Bavaria: Of Castles and Colors

After visiting Wieskirche on Wednesday morning, we headed south to Füssen. As I drove, I could see blue skies in my rearview mirror, and we experienced five minutes or so of beautiful sunshine before the clouds returned. During those few minutes, the sunlight on the fields and slopes rising on our left enhanced even further the intense green of the fields and of the trees on the mountain side. 

As we approached Füssen, we could see mists hanging low on the mountains. We of course knew about the castles located in Hohenschwangau just outside Füssen, but we didn't know exactly where they were located or how to get to them. We had planned to drive to Füssen and take it from there.

But then we saw a sign for the castles, so we turned left and were shortly thereafter greeted by the glorious little church pictured below. Then on the other side of the road we saw high above us the legendary castle of Neuschwanstein, nearly shrouded in mist on its rocky perch.

If we had gone directly into Füssen, we likely never would have seen these ethereal views, and the experience was all the more enchanting because of this. 

We next drove on to the "staging area" for Neuschwanstein, and it took us about a second to decide that we weren't even going to try to see the castle. There were people everywhere. Even on September 30th, the place was packed. So we drove on to Füssen and were pleased with our decision.  Though I had researched the two, I didn't expect it to be so colorful and quaint - and so (relatively) quiet. We walked down the main pedestrian street shown below, then found a place to have a late lunch/dinner. Afterwards, we strolled down the streets and looked in a couple of shops. It was very pleasant.

The place where we ate is called "Ludwig's," and features frescos of the "Mad King's" life.

How do you say "starch"?

I was oh so tempted by buy this. Not.

After spending a couple of hours in Füssen, we made the short drive back to our hotel in Hopfen am See. These two maps show were we are in relation to Munich and to Füssen. This whole area is truly beautiful.

When we got back to Hopfen, we went for a stroll along the lake. Such vibrant colors!

Our hotel. We're on the third level, furthest room to the left.

Views from our deck yesterday afternoon as the sun was starting its descent.

Sunset