Little Venice - Colmar, France

Colmar is a city in Alsace, France. It was the last town in France to be freed after the second World War, on February 2nd, 1945.

Colmar is situated 64 km south-southwest of Strasbourg, on the Lauch River. It is connected to the Rhine River by a canal.

Built at the confluence of the Lauch and Thur rivers in Alsace south of Strasbourgh, Colmar dates back to around 823. It became an imperial town in the 1200s.

Some say Colmar is the most beautiful city in Europe, a point that's hard to argue.

With an average annual rainfall level of just 530 mm/m² per year, Colmar is the dryest town in France. This results from the town's location directly to the east of the Vosges Mountains.

Picturesque Colmar is best known for its colorful half-timbered houses of the 16th and 17th centuries and the canal-filled neighborhood of "Little Venice".

Colmar's chief religious attractions are the Eglise Saint-Martin, a 14th-century Gothic church with medieval sculpture and stained glass, and the Unterlinden Museum, which showcases the famous Isenheim Altar (c. 1515).

The city centre is beautiful and the houses are a must see.

St Martin's Church, Colmar