July 18th 2023

First stop today was at the hospital – not because of illness but because of a special wine cellar.

During the middle ages, not everybody could pay their hospital bill with gold, and a lot of farmers paid their bills in crops or land. And so the hospital ended up with a lot of wine, which they could serve as medicine to the wealthy patients, but also sell to make a profit for the hospital.

Being big land owners, several hospitals of eastern France – both in Burgundy and in Alsace – have continued this tradition. «Hospice» wines are sold for profit which in turn goes to orphanages or the poor.

So this hospital actually has a cellar that is one of the best in Strasbourg, with locals coming in to buy wine. They also have a self-guided tour.

These days, they cooperate with a lot of wine producers which stores part of their wines in this cellar, in cooperation with the hospital.

But this cellar also has a unique wine – the oldest verified wine on barrel in the world. Laid in a big barrel in 1472, it has since been transferred to other and better barrels, but is still the worlds oldest wine.

This is the current barrel that holds the wine.

It is still drinkable, very low on alcohol, and the last time this was drunk was to celebrate the liberation of Strasbourg, and a bottle was given to general Leclerc of the French liberation army. Bu they keep a bottle on display to show the current colour.

After this interesting tour I had to do one last round of the sluices and cross the main bridge at the entry to the river, where the old watchtowers and warehouses were.

Flammkueche – or tarte flambée – is a local speciality, it is simply a thin crust with creme fraiche, bacon and onion on top (no cheese, no pizza). I had this at a place which still makes this in a wood fired oven.

A quiet afternoon, and I strolled the city and saw a lot of nice squares, and several restaurants getting ready for the evening serving.

By the cathedral this piece of art was erected – in fact it was meant to be two but the other one collapsed so the rubble is on display instead. Creative?

The cathedral dominate the surrounding streets, and it was the tallest building in Europe when it was finished in the 15th century.

The dinner was in a very local restaurant, where I tried the «baeckoffen», an oven based stew with various meat and potatoes, and with juniper berries as the main spice. It was ok to have tried, but it will not become a new favourite.

Walking past some pretty canals on my way back towards the hotel I also stopped for the light show on the cathedral. Somewhat tacky, somewhat cool – I cannot make up my mind 100% on these shows…

The evening was rounded off with a walk past more nice squares, and a stop at what is considered the best bar in town. A short stop before going back to the hotel.