Füssen

We arrived in the small town of Füssen at about 9pm. Another pair of travelers was looking for a place to stay so they joined us in our walk to the hostel. We followed the directions and arrived at a converted three story house, being greeted by the attendant. Although he was a nice and well-meaning guy, he seemed incredibly overwhelmed and unorganized while going through the process of assigning us our beds. Unfortunately there were not two bunks in the same room so we spent our first night apart. We discussed our plans in the lounge before retiring to bed. We were spent after our full day in Munich. We said goodnight and retired to our respective rooms to comfy beds.

In the morning we met in the hall at our decided time of 8:45am. We dressed in our hiking garb before descending to the lounge for breakfast. We paid 2euro for 2 toasted rolls with butter and jam, a hardboiled egg, juice and coffee. Full, we donned our tennis shoes and left for the local bus stop. We took the first bus to the Neuschwanstein Castle area and quickly got a map to plan our ascent. The Royal Neuschwanstein Castle was made famous for being the inspiration for the Disney castle everyone knows and loves. We skipped on the guided tour and bus ride and took the nearest trail heading up.

Surrounded by green trees and running streams, we followed the winding path until reaching the main road near the top. Taking photos along the way, we soon reached the castle. It was well worth the hike as the towering walls and breathtaking views were awe inspiring. Having skipped on the guided tour, we were not allowed to enter the castle itself, instead we roamed the grounds within the courtyard, taking photos of the impressive architecture and reading the informational plaques.

We left the castle to continue the hike towards the Marienbrücke (Mary’s Bridge). Along the way, we passed a lookout over the second smaller castle also built by the Neuschwanstein owner, King Ludwig II. We took photos of the beautiful scenery, the castle being flanked by lakes. Upon reaching the Marienbrücke, a thin metal structure, we tentatively walked out onto the board planks which bent uncomfortably with each step. The views were worth it as we took many photos of the Neuschwanstein castle, the town in the distance, the waterfall below us and the mountain scenery around us. Satisfied with our free day of scenery we began our descent from the Castle grounds.

Opting to take a different path, we turned onto the first trail heading down the mountain. We turned off again, onto a smaller path that ended up taking us directly to the very bus stop we were headed towards. Unfortunately, said bus came and went without stopping, leaving us confused and frustrated. We decided to continue our day of activity and make the hour walk back to town. We played guessing games while passing fields of grass and cows, streams and lakes, and random civilization before making it back to Füssen. We walked through the pedestrian area before stopping for another questionable German lunch. We returned to our hostel to gather our bags and made the short walk to the train station just in time to catch our train.