Normandy, Brittany & the Best of the North_ With Paris (Fodor's) - Fodor's [96]
Fodor’s Choice | L’Ami Fritz.
$–$$ | White-shuttered, flower-bedecked, with sunny yellow walls, this welcoming inn combines style, rustic warmth, and three generations of family tradition. Set several miles west of Obernai, the reader-recommended, picture-perfect 18th-century stone house has impeccable guest rooms decked in toile de Jouy and homespun checks (opt for rooms in the main hotel, not in the adjacent annex). Some suites can sleep three, making them good for families, and the heated outdoor pool also comes in handy. The fine restaurant (reservations essential; closed to nonguests Wednesday) is one of the region’s top attractions. Here you can feast on Patrick Fritz’s sophisticated twists on regional specialties, including feather-light blood sausage in flaky pastry, a delicate choucroute of grated turnips, or the gratinéed freshwater fish braised in Sylvaner. Don’t miss the fruity red wine, an Ottrott exclusive. Pros: beautiful location; friendly staff. Cons: a car is needed to reach property; uneven service. | 8 rue des Châteaux, 5 km (3 mi) west of Obernai | 67530 | Ottrott | 03–88–95–80–81 | www.amifritz.com | 22 rooms | In-room: a/c (some), refrigerator, Wi-Fi. In-hotel: restaurant, pool, some pets allowed | AE, DC, MC, V | Closed 1st 2 wks in July and 2 wks mid-Jan. | MAP.
SHOPPING IN OBERNAI
Dietrich (58 and 74 rue du Général-Gouraud | 67210 | 03–88–95–57–58 | www.dietrich-obernai.fr) has a varied selection of Beauvillé linens, locally handblown Alsatian wineglasses, and Obernai-pattern china.
MONT-STE-ODILE
12 km (8 mi) southwest of Obernai via Ottrott.
Mont-Ste-Odile, a 2,500-foot hill, has been an important religious and military site for 3,000 years. The eerie 9½-km-long (6-mi-long) Mur Païen, up to 12 feet high and, in parts, several feet thick, rings the summit; its mysterious origins and purpose still baffle archaeologists. The Romans established a settlement here and, at the start of the 8th century, the daughter of Duke Etichon of Obernai, Odile, who had been born blind, founded a convent on the same spot after receiving her sight while being baptized. The relatively modern convent is now a workaday hostelry for modern pilgrims on group retreats. Odile—the patron saint of Alsace—died here in AD 720; her sarcophagus rests in the 12th-century Chapelle Ste-Odile. The spare, Romanesque Chapelle de la Croix adjoins Ste-Odile. Various regional bus lines can connect you with Mont-St-Odile.
BARR
8 km (5 mi) south of Obernai.
Surrounded by vineyards that harvest some of the finest vintages of Sylvaner and Gewürztraminer wines, Barr is a thriving, semi-industrial town surrounded by vines, with some charming narrow streets lined with half-timber houses (notably Rue des Cigognes, Rue Neuve, and the tiny Rue de l’Essieu), a cheerful 17th-century Hôtel de Ville, and a decorative arts museum. Most buildings date from after a catastrophic fire in 1678; the only medieval survivor is the Romanesque tower of St-Martin, the Protestant church.
Admire original furniture, local porcelain, earthenware, and pewter at the Musée de la Folie Marco, in a mansion built by local magistrate Félix Marco in 1763. One section of the museum explains the traditional process of schlittage: sleds, bearing bundles of freshly sawed tree trunks, once slid down the forest slopes over a “corduroy road” made of logs. | 30 rue du Dr-Sultzer | 67140 | 03–88–08–94–72, 03–88–08–66–65 in winter | €4 | June–Sept., Wed.–Mon. 10–noon and 2–6; May and Oct., weekends 10–noon and 2–6.
ANDLAU
3 km (2 mi) southwest of Barr on Rte. du Vin.
Andlau has long been known for its magnificent abbey. Built in the 12th century, the Abbaye d’Andlau has the richest ensemble of Romanesque sculpture in Alsace. Sculpted vines wind their way around the doorway as a reminder of wine’s time-honored importance to the local economy. A statue of a female bear, the abbey mascot—bears used to roam local forests and were bred