DJmotortouring – Page 35

Rocamadour (Occitaine), France July 2021 (Tour 4)

I was here a couple of years ago. It is touristy (and I mean very touristy – fridge magnets and toy trains ferrying crowds of people about) but for all that it is very pretty and one of those places that simply has to be seen. More to the point it is within walking distance of La Foret des Singes (the Forest of the Monkeys) which Vanya was desperate to see.

Rocamadour is a small village, well under 1,000 people, built on 3 successive levels into the side of the Alzou Canyon in the Dordogne Valley. It is stunning, especially if you can visit the place when there are no large crowds.

Already a place of some religious significance, in 1166 it became a “must see” destination on the pilgrimage route from Le Puy en Velay in France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain after a perfectly preserved, long dead body was dug up just outside the local church. No one could identify the body but it was deemed “incorruptible” and assumed to be Saint Amadour (a one time local hermit). Call me a cynic if you like but such an assumption could only benefit the local community which was immediately renamed the Rock of Amadour (later bastardized to Rocamadour) and when, just 6 years later, the local Benedictine monks produced a Book of Miracles (126 properly authenticated miracles) – well, the place was made! It’s popularity as a pilgrimage spot grew further after 1244 when King Louis IX (later Saint Louis) visited and, despite all kinds of problems during France’s long and bloody Religious Wars (which amongst other things saw the Huegenots burn the long dead body of Saint Amadour), it is now one of France’s most popular places to visit although nowadays there are many more tourists than pilgrims. Rocamadour is not just about Saint Amadour. There are plenty of other extraordinary events associated with this town – even leaving aside those associated with the Black Madonna (supposedly carved by Amadour) and the Miraculous Bell which rings without human intervention whenever the Madonna saves someone’s life anywhere in the world. There is, for instance, the story of the famous Durandel Sword (a bit like Excalibur) which Roland threw away (so the Saracens couldn’t claim it) as he lay dying at the Battle of Roncevaux. It seems he threw the sword so hard it landed 160 kilometres away in the rock wall at Rocamadour. Now there may be some truth to this legend because I have actually seen the sword which is stuck into the rock wall at Rocamadour!

I mentioned that Rocamadour is split into three levels. The lowest level sits against the cliff face at the bottom of the Alzou Canyon and comprises a single street of medieval stone houses now, sadly, almost entirely given over to tourist shops and bar-restaurants. Cut into the side of the canyon directly over the houses, the second level is the religious heart of Rocamadour and comprises various monastic buildings (churches & chapels) the principal ones being the Sanctuaire Notre-Dame de Rocamadour and the Basilique Saint-Sauveur. Towering over everything and perched at the top of the gorge is the Chateau or castle which was built to protect visiting pilgrims.

Some of the very few properties at the lower level not (yet) given over to tourism

The view towards Rocamadour from the conurbation at the top of the canyon which was once referred to as L’Hospitalet (after the hospital which was built there in the 11 century) but which is now considered an integral part of Rocamadour. The tower in the second photo forms part of the Chateau.

The view up towards the Chateau from the second level, the religious heart of the town

Inside the Chapel of Notre Dame. The detail in the photo on the right includes the Vierge Noire (the Black Madonna)

The photo on the left is of the Chapelle Saint Louis, dedicated to him after he visited as a pilgrim. It is now dedicated to injured or dead rugby players (sic). The photo on the right is of the wooden mezzanine, built to accommodate increasing numbers of pilgrims, in the Basilique Saint Saveur

The stained glass windows in the Chapel of Notre Dame are beautiful. I’m not so sure about the sculpture of Saint Jacques

The edge of the plateau above Rocamadour, where L’Hospitalet used to be, is predominantly modern and now filled with tourist shops and bar restaurants. Nothing too wrong with that; tourists have as much right as pilgrims to visit such a beautiful place. It is just a shame the tourist shops and restaurants are not confined to this upper part of Rocamadour and that the medieval part is not left as was for visitors (pilgrims and tourists alike) to enjoy.

There are a few places up on the plateau, along with the Chateau, that deserve special mention. The first is the very prominent Chapelle de l’Hospitalet which sits in the ruins of the old hospital which was built way back to tend sick or dying pilgrims.

The photo on the left is of the view from L’Hospitalet towards the medieval part of the town. The photo on the right is of the Chapelle L’Hospitalet and it is taken from inside the ruins of the old hospital.

Also on the plateau is the Grotte des Merveilles with its stalactites, stalagmites and Paleolithic drawings which go back 20,000 BC. It is a very small grotto with a handful of primitive drawings and it in no way compares with the Lascaux cave system and drawings (also to be found in the Dordogne) but, the 45 minute guided tour through the grotto does provide some temporary reprieve from the midday sun.

