Exploring France’s MOST CHARMING Town! 🇫🇷 Food, Wine and City Tour of EGUISHEIM!

Well, I think we have done it. We have found the most charming village in all of France. It's like walking through a Disney movie or something. Good morning adventurers. Good morning. And welcome to the village of Eggisheim. Are we saying that right? Probably not. Eggisheim? It's a German word, but it's in France. Yeah, this village actually sits on the northeastern part of France, right near the German border. So there's a lot of Heims around this area. This town is just about as charming as it gets. From the top down, you can see the village is very small. It is made up of these like concentric circles with the village square right in the middle. There are these adorable cobblestone streets lined with timber frame houses. It's all just begging to be wandered through, especially in slow motion. In 2013, this village was voted village préféré des Francais. The French people's favorite village, I think is what that means. Well, I can see why. In 2025, Alison votes it that. So this village is in the Alsace region. And if you are not into wine, you may not know what that means. But if you are into wine, you definitely do because this is a famous wine growing region. They're actually known for their Riesling. Did you know that? I did. I mean, they have a little bit of everything, but white wine is what they specialize in, which is perfect on a warm, sunny day or warm, cloudy day. But our plan is to just walk around this enchanting little village, hopefully get out and explore some of the surrounding areas, try some wine, try some grub. Oh, yes, because this region is also known for some very interesting, very hearty foods. We got to get our steps in and work up our appetite. Well, there's plenty of rough cobblestone roads to do that on. I keep tripping every two seconds. I know, you want to be looking up, but then you like go fly. I can't tell you how many times my flip flop has just gone flying off my foot today. I love that this town is so well preserved. That's one of our favorite things about Europe. You can stroll these streets and kind of know what it was like to live there 200, 300, 400 years ago. Just imagine a lot more clip clopping horses and carriages, a little bit dirtier, a little bit stinkier, probably. I presume back then people just kind of threw slop out of the windows. That's what I'm always envisioning. I'm just imagining you come out in your Sunday best, you just got back from church and then slop all over you. You know, I think I might have found the old slop buckets. There they are. I think you might be right. That is just like one hook away from all of that falling down on us. It's always nice when they have a map because I have absolutely no idea where I am in here. You get lost in like two seconds, but apparently it's just sweet as you see. I guess it's not hard. Once you find the outer road, it's just a circle. But there are so many little alleyways, so many adorable little puppies in this town. There have been so many. They have a lot of these little teeny tiny like edge buildings that are so amazing. It's a cool little staircase. I know. I don't know if it's just like a little storehouse or what, because this is definitely like the equivalent of a hobbit home, but enchanting. Love it. Well, for any of you who are ever wondering if our tiny home was up to code, I mean, is this up to code? I feel like we're doing pretty dang good. Yeah, it's a good like two feet or so off kilter. Walking around in there must be a little disorienting, especially if you have a couple of glasses of wine. What's cool, though, is it's all angled and then built perfectly straight on top of that. How does that stay up? We told you this area is known for their wine. Check it out. They just have it right on tap here. I wish. Dreams. Goals. In a fantasy land. When I'm a million billionaire, I want to have one of these in my living room. Well, I'm in love with all of the building facades. Each one has its own shutters with different colors. They have different decorations on the outside of the house. But what I'm in love with are all the doors. Every single door seems different. Some of them got some like greenery on them. Some of them are really old. Some of them are kind of new looking. I was reading that this town is pretty enchanting in winter. Winter is definitely a different vibe with a bunch of snow and they do, I think they go all out for Christmas, but you don't get all the flowers and the amazing greenery. And I imagine everything wouldn't be so open to the outside. I think it would be a lot more closed off. So I think summertime is the time to come. We are actually staying right in the heart of the city center in a historic little apartment. And what is that you see over my shoulder? Well, that's a stork nest filled with lots and lots of little storks. And that is actually something that this town is known for. So don't just take in the beautiful views. You got to look up and see the birds. The town, and I think a lot of this region, is known for having these storks that nest on their rooftops. They seem to pick the tallest points and build these gigantic nests. Their nests look like just a gust of wind could blow that whole thing over. How does it survive? I don't know. A big storm came through last night. They're all still here today, but I imagine sometimes when the wind picks up, I mean, wouldn't it just blow those over? You'll also notice the patina of white underneath all of the nests. Lovely, lovely pooh, stork pooh. So we decided to come back to our little apartment, take a bit of a break, get a little bit of work done. It's actually been really tough because all of our search results are stuck in French. The currencies are all in euros. And to top it off, I can't watch any of my stories. But luckily, I have got just the thing for that. A surfing shark. You know, I knew it was coming and it still scared me. Listen, you guys, internet security is super serious business. And that is why we are once again partnering with Surfshark on this video. It's definitely not because we like to dress up like sharks. Definitely not. All we do is turn on Surfshark VPN and we can browse