Mounte Saint Odile

Yesterday, I went back to Mount Saint Odile with my friend Yvette to continue a walk we'd started last year. This time, instead of only walking for a couple of hours, we walked for four and a half hours and so really had the chance to follow the Pagan wall as it circled around the old monastery. The wall really is a grand old thing - built by the Celts, it stretches over 10km and is made of immense rectangular stones. As we walked through the rowan, birch, and pine forest, listening to the wind rustling through the leaves, and the sad whistle of a lone buzzard, we talked about the mystery of this wall - how it could have been built, why it was built, and who were the people that thought it so necessary to build such a big wall even though they didn't (apparently) build houses or even any type of shelter alongside.

Coming home, I did some research on the Celts and found out that Alsace was once part of the Hallstatt culture of Celts. One site notes: In the central Hallstatt regions toward the end of the period, very rich graves of high-status individuals under large tumuli are found near the remains of fortified hilltop settlements. And, indeed, our walk included a visit to a tumuli grave sites.

When you look at a picture of the site today, with Mount St Odile crowning the hillstop, it doesn't take much imagination to realise why the Celts chose this location. More difficult, though is imagining how they must have lived under those rowan, birch and pine trees where the wind rustles and a lone buzzard sadly whistles.