Photo tour of our canal cruise destinations (VIDEO)

Howdy, and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

If you’ve been following along on the blog, you know that Tom, Dagny, my in-laws and I headed east last month to the Alsace region of France for a canal cruise. We rented a boat and set out on the canal for a week full of locks, relaxation and nature. You can get all the details here along with info on going through a lock. Today’s post is all about the destinations. Be sure to scroll to the end for the highlight of the post — a video I put together giving you an overview of the whole trip!

GO!

Photo tour of our canal cruise destinations (VIDEO)

So first, check out the map below and continue on to see some photos of places we stopped. Many of the little towns were off the beaten track, and if we didn’t access them by boat, we’d have never discovered them otherwise.

Saverne

The Nicols base in Saverne is where we started our trip. We took a walk around town to stretch our legs after a long drive, then picked up our groceries for the week.  Saverne is in the Bas-Rhin department and right on the Rhine-Marne canal. Here’s what it looks like in town:

A local woman was selling regional wine at a stand in town:

Lutzelbourg

On Sunday, we spent the day cruising and getting our bearings on the boat. We docked in Lutzelbourg for the night and this petite commune has a population of under 1,000 people! But small doesn’t mean boring. The misty walk along the canal was beautiful and you can also hike up a huge hill and take in the view from above.

Sarreguemines

Midweek, we headed north to Sarreguemines where we spent two nights. The Port de Plaisance has modern facilities where we did some laundry, showered and took full advantage of the beautiful port.

Sarreguemines is also known for its faience pottery which is popular with collectors all over the world. The store we stopped in said people come from all over looking for specific pieces to add to their collection. Their wares are colorful and excellent quality and as you’d expect, quite expensive. Each cereal bowl pictured on the right below was 16 euros. You can find earthenware, vases, decorative pieces and more. Sadly, the Sarregumeines faience factory is no longer in existence and the company was liquidated in 2007. Lunéville-Saint-Clément, the company that bought the factory, still makes several models today.

Germany!

On Thursday, we took the tram to Saarbrucken, Germany, and it was my first time there. It was a no brainer since we were so close. The lively town had a bustling center and we couldn’t have lucked out with better weather. Many years ago, the lively town was the industrial and transport center for the Saar coal basin. Now it’s home to about 180,000 people.

Harskirchen

On Friday we headed toward the Nicols base in Harskirchen and spent the night since our cruise was coming to an end on Saturday morning.

Now for the grand finale where I put it all together… a video of the entire canal boating experience with Nicols. 😉

 

For more info on the Nicols cruise experience, you can visit their site here.

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