fairytale colmar

Colmar was our final stop in Europe and again, I had only heard of this city a couple of weeks before we left and I was so glad I did. Colmar sits in the Alsace region of France and is really feels like one big fairytale town. When we were here, it was raining on and off all day so we didn't end up getting to do little trips out to the surrounding towns on the famous Alsatian wine route but instead, spent our last few days in Europe wandering the streets and canals of Colmar.The area has both a German and French due to the fact that it used to be part of one country then the other back in the day. The half timbered houses are painted in colourful hues and on a little boat tour down Little Venice (the area where the canals are in Colmar), the tour guide let us know that it used to be that houses were painted a certain colour to indicate certain things (like whether someone in the house was single or not). The brown building on the right side in the picture actually has its window decor painted and houses one of the most popular restaurants here.Here's a little more of colourful Colmar..

Wearing: POLO Ralph Lauren yellow coat | Gorman striped dress & scarf | Bared Shoes

Pretzels (or bretzels, as they call it here!) are sold everywhere here and cost just 1 euro.  Even though it's such a tourist activity, definitely take a boat ride down the Little Venice area. The water here is the stillest I've seen - the reflections you see on the water as you travel by boat are incredibly insane, like a completely clear mirror image. The ride is something like 6 euros for a 30 min boat tour.The houses and shops in Colmar are so intricately decorated, it's so nice to see how much effort everyone seems to put in to these things. There's flowers, pot plants, little statues sitting atop of windows and all everywhere. Some windows even have little love hearts etched into the doors.Your typical store front in Colmar - here they're selling a huge variety of bretzels :-) Speaking of food, Fortwenger is a gingerbread shop you must visit! They sell this product called 'fruit leckerlis' which is the most amazing gingerbread I have ever tasted! It's from the Alsatian region and is like a softer version of gingerbread decorated with flavours of apricot, orange peel and ginger - definitely get a packet for yourself and everyone else.

Photography: Thomas Debono & I