One of the best places to visit up on the plateau and less than a kilometre from L’Hospitalet is La Foret de Singes (The Monkey Forest) which is a wonderful park of some 50 acres where three troops together comprising 150 Barbary Macaques roam freely. With less than 8,000 living wild (there were 23,000 in 1978) Barbary Macaques are a seriously endangered species. La Foret des Singes provides a wonderful habitat both for the monkeys to thrive and for researchers to study their behaviours. Moreover “La Foret”, in conjunction with three sister parks (one of which is Trentham Monkey Forest in England), has successfully returned entire troops of Macaques totalling some 600 monkeys back into the wild. Our walk through the park lasted just over an hour but it is not a long walk. We enjoyed frequent, sometimes extended stops through a beautiful setting and would have stayed much longer except we were never going to leave the dogs for more than an hour or so.

To end this particular blog I enjoyed two firsts in terms of food during this trip – One was Rocamadour Cheese (Cabecou), made from unpasteurised goat’s milk presented in the shape of a small disk and eaten warm on a slice of walnut bread and with a crisp salad. The other was the king of pates, Pate Foie Gras, made from duck liver specially fattened by gavage. I loved them both. Vanya was not keen on the pate.

Chilling in the pool this afternoon. Not sure where we are heading next. We’ll talk about it over a wine or two later this evening. One thing for sure, it will be hot and sunny.

Chauvigny (Nouvelle-Aquitaine), France June 2021 (Tour 4)

Chauvigny is a small town of some 7,000+ people in the Vienne department of Nouvelle-Aquitaine just 70 miles or so south of Saumur. There has been a distinct improvement in the weather over the last couple of days (although we are still experiencing the occasional heavy shower) but our plan remains to keep heading south until we hit warm weather without showers. We would have driven further south than Chauvigny but England play Germany this evening for a spot in the last 16 of the European Championships and we want to be settled in good time to watch the match.

Jump forward and we have watched the football and England won 2-0 (Yaaay!!) with Raheem Sterling playing a blinder. Well done England (although others in the team are going to have to start pulling their weight if we are to progress further). By the way, well done Vanya for fixing it such that we could stream the match live xx

We didn’t stay long in Chauvigny (just the one night) but the place is worth mentioning on a few counts. Firstly, Camping De La Fontaine, which sits by a lovely little park just under Chauvigny’s old town, deserves special recognition. For a two star campsite it was excellent. Welcoming, well organised, clean, tidy and quiet are just a few of the adjectives which I would use to describe the site. Add that the shower block, toilets and washing areas were spotlessly clean and that the overnight price was the lowest we have experienced in France this year and, no two ways about it, Vanya found a gem.

That’s Chauvigny’s old town behind the Van

As for Chauvigny, we were not overly impressed with the newer lower parts of the town (it didn’t help that we couldn’t find a bar there showing the England match) but we loved the upper (medieval) town (Cite Medievale).

Photo of the Cite Medievale from the park alongside our campsite.

The ridge on which the old town sits is short and narrow and comprises five main buildings in various states of repair. Four of the five can be clearly identified in the above photo and all are open to the public to some degree or another. Left to right in the photo are the ruins of the Chateau Baronnial often known as the Chateau des Eveques de Poitiers, the Chateau de Harcourt, the Romanesque Church of Saint Pierre and the Donjon de Gouzon a Chauvigny. It is the ruins of the Chateau de Montleon that are not clearly visible.

The Church of Saint Pierre – we took dinner at a small bar just outside the church.

This view of Saint Pierre in the left hand photo was taken from the top of the Donjon of Gouzon. The statue of the boy, there were at least three of these statues dotted around the town, was at the entrance to the Donjon. Don’t ask me what they represent

Despite being in a state of considerable disrepair, the Chateau Baronnial is still being used. A fairly large selection of birds of prey, storks and other beasts are kept there.

It was getting late as we returned through the old town to the Van and one of those statues I talked about earlier frightened the life out of Beanie. He soon calmed down when Vanya got her camera out.

Photos taken from the Van just before bedtime

There was just time enough time for a few more photos from the park before we left the next morning…

Next stop Rocamador…

Saumur (Western Loire), France June 2021 (Tour 4)

Saumur is an ancient town of some 27,000 people on the Loire River in Western France in the area historically known as Anjou. It’s a pretty town, overlooked by the very prominent Chateau de Saumur, and built almost entirely of an attractive cream coloured stone (Tuffeau) which was mined here throughout the Middle Ages. The miles of caves resulting from that mining have since been converted for wine storage (the renowned Saumur wines and especially Cremant de Loire) and mushrooms (80% of France’s button mushrooms are grown in these caves).

We arrived fairly late in the day and, after parking up at the Flower Camp Site which sits on the L’Ile d’Offard in the middle of the Loire River, walked across the Pont Cessart for a quick look at the old town and something to eat. We found somewhere on the Place de Saint Pierre and spent a delightful evening eating French tapas and drinking Cremant de Loire.

We were parked up some 10 minutes walk from the centre of the old town

Enjoyed a tapas meal and some local beer and wines on Place on Place de Saint Pierre.

