Travelled : 64 kilometres from Garmisch-Parkenkirchen to Fussen in Bavaria.
Visited : Hohenschwangan Castle and Neuschwanstein Castle โฌ46 double
Stayed : Wohnmobileplatz Fussen โฌ14 per day, the usual service, but water extra (as usual). N47.58227 E10.70084
Its been a fun couple of days in Garmisch-Parkenkirchen but if we stay any longer I fear I may become a Lager Lad like Karl. We say goodbye to Teresa and I promise Karl that I’ll be rude to the next Korean I see with a selfie-stick.
A couple of kilometres west we cross into Austria (oops), should have had a closer look at the map. I’ll blame my temporary membership of the Lager Lads for driving in Austria without a vignette. We have a quick look at the map, its a B road to Fussen which is just back in the Motherland, so hopefully no vignette readers.
Its actually a very pleasant drive, the road follows the Isar River along with the rail line. The mountains are high on either side and we seem to be playing tag team with a local train for most of the drive.
Germany
Fussen and it’s castles are considered a highlight of southern Germany and the southern climax to the ‘Romantic Road’ which winds its way down from the Danube.
Its only about a kilometres from our stellplatz to the altstadt in Fussen. The picture does not do this water feature justice. The granite slabs at the top of each column spin around with the force of the upcoming water. Never seen anything like it.
Fussen has a lovely old altstadt situated along the Lech River. There is a myriad of cafes and restaurants sitting on the ground floor of some old buildings, pastel colours obviously dominate. The Bavarian style murals here and there as we wonder about.
The girl at the tourist office recommended being out at the ticket office between 8-9 am. That’s a very early start in camper-car land. A change in the weather is forecast and we want to visit the castle today. Its about 6 kilometres to the ticket office at Hohen-Schwangau.
Visiting Hohen-Schwangau mean lots of stairs and walking. Both castles stand on ridges facing each other. Both have lots of spiral staircase. As usual Pam is fashionable dressed for castle walking. There is a 30-40 walk between castles and a steep walk at that.
Our first castle is Schloos Hohenschwangau. A castle in one form or another has stood on this ridge for more than 1,000 years. Substantially expanded by the Teutonic Knights in the 12th century. Taken over and rebuilt by Maximillian II it was used as a summer pleasure and hunting lodge.
The entry gate to Hohenschwangau Castle. Max’s son King Ludwig moved in virtually full-time in the mid-18th century and gave it another make-over.
The photo police where very active and unfortunately I only managed to snap this inside. The old Chapel by the way.
A courtyard fountain in Hohenschwangau. Ludwig lived here while he planned and oversaw the construction of his masterpiece Neuschwanstein Castle on the opposing ridge. It would appear that when Ludwig was not building castles he led a gay and carefree lifestyle. Strangely Ludwig never married.
Another long steep walk this time to the gates of Neuschwanstein Castle. Claimed to be one of the most visited buildings in Europe and the most photographed.
Neuschwanstein Castle was never completed. So large and tall it’s difficult to capture except from a distance. In 1886 King Ludwig II was deposed as insane and found dead along with his Doctor in Lake Starnberg a few days later.
From the royal apartments on the 4th level. A lovely view of Hohenschwangau village, The Castle and Lake Alpsee. The Austrian border is only a few kilometers to the south, so those mountains in the distance are Austrian.
This is the view of the Neuschwanstein everyone comes to see. Its the view from an old iron bridge straddling two rocky outcrops. Its a steep walk to get there but worth it for this view.
Whilst your standing out there looking at the castle, one thinks to oneself… when the engineer designed this bridge 130 years ago, how many Korean and Chinese tourists was he basing the load calculations on ? We stood on that bridge and took a couple of photos, more and more people appeared and it was suddenly very crowded out there. I like a little risk, but just the same I was glad to be off it.
We had other plans for Fussen, but you cannot buy the weather and the next day was very cold and wet. Not heavy rain just a sleety sort of drizzle, so we dug it and put the heater on and hoped for a break in the weather on Monday.
Travelled: 126 kilometres from Stege in Denmark to Gรผstrow in Germany (plus another 50klm by ferry). Visited: Stege and Gรผstrow Schloss โฌ4.50pp Stayed: Gรผstrow […]
One thought on “Fussen, Germany 2016 ๐ฉ๐ช”
These are the castles I have been dying to see – maybe when we hit the big one from our Wednesday night wins.