Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
thirst. Colmar's river was canalized this way for medieval industry—to provide water for
the tanners, to allow farmers to barge their goods into town (see the steps leading from
docks into the market), and so on.
Walk along the flower-box-lined canal to the end of Rue de la Poissonnerie. At #2,
Chez Thierry would love to let you sample their tasty sausage.
Half-Timbered Houses:
Asyoustroll,noticethepicturesquehouses.Thepastelcol-
orsarejustfromthisgeneration—designedtopumpupthecutenessofColmarfortourists.
But the houses themselves are historic and real as can be.
Whereas houses of the rich were made of stone, anyone on a budget built half-
timbered structures. The process: Build your frame with pine beams; create a weave of
little branches between the beams which you'd fill with mud, straw, and gunk; let it dry;
and plaster over it. (This is called “wattle and daub” in England.) Timbers were soaked in
vinegar and then treated with ox blood to be waterproof. If you find unrestored timbers
(like the house at #8) you can see the faint red tint of ox blood.
When the rich (accustomed to the fine stone buildings of Paris) moved here in the
18th century, they disguised the cheap wattle and daub with a thick layer of plaster. To
them, the half-timbers looked cheap...and German. To be French was
à la mode
and that
meant no half-timbers. Today, in the 21st century, half-timbered has become charming, so
the current owners have peeled away the plaster to reveal the old beams.
Richorpoor,allhomessatonastonebase.Thereareseveralexplanations:toprevent
them from sinking into the marshy ground; to prevent the moist ground from rotting the
timbers; and/or to preserve the ground floor in case of a fire—so commonplace back then.
You can identify true stone homes by their windowsills: Wooden sills mean they're half-
timbered, whereas stone sills indicate the entire building is built of stone.
Asyouexplorethetown,noticehowupperfloorsarecantileveredout.Thiswasboth
a structural support trick and a tax dodge, as real-estate taxes were based on the square
footage of the ground floor.
Enjoy the old timbered houses toward the end of Rue de la Poissonnerie. On your
right is “Pont de Fanny,” a bridge so popular with tourists for its fine views that you see
lots of fannies lined up along the railing. Walk to the center of the bridge, and enjoy the
scene.Totherightyou'llseeexamplesoftheflat-bottomgondolasusedtotransportgoods
on the small river. Today, they give tourists sleepy, scenic, 30-minute canal tours (de-
scribed earlier).
• Cross the bridge to find a fountain in the square to your left. Another Bartholdi work,
this one was commissioned to honor Jean Roesselmann, a 13th-century town provost who
dieddefendinghisbelovedcitywhenthebishopofStrasbourgtriedunsuccessfullytoseize
it. Take the second right on Grande Rue. Walk for several blocks to the Customs House
