Fussen and Neuschwannstein Castle

Fussen is the gateway town to the very popular tourist destination of Neuschwannstein Castle. Built by "mad" King Ludwig, Neuschwannstein is the model for the Disneyland castle. We took a very early train to Fussen sans coffee so when we arrived, were in no mood to seek out a quaint Zimmer to rent. Instead we stayed in the middle of town at the very well appointed Hotel Hirsch (the Stag Hotel) which had a lovely view of Fussen's less spectacular and sparsely visited castle, and the main street below.

Interesting basalt column fountain outside the TI in Fussen; it reminded me of the pillar basalts that are common in central Washington. The top of each colum rotated and sprayed water.

The view from our room of Fussen's castle.

We'd missed the morning bus to Neuschwannstein, but as it was only a 5 KM distance, we decided to walk and were very glad we did. It was a picturesque walk along a paved hike/bike trail through the high alpine meadowlands and forest. The trail was surprisingly flat, with the mountains upon which the castle is built rising abruptly only at the very end of the journey.

Eerily blue/green lake on the way to the castle. Kearson and I debated whether the color was indicitive of pollution or purity of the waters.

Alpine cows, complete with bells, grazing near the trail.

A glimpse of the castle in the distance.

As we arrived in the tiny launch point for castle tours, and began to wind our way up the steep road to the gate, we catch a peek of a turret.

At last we arrive at the gate to the castle to wait for our tour group to be called. The castle is quite new (only a couple hundred years old) which is why it looks so well preserved.

The tour of the castle interior was somewhat dissappointing. Only guided tours are allowed, the tour groups are large and frequent, and picture taking inside the castle is strictly prohibited. The castle tour ends up, I think not coincidentally, in the gift shop. Despite this, there is some interesting discussion of King Ludwig's fascination with Wagner and his ultimate suspicious demise - but you might better spend your tour dollar on a good guide book if you're interested in that and can stand to not see the inside. We were able to get a picture of Mariensbrucke (Marion's Bridge) through one of the castle windows.

After the tour we hiked up to Mariensbrucke and asked a fellow tourist to snap a picture of us. The castle is breathtaking from here!

If you are adventuresome and have a few days in Fussen, you can Paraglide in the surrounding mountains. See that spec?? That's a paraglider! Kearson teases me that I wasn't quick enough to get any of the mountains in the background to add perspective to this photo. :)

Panoramic view of the mountains and lakes surrounding Fussen and Neuschwannstein. Inspired by the view, and fortified by a mass, we hiked back to Fussen with me singing "Val de Ree, Val de Rah!!!" the whole way.

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