2019.08.24-25 Giromagny, Belfort, Montbéliard and Ballon d'Alsace

For some perspective:

The weekend was set to be rain in Mannheim, rain in Bern, and magically mostly clear around the Jura and Doubs region of France. A quick look at hikes and things to do launched us towards the base of the Vosges. 

• Saturday: hike in Giromagny, near the edge of the Vosges (NE of Belfort), followed by walking around the Ballon d'Alsace
• Sunday: early morning lap around Montbéliard, then to the citadelle in Belfort before heading back 

Saturday 2019.08.24
Giromagny: 

While all places we were are in the Franche-Comté region, Giromagny is more nested on the edge of the southern Vosges mountains.

I was pretty excited to see tons of these around: fountains segmented into several sub-pools which were used for washing clothes. I saw this in some show/docu series that included a roadtrip-in-France (I think it was two British guys).

Giromagny was a mining town, and the path we took was the one miners would take to go to work, it sounded like. From the town, on the way into the forrest, one can see an active quarry, so there's still related activity in the region supporting the economy. Good signage on the trail, fair amount of locals in pretty casual gear tramping around. 

After Giromagny, Ballon d'Alsace (1247m (4091ft))

I'd looked up "the highest peak of the Vosges mountains" before, and we still had energy and time and sunlight and were only maybe 15 km away, so we drove up some really winding roads to get up to the top. The top, which clearly had been featured in the tour de France earlier this summer, based on the remaining writing on the road, encouraging various teams. 

Various views from the top (disclaimer: was not a hike, just a short walk up to look around): 

The cows markings gave him an angry eyebrow

Heather (an early fall bloomer) out in force

remnants leftover from the tour de France

We then drove down to Montbéliard to check into our hotel. 

Sunday 2019.08.25 - Montbéliard &Belfort (lion)

early morning walk around Montbéliard. 

Some interesting trivia about the region: 

Montbéliard was a late addition to France, which you notice in part because the dominant old church is protestant. It was an independent participant in the Holy Roman Empire from 1033 to 1793 (some of that under the Württembergish dukes, and there is a castle in town where they lived). Annexed to France in 1796. For more info, see wikipedia. And a deeper dive into its role in protestant history. 

Two sides of the castle of the dukes, one of these castles that had so many eras in which people made additions, it looks kind of like 4 or 5 castles were broken up and re-assembled into one, piecemeal: 

Something we really noticed about Montbéliard was the sort of lopsided architecture. No one paid attention to the lines or roofs of adjacent buildings when building, it seems: 

After breakfast, we checked out of our hotel and went by Belfort before heading home. 

Belfort (a lion, a citadel, and a part of Alsace that stayed French)

So, I have a weakness for citadels and, generally, for 17thCentury fortifications. We just do not have these in the states, and they are such incredible feats of engineering and earth-moving. 

Belfort has a citadel, but, moreover, is the FIRST ONE I have been to which was expanded and improved on after the advent of long-range canons which caused everyone else to give up on fortifications.  I wonder if it was the only one to do that. Why would you do that? 

"Absorbed into France in the early 1600s, Belfort, lies in a gap between the Vosges and Jura Mountains, making it a natural invasion route into France. " (See this military history site)

From same site: "[Haxo's renovations resulted in] transforming the place as a truly entrenched camp, defended by the castle itself, and by two new bastions: the Miotte and the Justice. All these military forts were connected together and linked to the castle. Haxo also modernised the fortifications of the castle itself by digging two ditches and building two new lines of walls"

Vauban, responsible for all the other famous 17th Century fortifications in France laid the groundwork, re-routing the river to expand the fortified space in town so that it could withstand long sieges.  Construction finisted in 1703. It was improved in in the early 1800s (by General Haxo), adding another defensive layer of trenches and whatnot to keep said improved-range cannons even further away. 

From same site: "[Haxo's renovations resulted in] transforming the place as a truly entrenched camp, defended by the castle itself, and by two new bastions: the Miotte and the Justice. All these military forts were connected together and linked to the castle. Haxo also modernised the fortifications of the castle itself by digging two ditches and building two new lines of walls"

View of the additions from Haxo,and a map directly afterwards of said additions: 

Views from other parts of the citadel: 

 

CURRENTLY in Franche-Comté, counted as part of Alsace the last time Alsace was ceded to Germany, and was not included in the chunk ceded to Germany because the defenses in the town were so good and they kept up their siege like a month after cease-fire/surrender. The guy who insisted on keeping up this horribly traumatic siege (Bertholdi) is why Belfort has a huge lion statue (in sandstone), commemorating this pyrrhic victory. 

