Yesterday was a town to town walk. Before breakfast, I closed up my suitcase, which was way too heavy, and carried it down three flights to drop it off at the front desk where a taxi driver would pick it up and take it to the hotel in Kaysersberg. After the breakfast buffet, I headed out of town, past the Hotel de Ville, through the North gate, and up through the vineyards.

The soil in the vineyards and forests looks very dry, especially for this time of year. I've been told they need rain and while true I'm hoping it comes overnight or some other time I'm not walking.

Scattered around the edges of the vineyards are irises. Always a pleasant sight.

Continuing up into the woods I came to the small Chapelle St-Wendelin. It originally belonged to the Knights of Malta. (It seems like an out-of-the-way place for them.) It was destroyed in 1793 during the Revolution but rebuilt in 1803. Saint Wendelin is the patron saint of country people and herdsmen. The local village of Niedermorschwihr has a procession to the chapel on the first Sunday in July.

Alongside the trail, I found this pinecone heart. it was so unexpected it took me a minute to realize what it was.

The trail up at this point is slightly steep and rocky, but nice passing through the oak forests with their bright green spring leaves.

The midpoint of the day was the Monument du Galz, a large statue of Christ on the mountaintop, basically a smaller version of that above Rio de Janeiro. But that was 1,900 feet and some miles up from Turkheim.

To navigate the trails I got GPX files to load into Google Maps and a very detailed description of every possible decision point along the trail. The trails here have numerous way markings. Too numerous. They are marked with colored discs, circles, squares and triangles, as well as some specialized ones and painted blazes on the trees.

These are placed by several different organizations and some of them have "updated' their markings since the notes were published, so the colors of the route marking have changed. It often makes the descriptions in the notes confusing.

Honestly, I can't figure out a pattern. I'll be walking on a red circle route, then it will change to a yellow disc, then back to a red circle. As you can see in the left-hand photo, there are blue discs to the left and yellow triangles to the right, even though I came up this hill from the right with blue discs. You can also see that at this point Katenthal is like Rome, all trails lead there.

Then I got to the sign saying that the Galz Monument was closed. But the trail went just below it, so I walked on up and could just see the backside.

In addition, they had been doing work along the trails and dropping trees across it. It was recent work the shavings from the chainsaw were still fresh.

Then it was downhill all the way to the next valley where Kaysersberg is. I'm a lot faster going downhill, especially on good trails, so that part went quickly.

Arriving in Kaysersberg I was greeted by this very fluffy and sullen-looking cat.

Today was the first day of my solo hiking trip in Alsace. I started in Eguisheim and hiked to Turkheim.

I could see my first destination for the day on top of the hills above Eguisheim; three stone towers, the Three Castles of Eguisheim.

The walk started on gradual slopes through the local vineyards. This is one of the larger wine-producing areas in France. It's a cooler climate and they focus more on white wines. I've always liked Alsatian wines. They grow many of the same varieties as in Germany but finish them much drier. I like the drier Gevertzheimer especially.

As I approached the base of the wooded hills I passed through the village of Husseren. It seems to have become a town with many fine modern homes. Weekend Places perhaps?

Then the route left the roads and paths through the fields and up the hills on rocky and steep paths to the top where the three Castles stood. They struck me as strange; three tall narrow towers standing in close proximity. I couldn't find a good explanation for this, except that it was common at the time.

Later on, the ownership of the castles splintered between family members and then became irrelevant and abandoned.

After the castles, the path became wider and less rocky, so easy walking as I wandered along the upper levels of the hills before coming to the Chateau du Hohlandsbourg. This was a massive rectangular structure of high walls.

Inside it was quite roomy, with a keep on the rocky core and plenty of room for other buildings. This was a more significant castle, but one whose ownership changed through the centuries as families and country's situations changes. It was a Hapsburg castle for several periods. It has a great view in 360 degrees, other than the haze.

I could see my start in Eguisheim and my end point for the day in Turkheim, which speaks to both the view and the limited ground I was covering.

Then it was down, down, down the hill to the valley and Turkheim.

Turkheim feels very different than Eguisheim. It has large modern suburbs and is on a train line. The old center is looser and not as constrained by the old walls. But in the end, it makes it less interesting to a traveler. But probably more practical for a resident.

My hotel is The Duex Clefs, an older building that gives the lobby some character but doesn't do much for the rooms. My room was on the 4th floor, but US counting and there is no elevator. So I was actually glad when my luggage wasn't there yet when I arrived and they carried it up to me.