Whirlwind Bavaria

Europe » Germany » Bavaria » Neuschwanstein
September 26th 2009

Published: October 28th 2009

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Anth Steph

Fam in front of Neuschwanstein Castle

A Czech long weekend was all the excuse we needed for a whirlwind trip of Bavaria with our friends Kate and Garrett (usually referred to by accident as Gate and Carrot...I think it's called a spoonerism?). Don't know what the name of holiday was, but chances are it was in honour of a saint drowned by the king, or a priest tarred and feathered for not revealing the confessions of the queen, or something just as random and medieval. Whatever it was we managed to do a lot of driving in 2 full days taking in the fairytale Neuschwanstein, Oktoberfest Munich and medieval Rothenburg ob ber Tauber.

The original aim was just Neuschwanstein (whose pronunciation eluded me the whole trip). But Munich was pretty much on the way, and we were passing around lunch time so we stopped. It was great timing because we landed smack bang in the middle of Oktoberfest. And even though it wasn't night, the place was packed with tourists, decorations and enough lederhosen to sink a Village People battleship. Fun to watch 😊

We arrived in Fussen just in time to see the magic castle disappear into the clouds from the end of our

Incredible view from Neuschwanstein Balcony

The Alps in the background look painted. Also there is the 'other' castle, Hohenschwangau.

driveway. The next morning we made the trek up the mountain to see it properly. It was built by the crazy Ludwig II of Bavaria as homage to Richard Wagner. It's insanely ornate with billions of swans, and non subtle references to Wagner's opera. It must have felt a little weird to Wagner to have a guy this obsessed with him! (The castle is probably most famous for being the model for the Disneyland castles.)

Fussen is at the southern end of the 'Romantic Road', and we drove home via Rothenburg which is the Northern point. However we didn't drive the whole winding Romantic Road...we took the autobahn, which was less romantic, but a lot quicker. Rothenburg is a really beautiful medieval walled city and we enjoyed walking around it for a few hours. It was a Sunday evening so everything was closed, so maybe we'll have to go back sometime to check out all the cool shop windows we saw. 😊

So there's our Whirlwind Bavarian tour!

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Anth & Steph

Anth Steph

Hi! We are Australians living in Prague, having moved from Sydney at the start of 2007. We've travelled as much as possible and this is a record of our adventures, and our attempt to keep in touch with friends back in Australia. It's fair to say that these experiences have really changed how we look at the world and life. Since starting this adventure we've added a 3rd member to our travelling party (little D), so the intensity of our travels has dropped off somewhat. Still we love exploring this incredible world when we get the opportunity. If you want to receive an email when we publis... full info