Bitche – how can you resist a village with a name like that?

While driving aimlessly across Lorraine I stumbled across a road sign pointing to “Bitche” and I could not help but drive out and see this rural French village:

To me it looked like just about any other small French village – pretty, quiet, quaint.  But then when my eyeballs caught sight of a massive, massive fortress – my head nearly exploded!  This fortress dating back to the 1200’s in this tiny village is almost too huge to really comprehend!

I don’t know exactly how big this “citadel” is . . . but certainly many dozens of football pitches could fit within!