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Fussen is a Bavarian town situated at the foot of the Alps on the German - Austrian border, located at the end of the Romantic Road. It has two famous castles often described as fairytail castles called Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau in the mountains nearby. These photogenic castles were what drew our attention to this part of Germany, they often make the top 10 sights to see in travel magazines. Neuschwanstein is actually the castle that features in the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang film.
The direct train from Munich meandered through the Bavarian countryside, as we grew closer we passed through pine forests before opening out on to spectacular views of the Alps.
We only had one full day to see the sights, so upon arriving we checked into our accommodation and headed out in Fussen to see the town in the remaining light of the day. The town had a historic look with narrow streets lined with traditional coloured houses often with painted artwork on them. All this with the back drop of the Alps and castles in the distance was just spectacular.
The following day we caught a 10 minute bus ride to the castle, and it dropped us of at the hill that leads up to the castle. Despite it been the beginning of February and mid week there was still a good crowd of international tourists. Many of the tourist were taking the easy way to the top in a horse carriage, although we were sure its not too easy on the horse pulling a heavy carriage of 8 or so tourist up a steep hill! Maybe its not too different from the elephants we had seen in Asia carrying tourists up hills. It's often difficult to see if the animals are been taken care of, rather than advantage of.
The castle was commissioned by King Ludwick II later known as Mad King Ludwick for his rather peculiar behaviour. It's not really a castle in the conventional sense, rather a mountain palace retreat. It was built in 18th century as a adaption of the perfect castle, as King Ludwig was obsessed with living out his life like the royalty from the middle ages. Except it wasn't all torture chambers and straw bedding. It was complete with tall sleeping beauty towers, a lavishly decorated throne room, fake fairy tale grotto and huge balconies with picturesque views of the Alps. Every room was painted and decorated intricately, with a consistent theme from literature such as operas and religious stories. He was arrested for insanity by his government officials and later found dead in a lake. Sadly the castle was not complete until after his death.
Rather than catching the bus back we planned a walk back through the woodlands to Fussen. The footpath passed a frozen lake that was used for swimming in the summer months, with small wooden piers and picnic benches. In the distance from the far side of the lake we were spoilt with a perfect view onto both fairy tale castles and the beautiful snow topped Alps. With no tourists in sight we braved the cold to tuck into our packed lunch on a nearby bench. Afterwards our walk changed from a large frosty expanse of space to the dense autumnal woodland climb up a nearby hill, that remained us of Lake District.
We knew we had been fortunate on our visit to Fussen as we waited at the station, the snow was beginning to fall and not a mountain could be seen thought the low clouds. Next stop Prague two trains and 8 hours of travel away.
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