2024 Sept 7 Saturday

Fussen

We have booked the mandatory reservations for a tour of Neuschwanstein Castle for Saturday evening at 5:50 pm and a reservation for Hohenschwangau Castle for Sunday morning. Hohenschwan, the town where the castles are located, is a short bus ride away from Fussen so there are logistics involved in getting back and forth.

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day and crowds were enjoying the area. Tembelbach  is quite near with cable cars to the top of the mountain, and is quite popular with hang gliders.

We splurged and dropped off laundry rather than spending a couple of hours doing it ourselves. That allowed us to get to Hohenschwangau by early afternoon and start with the museum.

No pictures are allowed inside the castles or the museum.

Richard did not create a Relive video for the day.

Neuschwanstein Castle as seen from Hohenschwangau. Ludwig II, King of Bavaria, began building it in 1869 as a monument to medieval culture and kinship.
The Museum of the Bavarian Kings.
Hohenschwangau Castle, rebuilt from ruins of a castle dating to the 1200’s, was built by Maximilian II in the Gothic style.
We’ve made it past the initial ticket check and now await in the courtyard for the time of our tour.
This bridge would have required even more hiking but looks down on the Neuschwanstein Castle. I’m sure it would have provided a great photo op, but time did not allow it for us.
A closer look at the outside of the Neuschwanstein Castle.

Ludwig II was the son of Maximillian II who built the Hohenschwangau Castle. He was born there and grew up with his brother, Otto. Their mother, Marie, loved the outdoors and hiked in the area nearly every day, often taking her two sons with her. Ludwig inherited his interest in Medieval history from his father and his love of the outdoors and the area from his mother.

 

When Ludwig was only 18, his father died and he became the King of Bavaria. This continued the Wittelsbachs line dating back to 1180 with Ludwig the Bavarian.

Ludwig still lived at Hohenschwangau Castle but began making plans for his nearby Neuschwanstein Castle. He was infatuated with Richard Wagner and the history behind much of his music, and made plans to decorate his new castle with the tales.

Ludwig II never completely finished Neuschwanstein Castle and only lived in it just over 160 days. Political troubles in Bavaria caused problems and Ludwig was deposed. When he was being held, he was killed at Lake Starnberg under mysterious circumstances. His brother, Otto became King, but was soon declared insane.

One more walk down the hill and bus ride into town. The end of another glorious day.

2 Responses

  1. We visited the Neuschwanstein Castle about 15 years ago and were very impressed with how beautiful and how it stood out overlooking the surrounding countryside. Was less impressed with our interior tour of the castle and think it was because the castle was not occupied for that long of a period of time. Stayed in nearby Oberammergau for several days and loved the town and surrounding areas. We were booked to see the Passion Play there in 2020 which is held every 10 years but it was cancelled because of Covid. Anxious to go back after seeing your daily pictures of this beautiful countryside. Looks like you avoided rain this day which I’m sure enhanced your travels. Anxious to hear how you compare your daily sightseeing so far to what you experienced on the Camino. So impressed with your preparation, physical conditioning and ability to improvise!
    Dan and Wendy