A Magical Journey to Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein

In times past, December visits to Munich have been warmed by new fallen snow and the glowing booths of the Christkindlmarkt. Munich this year had yet to see snow and the temperatures of 7/8C and rain seemed somehow less festive. People were still out in huge numbers socialising at the various markets about town, but the lack of snow was a literal damper on the occassion. So when I decided that the day was nigh to head off south to make my very first visit to the Konigschloss’s in the Schwangau, I was hopeful. I expected similar weather, but also enchanting architecture and scenery.
As the slow regional train departed Munich first thing in the morning, Munich was a little grey, dry, but grey and overcast.

I found a nice seat and actually had an entire car to myself. I relaxed for a 2 hour or so journey making numerous whistle-stops heading for Füssen. The train was comfy and warm. I wanted to watch the scenery, but the windows were rather cloudy and scratched from graffiti artists and quite probably attempts to eradicate the remnants of those same artists. (view of train). The scenery was pleasant and I was struck by the number of nice little chapels near the tracks. Very shortly, I noted a distinctly brighter tone to ground. There was a fresh blanket of snow. How nice. Finally. The snow that I so appreciated. And as we sped (relative term) south west, the snow became deeper. In point of fact, there had clearly been a lot more snow here than a light blanket. There were drifts and piles. This is winter as it should be!
By the time we reached Füssen, there was a veritable winter wonderland. I found a bus for the castles – in honesty, not much of a challenge as most of the buses both public and private at the station were heading to the same destination. A short trip through Füssen and a couple other villages found us at our target bus stop. The snow was heavy, and the clouds were very low. There was that quiet, despite the other people, that you can only get in the winter when the sound is muffled by the freshly fallen snow on the ground and by the clouds above. Magic.
The castletory treasures of the area were largely obscured by the clouds. But with faith that they would be worth seeing, I worked my way up the street in the little village to the ticket booth. Things are wonderfully signed in Germany. They very organized at the ticket office. Things are entirely multilingual and the packages are all laid out for the visitor. I am determined to take tours of both castles here. Most are familiar with Neuschwanstein, the massive fairytale castle constructed by King Ludwig II and inspiration for Disney’s Cinderella castles. The other castle here is Hohenschwangau constructed by Ludwig’s father and smaller is scale, but actually inhabited by residents. It was here that Ludwig and his brother Otto were raised. The tickets were generated and specify very exact times for your tours. Tours were spaced by two hours and although I expected to spend the day was a little surprised by the duration. The tours were to last a half hour, but the interval between seemed rather lengthy. When I stepped outside the ticket office, I could see Neuschwanstein off in the distance and Hohenschwangau actually rose right above me.
There is a splendid little village here. Catering of course to the tourists flocking to visit the castles. It’s a wonderful situation, between the two castles right on the shore of a lovely lake. The lake had the most wondrous shade of azure blue. I presume this came from the mineral run off of the surrounding mountains (the ones that I could not quite make out for the low clouds). All the pictures you see of Neuschwanstein have it perched on a mountain plateau and surrounded by alpsish peaks. I took for granted that these lurked in the mists. I had an hour or so before my scheduled tour of the nearest castle and realized that although there were tourists about, there is undoubtedly a bit of a planned loitering built into the system to encourage patronage of the restaurants and shops in the village. I was a might peckish and so did find a nice restaurant to have lunch. The restaurant had that oh-so typical bavarian dark wood and hunting murals on the walls. This one offered reasonable fare and featured a large ceramic stove that dominated the room I was in. Warm, quite cosy and as always, copious fare. I chose a nice pork dish served along with the requisite potato dumplings and of course weissebier. Yummy.
The meal complete, I wandered out to start my ascent to the first castle. Hohenschwangau is a very striking yellow in colour and rises directly above the village. A meandering pathway gradually takes you up to the inner court. There is a separate chapel about halfway up the incline. From the court you have an immediate vista of the surrounding countryside and of course off in the distance and much higher is Neuschwanstein. Everything is very well organized and tours are indicated on an LED board above the entrance. I wandered around the exterior as we waited for the tour to be indicated. There’s the omnipresent gift shop, a lovely grotto-like shrine built into the wall and the castle itself soars above. The yellow stucco was dramatic and I can only imagine how bright it is when the sun shines. Even in the overcast conditions, it glowed. I waited, along with 25 others for our tour to be indicated. At the appointed time, you insert your ticket into the reader and are ushered into the foyer. Darkly lit, but very ornate, we gather in expectation.
