Hiking in Bavaria

One quintessential tourist must see in Germany is Neuschwanstein, or sometimes known as "The Disney Castle" as Walt Disney clearly borrowed from Neuschwanstein for inspiration. This was our first venture since arriving. We drove and left early Saturday morning. The castle was only two and half hours from us, but we did encounter minor delays with construction. 

The weather was less than ideal when we arrived. There was a patchy fog and a light, but constant, rain. As we approached the castle, we pulled off to take a picture from afar. You cannot drive directly there unless you take a tour bus so we parked in a lot, picked up our tickets for the Neuschwanstein tour, and began the estimated 40 minute trek uphill. 

Forty minutes was clearly a very conservative time frame. There were horses pulling carriages and groups of people walking up, but those diversions aside we still reached the castle in about thirty minutes, arriving around noon.

Our tour wasn't until 1:55 leaving us plenty of time to wander the perimeter. There was still a drizzle of rain so we walked five minutes down the path to a restaurant for lunch. We were fortunate to get the next to last table as I many other visitors had the same idea as us!

Things had greatly cleared up by the time we exited. We took some pictures of the grounds while waiting for our tour.

Pictures were not allowed inside which was a bummer, but there was a balcony to take pictures from afterwards. From here you can see Hohenschwangau (Ludwig II's childhood home) and Lake Alpsee. 

The history of the castle was fascinating. King Ludwig II of Bavaria began building Neuschwanstein in 1869 and it was never completed. Throughout the tour, there were ornately carved wooden structres, such as his bed frame and sink basin, and hand painted walls and ceilings, plus a pretty sweet throne hall. Each room had an immense amount of detail. The king was obsessed with swans, which show up frequently throughout the castle, and the composer Richard Wagner. Ludwig II's bedroom had the tale of Tristan and Isolde along the walls, an interestingly depressing choice for bedroom artwork in my opinion. Ludwig II was found dead under mysterious circumstances in 1886 and while certain aspects of the castle were expanded on, it was never finished in the manner Ludwig II had planned. Essentially, Ludwig seemed to be a bit crazy and obsessive, but his obsession and meticulousness lead to a beautiful, majestic creation we stand to enjoy for years to come. In a time where Chicago was beginning to create skyscrapers, Ludwig II was bringing back palaces.

We stayed overnight in nearby Fussen and returned the next morning to explore Hohenschwangau and hike the Tegelberg trail, one of the numerous paths in the area.

View of Neuschwanstein from Hohenschwangau

Lake Alpsee

The infamous view from Marienbrücke (Marie's Bridge). Ludwig II named the bridge after his mother.

We climbed up to Hohenschwangau, and took a back path to Neuschwanstein and Marienbrücke. Of course, we arrived at the bridge just as a bus full of tourists was pulling up. There's nothing like being suspended hundreds of feet above rocks and water on an overly crowded bridge while you have a fear of heights. We took a few pictures and headed off on our hike.

The path wasn't overly steep as a whole, but there were points when Tom turned around and I was a good distance behind.

Some perspective on how high up we climbed, and this was about half way through.

While the majority of the area was a cleared path through trees, as we approached the top the space became slightly more precarious. At one point as you climbed around a mountains edge, there were ropes to hold on to should you lose footing and go straight down. The view from all sides was breathtaking. Once reaching the end, we ate some snacks we brought with, pistachios, pringles, apples, and water. The trip down was easier, although we encountered a large group of hikers at the narrowest point in the path. I just sort of climbed on the side of a rock and didn't budge until everyone made it around me.

Neuschwanstein is absolutely cliche when it comes to places to visit in Germany. However, I learned a lot about the castle and we got an awesome hike in, too. The views were unlike anything I would have imagined and the crisp, clean air along the trail was refreshing.