Fussen - Germany in the forests

Fussen is a tiny town in Germany virtually on the boarder of Switzerland. That is to say, Switzerland is just on the other side of the Alps… Fussen is close to where “mad” Kind Ludwig built his castle. It is in the middle of forest lands, perched on a mountainside with views to everywhere. Absolutely a picture out of a story book. Some say this is what Disney based Sleeping Beauty's castle on. This has been on my must-see list in Germany for ages. The castle where Ludwig grew up is just across the valley and within sight of the castle that he built when he was King of Bavaria.

There is a mystery about King Ludwig – they say that he went mad. He was arrested one night and taken away from the castle and accused of being mad. Later he died of mysterious causes prior to his trial. So no-one really knows what happened to him. However, as a case for his madness, when you visit his castle, you can appreciate a number of secret doors and a room on the third story of the castle that was built to look exactly like a cave. It’s a little disorientating to go between the King’s bed-chambers and his dining hall (both full of gold opulence and paintings) through a passage that looks like a cave, complete with stalactites! Weird – but who knows, maybe it had a special significance. King Ludwig also had a fascination with swans. So everything from his coat of arms to his castle is covered with swans in every nook and cranny.

One of the most spectacular views is from the bridge that you have to hike to through the forest. It takes in the castle and the valley below.

My absolute highlight here was walking through the forests from visiting the castles back to Fussen  (on well marked trails) for about an hour before I met anybody. The views were hidden behind trees, but when you happened upon a clearing, they were truly amazing and stretched to the horizon. It was also great to get away from the tourist crowds and appreciate the beauty of the forest.

The low of this particular stop is that I lost my camera and all the photos of Fussen on it. Really sad, so it’s only memory that I have now. So, I have no pictures to share with you of this amazing place. You’ll just have to use Google to satisfy your curiosity.

Needless to say, Fussen, otherwise, was a real highlight.