscape of Northern France. After about an hour of driving we crossed the border into Belgium - our third country of the day - and started to head south. I stopped for a break just outside Wavre and recharged the car in a hotel car park whilst we sat inside drinking coffee and Belgian hot chocolate. 

Looking for somewhere to have lunch I spotted a possibility about 8 minutes drive away. The Herges Museum celebrates the creator of Tin Tin and it seemed a potentially interesting place to have something to eat and take a quick tour of the museum. This idea did not work out. I set the satnav to take us there but we failed to find the museum turning into the parking for a primary school. As this clearly wasn't right I pulled out and did a loop around trying to find a parking sign for the museum. We pulled into a multi story car park but this seemed to have spaces reserved for private businesses so we exited searching in vain for somewhere to park. After about 20 minutes we abandoned any hope of executing this plan and headed back to the motorway and found a motorway services - with a food court.

At least from this point on the landscape became a little more interesting as we entered the Ardennes region. Forests, hills and gorges made for a more pleasing backdrop to endless miles of motorway driving. Eventually we crossed the border into country number four - Luxembourg. Driving around Luxembourg city I pulled into another hotel car park to charge up the car and we walked down the street to get some food for breakfast from an organic supermarket. 

After another 20 minutes of driving through countryside of gentle hills and small villages we arrived at our accomodation, located on the outskirts of the village of Echternacherbruck, just over the border in Germany. We had travelled over 330 miles and our final stop made it five countries in one day. 

Our accomodation was a lovely self contained studio, very comfortable, spacious and spotlessly clean. Our host, Louise was English and gave us a lovely welcome. She also offered some helpful advice on places to eat nearby. 

Just across the river from the village of Echternacherbrucke is the small town of Echternach - in Luxembourg. Afrer unpacking we crossed the border again, this time on foot, taking a footbridge across the river Sauer to look for somewhere to have an evening meal. Louise had recommended a little bistrot on the pretty main street and rather than shop around we made straight for it. 

Echternach

One of the regional specialities in this part of the world is Flammenkirche or, in French, Tarte Flambee. This is a pizza adjacent dish, but without a tomato base. It typically has a topping of creamy cheese, hard cheese, lardons and onions all cooked on top of a very thin crispy dough. Its delicious! We both polished off our flammenkirche and following Louise's recommendation crossed the road to an Italian gelatoria. I can strongly recommend the amaretto and pistachio combination. 

A little further along the main street we found the main square and close by the 8th century church and abbey that was establised by an English monk. 

Echternach Church

The main square, Echternach

The River Sauer  and the footbridge that links Luxembourg to Germany

After a quick explore of the town we headed back along the riverside path and crossed the river back into Germany for an early night. Another long drive was ahead of us the next day.

On our second day our route took us along the Moselle Valley (in Germany) before we crossed in Luxembourg again and then France. THe sun was shining and the countryside looked verdant. To break up the journey we decided to have a picnic in Strasbourg. The city is well served by park and ride car parks and we abandoned the car at one of these and caught the tram for a quick ride to the centre. After visiting a boulangerie and getting something to take away for a picnic it was only a short stroll though Petit France down to the river. The historic centre of Strasbourg is full of picture postcard views, a magnificent gothic cathedral and, of course, plenty of souvenir shops. As we have visited before we didn't feel any compulsion to see any particular highlights but just enjoyed wandering through the historic centre, by the river, over the covered bridge and past the cathedral.

Views of Strabourg

The last part of the drive was relatively short. Our accomodation was a room in the centre of the small town of Ribeauvillé in the Alsace region of France. At the centre of the wine growing region the town is surrounded by hills with terraces of grapevines. There are also three ruined castles overlooking the town. The long main street is full of colourful medieval timbered buildings, some of which house the many wineries dotted around the town. It was a very charming place to stroll around. 

One of the recurring themes we noticed adorning buildings was an image of a piper. The original lords of the town were protectors of wandering minstrels in medieval Alsace and to celebrate this there are statues and additions to buildings as well as minstrel themed gifts in the souvenir shops.

A wandering minstrel...

We found a bar/restaurant to eat in - serving hearty Alsatian food - and then walked around the town before settling in for a night of reading, practising Italian and planning the next day's route.

Before leaving Ribeauville we made ourselves breakfast in our room which was handily located 3 minutes walk away from a boulangerie. Some freshly baked croissants, jam and coffee was a simple, frugal but tasty start to the day. And on the way back we watched storks nesting on the top of one of the tallest buildings, a wonderful conclusion to our short visit.

A stork nest in Ribeauvillé

We had now travelled over 750 miles from home but there still was further to travel and another border to cross. Today we were headed out of France and into Switzerland.