In 1986 and 1987 I was fortunate enough as a student to work and live in Kaufbeuren in the Allgäu region of Bavaria. It was not until four years ago I made a brief return visit, visiting the family I lived with, and heading to my favourite spot in Füssen and the famous Neuschwanstein castle. Since then I vowed to return and spend some more time in the area and enjoy the many local cultural and landscape attractions the foothills of the Alps have to offer. Last month I did just that for a long weekend before a couple of days work in Germany.
The walk from the village up to Neuschwanstein takes about 30..40 minutes. this time we bought tickets to view inside of the castle (my first time inside), which was really worth it. No photography allowed inside though. It was possible to have a quick lunch and beer on completion of the tour, not a huge menu, but it’s not every day you get to have lunch and a beer in such a location.
It’s another 10 mintues (or 15 if you stop to take photos:-) ) to get to the Marienbrücke (bridge) above the castle for this famous view…
There is another castle and museum and other sites to visit here, but for some reason Neuschwanstein is all I have ever been interested in visiting. Need to fix that on the next trip. One new experience was to finally take the Tegelbergbahn (Cable car) up to the top of the Tegelberg mountain, where the views where spectacular of the still snow covered Alps.
Making our way back down from the Marien Bridge we met this musician playing a “Hurdy Gurdy”. A name I had heard before but never seen the instrument. Once Reinhardt learned we were Irish, he immediately launch into a medley of Irish ballads starting with Fiddler’s Green.
Reinhardt explained enthusiastically how he fought the local government for the right to play his instrument and share his traditional culture to the thousands of tourists from all over the world visiting the castle each day. He now enjoys his job breathing the fresh Alpine air and infusing traditional music through the forest paths around Neuschwanstein.