My attempt at wounded-lion-snarling mimicry (left): 

More on the history of Belfort.

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2018 June/July Kos, Greece: Pt 2: Mountain biking Kéfalos

After a run in with some ants Sunday morning (handled afterwards by our host), we went down to Katerina's Cycle Hire (the only cycle hire in Kéfalos, I think). Katerina is from Australia and has lived on Kos for about 30 years. She just bought the Scott mountain bikes this year in hope of pulling in people interested in higher end bikes, and we were the first to use them. Special deal for the weekend at 10 Euros/day (normally 13), we rented them for the two remaining days.

Sunday July 1st: Mountain Biking: 

Structure of the day (similar on Monday):

1. Cycle up and around a bit, including up to some of where we had gone previously by car and foot
2. then down to the Agios Theologos beach and restaurant for lunch and a swim 
3. continue cycling along dirt and sandy paths, eventually returning "home"

Total distance was around 30 km, elevation change about 350m, I think. Road conditions were not as expected from the previous day's explorations. Display of GPX (elevation and route) of the path.

There are a surprising number of roads around Kéfalos which are wide enough for a car, but never have been paved, and many clearly having suffered water damage. It felt like we were the only ones to use much of the paths we fought along, outside of the people who clearly must live in the occasional house we came across.

There were also some abandoned things. Here is what looks like an old quarry, and abandoned building nearby. For animals?

We saw many goats, some cows, and at some point, a wild(?) turkey.

Ate a well-earned lunch in the early afternoon at the Restaurant at Agios Theologos Restaurant and nearby beach. This was the Agios Theologos salad, with capers and haloumi and local wine-cheese.

   

A lot of restaurants also kind of "run" the beach nearby, having chairs and umbrellas and an employee who comes down to ask you for some money if you make use of them (5 or 6 Euros on average).

After lunch, went for a swim and played around with one of the "free to use" surf boards on the beach. 

Good example of the sort of path, when it was good (not piles of sand, not too steep, not broken into chunks from rains/runoff):

Much struggling later, returning back around Kéfalos, had to take a break to let some goats be herded across the road. Originally a video, so hopefully you can access it by clicking on it. Or here.

Here was a nice view of Kalymnos (island to the north):

Monday July 2nd: Mountain Biking before returning home: 

Given a flight at 8pm, and shuttle pick up around 6pm, we opted for a shorter route, about 4km to a beach, 150m elevation change, and then back along what looked more road-like, with a detour to look at the ruins of a basilica and an island close enough to shore that people could swim to it. Total route around 13km, here with the display of the GPX data (elevation info exact route).

The path the beach degenerated into a kind of thorny goat path and involved a lot more walking than cycling for a good chunk. 

Goal of the ride:Limnionas beach. 

Again, went down to the beach to swim and cool off, then went up to the restaurant for some lunch.

Heading back, view of the cute island in Kéfalos bay:

Ruins of Basilica to the left, island right:

Connie had said we could check out as late as we needed, so we had plenty of time to return the bikes, buy some snacks, shower, slowly and carefully re-pack, and wait on the shuttle. We also showed up 2 hours early to the airport (clearly way too early). 

OH! Right. The Kos airport is owned by the same people who run the Frankfurt airport.  (Fraport)

Parting remarks: 

Even more than Germany, cash is king in Kos. Car rentals and paying for hotels are in cash -- the hotel with our multi-legged visitor was about 30 Euro a night,  and the replacement 40 or 44 Euro a night.

Forgot to post this on day 1. Are these things you hear cicadas? Or, what is the Greek analog? To me, they sounded screechy-er than cicadas.

Kos is really really windy on the North and west shores, and calm on the south. Makes it, I think, a good compromise for people where e.g. one person wants beaches for swimming and sunning and the other just wants to wind/kite-surf all week.

The people were generally friendly and we never had the impression that anyone was trying to take advantage of us. When buying tasty cheese, the guy at the store said hey actually that is going to be (such and such amount --i.e. price in register was higher than labeled, due to the cost of this shipment) Is that ok or should I put it back? That is, even though we can't read the receipt, he let us know about this 20 cent difference.

I don't tend to visit many places more than once, but could recommend Kos -- although maybe rent a car. The bus system is star-shaped or maybe finger-shaped, radiating out from Kos-town, which makes it hard to get from point A to point B without going all the way back to Kos-town, making a 30 minute car ride into a 2 hr bus ride with a change at Kos-town.