Alsace

Alsace borders Germany, and not surprisingly as it has belonged to Germany at various times in its past, has a Germanic feel. It is very pretty and largely unspoiled.

Alsace is famous for beer and white wine. It has superb road links with Germany and Switzerland, the south of France and Paris. Strasbourg, the regional capital is the home of the European Parliament, the European Commission on Human Rights and the European Court.
Property prices are relatively high in this area.

Alsace was part of the Holy Roman Empire and is still inhabited by people speaking a dialect of Upper German. In the courts of the 17th century, Alsace was gradually put under French sovereignty and made one of the provinces of France.

Its capital and largest city is Strasbourg.

Alsace is frequently referred in conjunction with Lorraine, because these two regions (as Alsace-Lorraine) have been contested frequently in history.
The region has passed between French and German control numerous times, resulting in a rich cultural blend.Alsace includes the departments of Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin. It borders Germany of the north and the east, Switzerland and Franche-Comte on the south, and Lorraine on the west.

It contains many forests, primarily in the Vosges and in Bas-Rhin (Haguenau Forest). Several valleys are also found in the region. Its highest point is the ballon de Guebwiller in Haut-Rhin, which reaches a height of 1426 m. Alsace has a semi-continental climate with cold and dry winters and hot summers. There is little precipitation because the Vosges protect it from the west. The city of Colmar has a sunny microclimate; it is the second driest city in France, with an annual precipitation of just 550 mm, making it ideal for vin d’Alsace (Alsation wine).

Both Alsace and Lorraine, became part of the new German Empire after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, causing an estimated 50,000 people to emigrate to France. Alsace remained a part of Germany until the end of World War I, when Germany ceded it under the Treaty of Versailles.

However, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson insisted that the region was self-ruling by legal status, as its constitution had stated it was bound to the sole authority of the Kaiser and not to the German State. Correspondingly, the regional government of Alsace-Lorraine, declared independence as Republic of Alsace-Lorraine, but could not fight off the French who took it over a week later. France tolerated no plebiscite, as granted by the League of Nations to some eastern German territories at this time.

The language most spoken in Alsace is standard French. The traditional language of the region is Alsation, an Alemannic dialect of Upper German. Alsation is closest to Swiss German. Some Frankish dialects of West Middle German are also spoken in the extreme north of Alsace. Neither Alsation nor the Frankish dialects have any form of official status, as is customary for regional languages in France, although both are now recognized as languages of France and can be chosen as subject in French high schools.Since 1945, the influence of standard French has been ever increasing in Alsace, and today Alsace is largely a French speaking area, but an increasing number of people have a good knowledge of standard German as a foreign language learnt in school.have a strong Germanic influence, are called vins d’Alsace.

It produces some of the world’s most noted dry Rieslings and is the only region in France to produce mostly varietal wines identified by the names of grapes used (wine from Burgundy is also mainly varietal, but do not normally identified as such), typically from grapes also used in Germany. Alsace is also the main beer producing region of France. These include those of Kronenbourg, Fischer, Heineken, Meteor and Kanterbrau.The traditional habitat of the Alsatian lowland is constituted of houses constructed with walls in half-timbering and cob and roofing in flat tiles.

Further information:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alsace

www.visit-alsace.com

www.visit-alsace.com