Unfortunately, the royal family of Bavaria enforce copyright over the interiors of their possessions and we were not allowed to take photos. We were allowed to shoot looking out through the windows and I tried to be as ‘liberal’ as possible in these photos. The interior rooms in Hohenschwangau are very ornate, yet very livable. The dimensions are quite cosy and the furnishings sparse, but guilded. We had a great tour guide and he tended to reinforce the fact that each room featured another gift to King Max from one of the towns of his Kingdom of Bavaria. These ranged from solid gold three-dimensional models of the village itself to metal and stone sculptures which highlight the mythology and folk tales relating to acts of knightly derring-do. In one of the first public rooms, the hall of the knights, the enormous centre piece of the dinning table. Yes, a photo on the sly 😉 The castle is warm, and imbued with a motif of the legends of the origins of the Wittelsbach dynasty – and the swan knight legend from Lohengrin. As we exited from the castle, the ceiling had dropped noticeably and Neuschwanstein was barely visible in the distance. Maybe this is just as well as the reason for the enforced delay between tours becomes clear. The signs in the village indicate that the walk up to Neuschwanstein is 45-60 minutes. And the *up* is the operative term. It’s a pretty good climb. Now being one to try and find the secret better route, I noted that there was a second shorter path indicated on some maps. I wasn’t the only one. As I walked down (yes, slight lapse of logic here) I passed an American couple and he was swearing a blue streak about maps. Stopping and turning back would have been a good idea. There is another path, but its closed in the winter. That’s something the signs and maps don’t tell you. So I turned around and headed back up the hill to the village. Through the village and following the signs, a light falling snow blanketed the views. There are motorized and horsedrawn options to reach Neuschwanstein, but one is adventurous. The road up to the castle is absolutely stunning and all the more so with the heavy blanket of snow hanging from the trees.
Its a long walk. I was feeling a bit worn after about 35 minutes off constant uphill climb. The road was smooth, but those long gradual rises can be rather deceiving. Was I thrilled to discover a little snack booth as I neared the summit? I was convinced that I was well deserving of a treat and I got myself a nice mug of glühwein and something I think they referred to as Bavarian snowballs. Nice little donuts sprinkled with icing. Seriously scrummy. You have no idea how great they tastes even after a short 35 minute climb. I savoured the treat and then continued the climb. As I rounded the next corner, the vista was breathtaking. Maybe the low cloud cover was an unanticipated blessing. As I climbed the road, I did so with no vision of what awaited me. I just kept climbing higher and higher. And there is was the soaring ramparts of Neuschwanstein.
Yes, it is a fairy tale castle built not that long ago to recreate a dreamlike vision of times past. Ludwig was raised with the Lohengrin legend and it was clearly something that he sought to bring to life. As artificial as one knows the castle to be, it is like a vision and is no less impressive for being an anachronistic device. It is magnificent! It is instant awe! The walls rise into the clouds. This is a castle like no other. Imaginary realization maybe, but it is like a dream. I wandered on the path a little further to find the front keep. There’s a huge red-bricked wall, ornate with murals and fine pediments and an imposing wooden door. As you enter, you are greeted with vista after vista. Staring through the portico and up at the soaring towers off into the clouds, you see imposing facades with colourful murals and level after level. A castle in the clouds.

Again, the tour itself cannot be photographed and despite trying to grab some sneaky shots, it’s only the ones out of the windows that turn out. So I sat back to enjoy the tour. Room after room, they just get more and more spectacular. The entrance halls are more ornate than those at Hohenschwangau and they are far, far larger. The colours on the walls are vivid and the views from the windows simply amazing. The chapel (very oriental in style) is simply sumptuous. The bedroom, even with the high ceiling is warm, surrounded in finely carved woodworking and hiding several obscure doorways to the privy and private rooms. The grotto is one of the more ethereal and unique rooms in the tour, with walls sculpted to be as formed by a water formed cavern. The scale of this castle is amazing. Although it was unfinished at Ludwig’s death, many parts have subsequently been finished and the audience chamber is used today for choral concerts that take full advantage of what I am told are amazing acoustics. The views are magnificent and one of the ones that kept making my palms sweat in appreciation of its scary height is of what I believe is the Mariensbrucke spanning an impossible chasm in the distance. The veil of clouds, just makes it more dramatic.