just like we're back in the good old U.S. of A. Everybody's gone surfing, surfing U.S.A., and then I eat the surfer because I'm a shark. This is getting a little weird. Yeah, I think we might have gone overboard. Every site has trackers and annoying pop ups, but Surfshark blocks all that BS with one button. Plus, it keeps us a lot safer when we're on foreign Wi-Fi networks, which for us is all the friggin' time. Yeah, and sometimes you can even find cheaper prices on plane tickets just by turning on your VPN. And most importantly, Surfshark can get you around that pesky geo-restricted content. You can use our link to get an extra four months of Surfshark and you can try it risk free with a 30-day money back guarantee. Shark costume not included. Only in your nightmares. It started raining a bit, so we're just hiding in the city center and watching all of the storks. They're just so many. Just when you think you've seen them all, you find like 10 more nests. Yeah, there's a big old nest on the church over there and the guy's dancing for some reason. There's another one on the chimney. There's some flying overhead. They really make a kind of creepy sound too. It's the sound from like sci-fi movies that you hear right before you get eaten by some huge creature. So when you're investigating some like cave on an alien planet, that's the sound you hear. And then lo and behold, it's just a stork. It's just a stork. And you're on Earth. They're so cute, but why would they make that noise? In the town square, you're going to find this really magnificent fountain with a statue right in the middle of it. That is a former Pope who was born in this area, Pope Leo. He was born in the year 1002. What? That was just a little bit ago. He is actually who this town is named after. I was wondering because it's kind of a strange name, right? Eggisheim? Man, every time I look up, I see another stork nest. They're so big. They're like this big. They remind me of eagle's nests. Yeah, I would have thought it was an eagle's nest if I didn't see a bunch of goofy storks in it. It's pretty nuts to see how these little structures are actually built, huh? It's almost horrifying because it's like they just took any old thing they had laying around them, stuffed it in a hole, and then covered it with some concrete. Yeah, so on this one here, you've got a bunch of old stones, some bricks, some plaster on top of that, kind of the finished part of the house at the top. There's some plywood over there, some metal, but I guess eventually this will be restored. I don't know. As you walk around town, you'll see them doing some construction, but they try to keep all the buildings in the original style. So it remains the most charming village in France. The most. How would you like to try a wolf burger? I'd try it once. For science. Somebody out there has eaten a wolf burger, right? Well, that's what this region is known for. Oh. Yeah, that's the wolf burger house. That's where you get it. Are you ready to experience the product of terror? That's what I thought it said. Oh. It's terroir, which is, you know, like the land. I was like, it's a tea house. How is that terrifying? It's a terrible, terrifying tea house. Maybe it's filled with the freaking storks, though, and they just yell at you the whole time. The first of our food adventures here, we got ourselves a pretzel, which is just a pretzel with a B. They call them pretzels here. But it's just classic and perfect looking. It just looked delicious hanging on that rack over there. And when you walk around, you're going to find so many little vendors with these hanging out. Some have cheese on them. Some are sweet. We just went with the classic, though, with some sea salt on there. Ooh, it's buttery. Mm-hmm. That was a good idea. Yes. This is what I needed. There's a bunch of gaping holes like this into all these structures. They're full of secrets. Stick your hand in there. No. No mercy. Come on, do it. You'll get a bit off by a stork. There's too many cobwebs in there. I don't like it. And trash and birds and spiders. We keep A, finding new streets we haven't been down. Even though the town is approximately this big. B, everywhere you turn, it's just prettier and prettier. It's kind of interesting in this town. You'll have roads that are like this that they've paved, then you'll have cobblestone streets and then you'll have just gravel dirt streets. Technically, nobody's allowed in the center of town, no cars, except for people who live and work here. So it's very nice. You're not constantly dealing with traffic. It's mostly just foot traffic. And also very, very quiet. Very quiet. Aside from the weird sound that the storks make. The creeping of the storks. I feel like I've gotten 50 shots of you just roaming through the streets because every single shot looks amazing. He's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. Walk here. Okay, wait, wait, wait. Now do it here. All right, so walk here. Let's get an epic shot. I'm pretty good at walking. Oh yeah. Nailed it. Each one of these doors is completely unique. I mean, look at this one. How old is this? And look how they've patched it. Look. They even tried to kind of cut it into the shape of the hole. We're heading out of the town and it is pretty difficult to navigate these little streets. This is a tight little turn. Very glad we have a tiny little vehicle. And now you know why the corners are all dinged up on all these buildings. Or they just put a rock in the way like this place did. Kind of crazy. We were just in vineyards and flat land and then now all of a sudden we're in the forest. But this is the route to the Cinq Chateaux. Cinq Chateaux, yes. There are five out here, but I think we're only going to see trois. Take the next right on the route des Trois Chateaux, then turn left. Route des Trois Chateaux. There you go. All right, how many animated skeletons do you see in here? The only way to get in here was to be thrown or dropped in, it looks like. As you were driving around the area, it is impossible to miss three towers on the highest hill in the area. I guess I already said in the area. Just try not to say area again. Okay, I won't say it again. This one is the oldest. It's actually