At the end of the Romantic Road is a fairy tale castle on a hill

The fairy tale Neuschwanstein castle built by King Ludwig II

Sunday we deviated from the Romantic Road and went to Oberammergau, a name I’m aware of for the Passion Play, though I didn’t know what that meant. Apparently when the bubonic plague was rife, in 1633, the church wardens made a deal with God, they promised to hold the Passion Tragedy play, of Christ’s life and death, every 10 years if the village were to be spared. They were, and they did the first performance in 1664, though now it is every year ending in 0. It takes 2000 village inhabitants and is performed for 5 months. Oberammergau itself was an attractive little town, though we expected more from it on a Sunday as obviously did the other people drifting around looking for something to do. The painted houses were amazing.

Have a look at our short Youtube video of our journey to the end of the Romantic Road:

We really should have learned by now to take advantage of available facilities. We hadn’t filled with

Linderhof Palace

water as we left Landsberg as the site at Oberammergau had free water, if you took the €12 parking option. However on arrival the campsite is being refurbished, so the only available space is the €7 option with no services. They told us we could stay for free, but no, no services, and no, they wouldn’t give us the WiFi code. Fortunately we had showered, done the toilet, and had just done a drive so Ted was charged. That’ll be a free night then (Parking location: 47°35'20.9"N 11°04'22.2"E). Sadly it was cold, wet and foggy, and had been all day, so although we knew there were mountains we couldn’t see them. The following morning was clearer, so a grand view while preparing the chicken

A snow swan, symbol of Ludwig II

casserole to go into the Mr D thermal cooker, which we now call ‘the Dog’ so when we are wandering, driving, sightseeing, whatever, we can gleefully say “And dinners in the Dog”. 

We were headed to Schloss Linderhof, the only castle built by King Ludwig II that he actually saw completed and lived in. We are feeling a bit sorry for Ludwig II, he was the most beloved king to rule Bavaria, though his parents paid him little attention. He was a sensitive soul, fascinated by romantic epics, architecture and music, briefly engaged to the sister of the Austrian empress, he never

Linderhof Palace in its mountain setting

married, preferred the company of men, and worshipped composer Richard Wagner. He became King at 18 and was initially enthusiastic, until 7years later he became a puppet king after the creation of the German Reich. This did mean he got a good allowance to spend on drink, draw up castle plans, and view concerts and operas in private. He spent 15 years at this, till his (not the state) finances were in a terrible state, and his erratic behaviour (he seemed to be nocturnal, sleeping all day, and being awake at night) put him at odds with his cabinet. They had him declared as mentally unfit to rule and removed him to Schloss

Artists impression of Linderhof Palace. We couldn't get here as the gardens were closed

Berg, where a few days later he and his doctor were found drowned by the lake in just a few feet of water. No one knows what happened, but there are many conspiracies....

Linderhof castle was beautiful, though sadly as covered in snow they had closed all of the gardens with the various buildings built within. The castle was small, and heavily influenced by King Louis XV who he was obsessed with. No pictures were allowed indoors which is a shame as I can’t describe the Rococo interior, it was amazing, too much to possibly live with, but it was amazing.

UNESCO listed Weis church

Back on track with the Romantic Road we headed up to the village of Wies, which has an amazing church, for somewhere in the middle of nowhere, again completely over the top. A quick stop and we were on our way to Füssen, the final stop.

The attraction here are Neuschwanstein castle and Hohenschwangau castle. The latter was where King Ludwig II grew up, the former one of the many castles Ludwig designed, a Romantic medieval castle that Disney based his Sleeping Beauty castle on. They are very touristy, but from the outside you can see why. We decided to only go in Neuschwanstein, assuming we could

The fabulous interior of Weis church

get tickets. We cycled to the ticket office, by the lower Hohenschwangau, and got tickets for 1 1/2 hours time. They have to include the 40 minutes it will take you to get up to the castle in the booking time, not that it took us that long, but hey. It gave us a chance to look around the outside including the Marienbrucke ( Mary’s Bridge) which was signed as closed, but was open and gave amazing views of the castle and waterfall. I also met a very friendly black and white cat, both on the way up and down, I did try to explain to her that the doorstep she was sitting on said it was shut till the 6th December, but she didn’t really listen.

The castle was amazing, again, no pictures. It was impersonal as tours were every 10 minutes, it was a bit like a sausage factory, you had to go in a group, but only had an audio tour, with the guide pressing play, when nearly everyone had got to a room! We are glad we went, his ideas were completely way out, we walked through a manufactured stone grotto, somewhere on the 2nd floor. The artwork and decoration were again over the top, many based completely on mythology inspired by the works of Richard Wagner. He never saw it finished and only managed 177 days in residence, before they said he was mad, removing him, and then opening the castle to the public the following year.

Inside the Medieval walled town of Fussen

Hohenschwangau castle

We rushed back planning on having lunch at the Vietnamese restaurant that owns the parking we are in so were very disappointed to find it shut all day on a Tuesday, with no signs to this effect. We made up with pizza from a little hut opposite instead (Campsite location: 47°34'56.1"N 10°42'07.8"E).

Today, cold and grey, with low cloud we went for a cycle . The views aren’t as good as they could be, but at least it wasn’t raining, or snowing. For the first half of the ride round the Hopfensee lake we kept coming upon little woodcarvings which were a joy. Back into Füssen we didn’t get very far before I called Brian back as

Neuschwanstein castle on the hill

it appeared there were outdoor clothing factory shops or outlets down here. Normally we wouldn’t bother, but my approach shoes have bitten the dust leaving me with very cold wet feet after a rainy day in Oberammergau and a snowy day at Linderhof. Success at a reasonable price, hurrah, though it did curtail our trip to the Lech fall. 

Might go out after blogging, but I bet we don’t, it’s jolly cold out there, and I’ve got mussels to prepare, for the second time in a week, but at €1.39 for a kg too good to miss.

Waiting outside Neuschwanstein castle for our guided tour (no photos allowed inside unfortunately)

Hohenschwangau castle and the amazing Alpine scenery from Neuschwanstein castle

Marienbrucke bridge from Neuschanstein castle

Jackie holding the castle in her hand (all the Chinese tourists were doing it so we thought we would too!)

The perfect view of the castle with Fussen and the Alpine mountains behind

Looking down over the bridge at the waterfall far below

A plan of the castle showing, in grey, towers that were originally planned by Ludwig II but never built after his death

Posters for sale outside one of the shops. They weren't expensive, but we have nowhere to hang one

Here's another one. We'd like to have seen it like this but, although there is snow about, its not this low

On our bike ride today round Hopfensee lake

Which had, at regular intervals, birds carved from tree stumps using a chain saw 

Isn't this just idyllic? Misty mountains across the lake