October 17th-18th, 2023
After
visiting Dachau, I drove about an hour and a half south to the Bavarian town of
Füssen, located a kilometer from the Austrian
border. The main reason I came here was
to visit Independence/Skyman, one of my paragliding suppliers. I wanted to meet some of their staff whom
I’ve been working with over the past 8-9 years and also check out their
facilities. I spent three hours there on
the morning of the 17th and it was a great visit.
What a beautiful area!
A bonus of
staying in Füssen, apart from it having a very quaint, pedestrian friendly downtown lined
with cobblestone roads and old buildings, was that the Neuschwanstein Castle was nearby. The name probably doesn’t sound familiar to
you, but I bet you have seen pictures of it.
It is a tall, white castle, with a few towers, situated high on a
hillside and it looks like it is straight out of a Disney movie. As I mentioned in my first post of this trip,
back in 1995 after university, when I went backpacking through Europe, I
lugged around a thick Lonely Planet book for Western Europe and this castle was
on the front cover.
Unfortunately, when I had looked for tickets to tour the
inside of the castle a month and a half ago while still in Canada, the dates
were already sold out. However, Markus,
the main guy I deal with at Independence, fired up the website while I was
still at his facility and lo and behold, there were a few last minute tickets
for an audio guide that afternoon…sweet.
After parking the car, it was supposed to be a 40 minute
walk up to the castle. Well, that must
be for real slow pokes as it only took me 20.
It is an impressive building that’s for sure. I had 45 minutes until my audio tour was to
start so I hiked up to the Marienbrücke (bridge), that has a fantastic view back
towards the castle and to the flatland below.
On my hike up, I ran into this Taiwanese family that I met the night before at the Il Pescatore restaurant. They insisted that we get a picture together.
The castle was built by Ludwig II, the son of Maximillian II
who was the King of Bavaria. Maximillian
constructed the nearby Hohenschwangau Castle where Ludwig lived for most of his
life, and the castle I would be visiting the next day. Maximillian past away when Ludwig was only 18
years old so Ludwig became the new young king of Bavaria. When Ludwig died, under suspicious circumstances,
when he was only 40 years old and never saw the completion of Neuschwanstein.
Most walls of the rooms inside the castle were adorned with paintings
that were painted right onto the wall, not typical canvasses with frames. They depicted various folklore stories and
honestly, not something that I would want in my house. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed
inside the castle. The tour was only
half an hour long, so we definitely didn’t see the whole castle. I couldn’t help but think what a bitch it
would have been to heat the place. I also
wondered how you would find someone else in this massive building without the
modern technology of a phone or radio!
The next morning I returned to tour the inside of the lesser
Hohenschwangau Castle. Schwangau literally translates to “Swan
District” and the swan was represented many times throughout the castle, from
paintings to tapestry to chandeliers.
The first room that we entered had an amazing billiard table made from oak
or mahogany, complete with ivory pool balls.
Once again, we were not allowed to take pictures inside the castle…not
sure why.
Ludwig II grew up in the castle and after his father died
and he when he was 24 years old, he began construction of the more massive and
elaborate Neuschwanstein castle. In his
bedroom in Hohenschwangau, he had a big telescope, not to gaze at the stars,
but to keep an eye on the construction of his fancy new castle!
Ludwig was also a patron and friend of composer Richard
Wagner and provided him with enough money that Wagner could just focus on writing
operas and other pieces of musical work.
Wagner was an occasional guest at Hohenschwangau.
Returning back to Füssen, I walked around the downtown area before heading back to the hostel. That night I went back to the same restaurant
as the night before, Il Pescatore, as the food was fantastic, the wait staff
friendly and decent prices. Tomorrow I’m
off to Innsbruck.
I don't normally take foodie pics, but look at this!
Off to Innsbruck!
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