Tuesday, June 27, 2023
Füssen Tourist day
Step Count: 19,875 Anika, 18,124 Nathan
Last night we were so tired from our epic day, I suggested we set our alarm for 5:30, just in case we overslept. Nathan woke me at 5:30, and we quickly showered and got our urban backpack ready for a day of touring.
First stop, the Hotel Sonne’s ridiculous breakfast buffet. It’s costing us 18.50 Euro each, but it was the stuff of legends. All the typical fixings as the last few days on the trail, plus pancakes, sausages, bagels, lox, numerous types of pastries, hard and soft-boiled eggs, pretzels, and more. As has become our customary practice on this trip, we made a little lunch from the offerings and squirreled it away for later.
Our first tour for Hohenschwangau begins at 9 am, so our hotel suggested that we catch the 8:05 bus from the train station to Schwangau. Once off the bus, we still had a 20-minute walk up to Hohenschwangau, which is the yellow castle.
Hohenschwangau is the castle where Mad King Ludwig grew up. It was originally built in the 12th century, destroyed by waring factions, and rebuilt by Ludwig’s father, King Maximilian II in 1830.
We were able to tour several rooms with an audioguide tour and saw the Queen’s quarters on the first floor and the King’s quarters on the second floor. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, they don’t allow photos of the interior of the castle to be taken.
We also walked all through the exterior gardens and looked out across the Alpsee to Austria and where we had been hiking just the day before.
We have a few hours in between tours, so we hiked up to Mary’s Bridge to capture the classic Neuschwanstein photo from the bridge. This bridge is also where an American man assaulted two American women a week or so ago, so we were pleasantly surprised that it was both open and there didn’t seem to be any additional barricades or closures.
After our photo op, we hiked down to Neuschwanstein, the white Disneyland castle that King Ludwig built for himself. King Ludwig died before completing the castle, so the tour goes through the six rooms that were completed during his lifetime.
Again, the tour does not allow you to take any photos of the inside, but we saw a throne room, a faux grotto, and a fabulous singer’s hall.
Once the tour ended, we walked down, down, down all the steps we had walked up to start the tour, and we walked the castle grounds area looking for an unoccupied bench to sit and have our lunch. The area around the castles is absolutely swarming with tourists, so all of the possible benches were taken. We walked a little further to the bus stop and ate our lunch while waiting for the bus.
There were a lot of people trying to get back to Füssen by bus, but we managed to get on the first bus, together, even if it was standing room only. Wary of pickpockets and unsavory types in these kinds of cramped, tourist locations, we stuck together and Nathan held the urban backpack in his hand instead of on his back.
Once back to Füssen, we spent the afternoon relaxing at a shady outdoor table in the Hotel Sonne’s restaurant. Our feet and legs are really quite tired from 7 days of hiking, so an afternoon just hanging out and relaxing is just what we needed. Plus, we must have done at least 1,000 stairs between the two castles going both up and down.
Coffee break completed, we met Pat and Andrew in the old town for dinner and had our final meal together. Tomorrow we each take the train to Munich, and we said our goodbyes, just in case we don’t end up on the same train together.
