Füssen

The Disneyland palace soaked in snow

It was hailing in Füssen when I visited the town, small but however came into limelight because of two castles situated there - Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein. Honestly the weather was totally unanticipated. I had only 1 layer of clothing and wore track shoes instead of boots. But it turned out to be a delight to see the Neuschwanstein in snow, more popularly known as the Disneyland palace, or the palace of all palaces in the world, or the gem of all gems, whichever you wanna call it.

The trip to Füssen from München took about 2 hours. And as expected, almost everyone on the train were tourists.

Füssen Bahnhof - Train station

Vom Bahnhof zu den Schlösser (From the train station to the castles)

From the train station, we had to take a bus to the foot of the hill where both castles were. The moment we alighted from the bus, I could see the outstanding, glittering, pearl Neuschwanstein standing proudly on top of the hill:

The snow on the trees made it look like cottonfields. Neuschwanstein at the top.

The foot of the hill was lined up with restaurants, gift shops, guesthouses as well as hotels. All were gracefully designed and painted. As we could see, the whole place was very touristic as millions of people flock to Füssen every year to visit Neuschwanstein.

Schloß Hohenschwangau (lit - Palace of the "High Swan District")

After walking along the pathway at the foot of the hill, the first of the two palace we saw was the Hohenschwangau. Its mustard like colour gleamed in the snowly weather that day. The earliest records of the palace were first mentioned around the 12th Century. In 1829 King Maximilian II of Bavaria discovered the historic site and was attracted to the beauty of the surrounding area. He acquired the property in 1832, and reconstruction began till 1837. Thus, his successor the romantic, eccentric and mad king Ludwig II of Bavaria (who was later declared insane) spent most of his childhood living in Hohenschwangau.

How Hohenschwangau looked like at the foot of the hill - it is actually very accessible on low ground and does not require much climbing.

The exteriors of Hohenschwangau

From Hohenschwangau to Neuschwanstein

We took a walk to Neuschwanstein from Hohenschwangau. Although Neuschwanstein was built on a level 200metres above ground level, reaching it was quite easy because there was a pathway built to the castle and the main road was cleared of snow. Depending on the pace, most people would take between 30-45 minutes to reach the top. Most people chose to walk up towards the castle....

... while others took a horse ride.

Some very beautiful scenes along the way up to the castle

Schloß Neuschwanstein (lit: Palace of the New Swan Stone)

Neuschwanstein's design was largely attributed to Ludwig II who succeeded throne after Maximillian II. The beauty and flawlessness of the palace, together with the jaw-dropping exterior illustrated the vivid fantasy and romantic ideals of Ludwig II. It was a product of his conception of the idea. However, during the time of its construction from 1869 - 1886, it was a hefty cost to the royal treasury and the finances almost went bankrupt. The castle was near completion in 1886 when the King was declared insane and moved to Schloß Berg, and was mysteriously found drowned in Lake Stanberg in 1886. Before his death, the palace was never opened to public, but after his death, his ministers decided to open his public for the purpose of recovering the strained budget spent on the castle. Indeed, it proved to be one of the best decisions made for today, the palace is a real money spinner for the state as one of Germany's top tourist destinations, and the palace has also appeared in Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty's movies, therefore giving it the reputation of the Disneyland castle.

The view of Neuschwanstein as we approached the main entrance

The front view of Neuschwanstein

Inside the main courtyard of Neuschwanstein

Der Weg zur Marienbrücke

Before coming to Füssen and visiting Neuschwanstein, I have seen many pictures and postcards of the palace. One particularly famous spot for photographs which appeared on postcards were taken from the Marienbrücke (Mary Bridge). The spot of the Marienbrücke was also believed to be first discovered by Ludwig II who commissioned the building of the bridge later on. The problem is during winter or when there is snow, the path to the bridge is not being cleared of snow and could pose a life hazard. In spite of that, I wanted to see how it look like and risked almost crawling to the bridge. Crawling because it was so difficult to walk in the snow with track shoes, not to mention tiring since there was no hard ground to step on. But the photographs are a testimony that it was worth the effort and the risk.

Snow on rocks in a stream

A restaurant

Entering the Marienbrücke

The palace from the Marienbrücke - A fairytale gem indeed

Along way down from the Marienbrücke. Notice part of the Alps in the background, as well as the small Hohenschwangau in yellow at the right hand side. The view is simply breath taking.

Altstadt Füssen

Indeed, Füssen is a popular destination these days because everyone flocks to visit the two palaces above, and queues to enter the Neuschwanstein especially could take up to 2 hours. And when they are done with the palaces, most of them would then quickly rush to take the train back to München or Salzburg. And as a result, the Altstadt was left largely unvisited and untouched like a virgin. I spent an hour in the Altstadt and I must say that there are really some interesting and beautiful sights:

The river, which the water was emerald green (much more of a darker tone than the one I saw in Salzburg)

Heilig Geist Kirche, with one of the windows looking like a Seashell.

A castle within the Altstadt

The main shopping district in the Altstadt.

Füssen is a beautiful place, and the two palaces really live up to their names. I am intending to visit it again this summer with Py, Teresa and Ying and I am pretty sure they will marvel at the sights of the palaces as well.

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