Neuschwanstein, as we are repeatedly reminded by the tour guide, is product of a deranged mind. Of a King removed from reality and who was quite justly removed by the ruling council. If you are unfamiliar with the tragic story of KIng Ludwig II, in short, he was clearly unfit to rule. He lived in a fantasy world quite out of touch with his subjects and reality in general. He sought constant escape from the role he was called to fill and when finally deposed was mysteriously was found downed in the Starnbergersee. His younger brother and successor was committed to an asylum in his youth and was subject of a lengthy regency until his own death. Their cousin – the famous Empress Elisabeth affectionately known as Sissi – married the Austrian emperor and quickly sought to remove herself from public view and eventually was assassinated on the shores of Lake Geneva. The Wittelsbach curse of mental instability was undisputedly shared. Ludwig and the Wittelsbachs more generally are tragic victims. This is not a story of despotism or of willful neglect of duty. I was rather shocked by some of the remarks from my fellow tour members. They listened to the tales from our tour guide and immediately (and rather naively) adopted a rather disdainful view of royalty frivolously spending and bleeding a Kingdom to satisfy personal whim. How easily people accept the words of a supposedly informed individual. The Bavarians seem to fondly remember the tragic king. His remains rest in the crypt of St. Michael’s Church in central Munich. It is ornate and always features fresh roses and wreaths. That is actually a bit of a rant. Don’t know why I feel a wee bit strongly about this, but I digress.
The visit to Neuschwanstein was magical and the walk back down the mountain was a heck of a lot easier than the trudge up. I was elated at what I had been privileged to finally see. I cannot recommend a trip to these castles enough. Take the opportunity to visit. The light was fading by the time I reached the village and as I got to the bus stop to catch the bus back to Füssen, I discovered that I had missed the bus by five minutes. The next bus was over an hour off. This is when Shawn gets impatient. It was getting dark. I hoped to be able to stop at the Christmas market in Füssen, maybe have supper and the catch the train back to Munich. So as I am want to do, I decided to start to walk.

This of course after a rather long day of walking. I am somewhat less than practical at these times. It’s about an 8-10km walk back to train station. But off I trotted. And it was a walk of treats. after about 10 minutes I looked back and Hohenschwangau was beautifully illuminated in the distance. That dark trees framing an almost spectral vision. As I finally approached Füssen, the river I crossed over glowed that wonderful minerally blue that I had seen back at the castles. The town of Füssen and the schloss most particularly had the wonderful festive glow that I had looked for in Munich. The Christmas market was in full swing and even St. Nick was out distributing gifts to the kids. Although I probably got to the town about the same time as the bus that I refused to wait for did, the walk was great. I did get a couple rather annoying blisters, but I got to see some things I wouldn’t have had I been riding the bus. The peace of the walk and the forest paths was calming. As it was, I decided to check the schedule for the train and there were only two trains back to Munich that night. One was just arriving in the station and the other, two hours later was the last of the day. I thought about taking the last train, but for some reason decided not to. I figured, a train in the station was a bit of a sign. So I jumped on the train. Despite the much vaunted ontime performance of DB, this train demonstrated that something is amiss with the state railway. We waited past departure time and the train didn’t seem to be going anywhere. Eventually an engine shot passed my window. Then the announcements started. from what I could tell, there was a signal problem. I am not sure whether it was a signal on the track or the train itself, but we were about an hour late leaving Füssen. I realized that maybe it was a prudent move to catch the train I could. We eventually reached Munich about an hour and a half after scheduled arrival, which apparently meant that we lost our slot at the train station. I guess that spots are much like slots at the airport. Everyone was ushered off the train at a suburban station. I sensed the confusion of a lot of the tourists, but in true southern german fashion, those that understood assisted the bewildered and I have a sense that everyone eventually got where they were going.
for me, it was a trip back to Flemming’s Hotel and a hearty meal of Goose. But that is another story…