Füssen

After spending two nights in Friedrichshafen I moved east to Füssen to take in the Bavarian Alps (Bavaria as you may know is name of the southeastern region of Germany) and Schloss Neuschwanstein (the Fairy Tale Castle).

One the day I arrived I traveled up Mount Tegelberg on a cable car as I'm afraid I'm not that fit and active. The views from the top were absolutely stunning and the camera just doesn't do them justice but here are a couple of attempts.

The next day I had the entire day to visit Neuschwanstein. This castle was built by 'Mad King Ludwig II' who was supposed to be a hopeless romantic and built three castles/palaces each one grander than the next. However, this meant that he ran up huge debts and the powers that be had him declared insane and seized all his assets to pay off his debts. A couple of days later, after going for a walk with his doctor, both of them were found dead, drowned in shallow water. No proper investifation was carried out and to this day the true reason behind his death is unknown and whether or not he was really mad at all is a point of contention. As a result his memory is adored by the people of Bavaria and you can go and there is now a musical about his life and about half a dozen different books about him available for sale at the many tourist shops.

Neuschwanstein itself is supposed to be the most famous castle in the world. So naturally I doubt any of you have ever heard of it. However, if you know the movie 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' it's that one. Ludwig designed it not with the assistance of an architect, but with the help of a set designer as he was inspired to build it by the operas of the German composer Richard Wagner. The result is absolutely fantastic and although the debt collectors caught up with him before he could finish the interior the outside is complete and I'm sure you'll agree that being referred to as the Fairy Tale Castle is totally justified.