the middle one. It was built in the 1100s and then destroyed in the 1100s. The other two were built in the 1200s and then partially destroyed. And then by the 1400s, they were all completely destroyed. Yeah, it was actually built in 1006 and then destroyed by 1026. Very, very short-lived. But what's really cool, if you'll direct your attention over here, you get a beautiful view of the region. And that is actually the town of Iggesheim down there. That's crazy. So people were living up here, at least for some time, and just looking down on the subjects or the peons below or whatever. This area has a lot of history. So the Romans were here. And this was apparently originally a Roman watchtower that they ended up building the first castle on. And then it was part of Germany and then part of France, then Germany, then France. It went back and forth. Now it's France, but with a German name. We also pulled up this picture that's a view of the towers from 1900. And what's really weird is that the whole hill is really bare back then. I guess they were planting vines or something on it, but now it's all completely overgrown. Come look at how thick these walls are. I can't believe it. At the bottom here, this wall is like 10 foot thick. So this is the backside of that main tower, and it's completely destroyed. How did they even do it? Oh, that's what I would love to know. Some guy with like a little chisel here for 12 years. I envision some guy riding in on a dragon and like... How else can you do it? That's obviously the only way that it could have been done. We really wanted to get up close and personal with some of the vines in the area. And what's really cool is that apparently you can just kind of walk through them. There's a road going right through this epic vineyard. By you can walk through them, we mean there's no sign that says do not walk through them. So we are doing it. Yes. All the vines are all filled out and there's little grapes forming on them. Looks delicious. Yeah, from what I understand, I think in August they have some pretty cool wine festivals here. I think that's when the vines are actually like... Or the grapes are big enough to harvest. You guys, we learned recently that they get a lot of wine from a single vine. I don't remember exactly how much it is, but it's bottles and bottles. So you're looking at just like 100,000 bottles more than that, I think. It's a beautiful sight. Speaking of bottles of wine, I think I'm overlooking at the vines. I think we need to try some. I think I was thinking the exact same thing. I almost poked you in the eye right there. Don't do that. Okay, but you were saying wine tasting. Here we come. Well, it was nearly impossible to pick a place to do a wine tasting because there are about a million in this town. But I think we have one. I mean, this is beautiful. And it's away from the crowds. This is the Joseph Freudenreich Tasting Room. It's in this little courtyard surrounded by these awesome little yellow buildings. And of course, greenery everywhere like most of the town. But this little beauty is what the area is known for. This is one of the Riesling that should be a little bit older. Eric also has one, but his is younger. I'd like to think it's because I'm more mature out of the two of us. You definitely are. That is smooth and buttery and chilled and perfect. And that's the best we can do at describing wine. That is all I can do. Cheers. Tiny as cheers. Yeah, I love these little glasses. So cute. Well, you couldn't ask for a better dinner spot, y'all. We are right in the square. The sun has come out. The storks are doing their weird things on the rooftops. Dude, that weird cackling thing they do is creepy. He was just like bending his neck backwards and doing it over and over. I don't love it. But what I do love is our dinner. Because we are here, we decided to try a local dish. So this is choucroute garni en cinq viand. Or sauerkraut with five kinds of meat. This, believe it or not, is supposed to be a portion for one. But we are making it a portion for two. It's definitely for two. It's only about 22 euros, actually. This is a classic Alsatian dish, which I guess is from the Alsace region. All of the meat on here should be pork. There's thick cut pork bacon. There's pork sausage, another kind of pork sausage. This might be some other cut of pork down there. And then a little sliced up potato. One potato. And then a huge, huge heap of sour cream in the middle there. Sour cream? Sauerkraut. This is definitely sauerkraut. No, yes, you're right. But sour cream might be good on this. Alright, I'm going to stick with the good old slice of ham. Well, it's exactly what you would hope for. Just a beautifully salty, fatty piece of pork. And then some really tangy sauerkraut. It's a very simple dish, obviously. There's not really a lot of seasoning on top of it. Maybe they cook it in a little bit of seasoning. The meat, there's nothing. This is just the cooked meat. There's nothing else on it. But the sauerkraut, whoa. It is so much better than anything I think I've ever gotten in the States. It's a lot tangier and lighter, I would say. Well, I drank all my beer, but I'm going to cheers it anyway. Cheers. This is actually our final night in the region. Yeah. Man, this trip came and went like that. And just like that, we are back in the States. And we realized we forgot to do an ending to this video. Yeah, so quite a bit of time has passed. But it was really fun to relive our time in France. Yeah, obviously we had a blast exploring all those countries in Europe. And we hope that we inspired you guys to go do the same. Because it was worth it. So we're back in the States, but only temporarily. We had some things we wanted to do back here. Some people to meet up with. Trips to take. But we will be back to Europe in no time. I promise. For those of you who want more. Also, I got accidental bangs. So be kind, please, in the comments. It was a mistake. Yeah, she went in and tried to get her hair trimmed. And she said, no bangs. But I guess the guy heard bangs. So he went... Yeah, so I'm dealing with that. Bangs in the summertime, not a great thing. Okay, I guess that's it. Goodbye, adventurers. We'll see you on the road.