To be honest the local beer was not up to much and I soon switched to wine

The next day was about exploring the town and my first destination was the Chateau de Saumur fortress which dominates so much of the town. It was first built in the 9th century to deter Norman invaders and considerably developed over the next hundreds of years (particularly by the English King, Henry II) but it’s current fairytale shape and style is 15th century and down to Louis I and Louis II of Anjou who wanted rather more of a palace than a fortress. Up close the chateau is not as impressive as when seen from a distance with many of the walls crumbling and in need of repair. The good news is that it is happening. The place was crawling with stonemasons hard at work. I arrived too early in the morning to go into the chateau which is now a museum.

The Chateau could be seen from the campsite swimming pool

Much of the outside of the Chateau is in need of repair but that is happening

Views from the Chateau and the official (panoramic) viewpoint were not especially interesting

A significant military presence is evident across Saumur. France lost almost all of it’s cavalry during the Napoleonic Wars and a decision was made to rebuild that arm of the military in and around Saumur with the establishment of the Ecole Nationale d’Equitation. The Cavalry Academy is now home to the Cadre Noir, an elite corps of black clad cavalry instructors who have made up the teaching staff at the school since 1828. During the Summer months the Cadre Noir put on a series of ballet like galas to showcase the skills of horses and riders and the riders have often taken gold in eventing, dressage and jumping at the Olympic Games. Unfortunately, Covid put has paid to any such gala this Summer.

With cavalry having long given way to tanks it is perhaps not surprising that Saumur is also home to the Musee des Blindes which is one of the largest tank museums in the world with 800+ armoured vehicles (200 of which are driven in a military tattoo every July). I suspect that too will be cancelled this year.

With Saumur being home to Cremant de Loire (currently Vanya’s favourite tipple) it was inevitable that Vanya and I would want to go on a local wine tour and tasting session. We were spoilt for choice here with so many producers based alongside of each other on the Rue d’Ackerman. We finally settled on the Langlois Chateau and we were not disappointed. Between us we have previously partaken of many wine tours and tasting sessions but none as enjoyable and as informative as the one at the Langlois Chateau. It was a private tour, just the two of us, and; it involved going back into a classroom to learn more about grapes, bloom & sediment and; our walking some of the their 3 kilometres of caves and; well, it was simply brilliant. We learned so much of real interest. And the wine? Vanya now has a new favourite Cremant and we have a case of it in the back of the Van.

When I say “classroom”, I mean “classroom”

Langlois-Chateau is a relatively small family owned wine producer but they still work 3km of caves

I walked more than 15 miles of the town that first day (getting a little lost more than once) and there is so much more I could write about but we need to move on to our next destination so I will quickly write about our last night in Saumur and leave it at that.

We had the good fortune to be in Saumur during the evening that France were playing Switzerland in the first knockout stage of the European Championship Finals. That being so we found a small bar, La Verriere, showing the match out on the main square in the centre of town and ordered an early meal so as to gain the best seats. We had a fantastic evening. France lost but there were sufficient goals (3-3 after extra time and then the match went to penalties) to keep the neutral supporters well entertained and the atmosphere was electric. Oh and the food and wine was great.

Mont St Michel (Normandy), France June 2021 (Tour 4)

The weather in Bayeux stayed fine long enough for us to take a leisurely stroll around the Saturday morning market but by noon we had started on the 90 mile drive to Mont St Michel. It was fifty-fifty as to whether or not we made the trip to MSM because the weather forecast for the north west of France was not good – thunder storms over the next four or five days. I was in Mont St Michel some two years ago and, nice as the place is, I was all for driving south for the better weather but Vanya really wanted to visit the place and so we went – and very pleased I was too. The weather wasn’t good but it wasn’t as bad as predicted and it stayed dry most of the time we were outside and, more importantly, we had the place almost to ourselves.

The bad weather held off while we walked the causeway.

During my earlier visit the weather was warm and sunny but the place was packed with people. This time, because of the bad weather and Covid restrictions, the place was almost deserted.

We didn’t stay long because the weather was closing in on us all the time but there was always going to be time for me to look in on the St Michael Chapel…

… and walk some of the outer walls..

Then it was time to head back. Thankfully, because it started pouring with rain, we had parked up inside the MSM complex (well worth the nine euros charge) and it wasn’t too far back to the Van.

One final thing, I’m often asked about tide times here. Some people want to visit the island at high tide and others at low tide. Some, like me, want to do both. I reproduce below a tide table downloaded from tideschart.com. One word of warning, if you want to walk around the island, don’t wear shoes (you can easily sink up to your ankles in the sand) and do take a small cloth to wipe your feet afterwards.

Bayeux (Normandy), France June 2021 (Tour 4)

Normandy is one of my favourite parts of France but until a couple of days ago neither Vanya nor I had visited Bayeux. That has now been put right and we both love the place. Sitting on the Aure River, Bayeux is a small compact city where just about everything of interest is within easy walking distance. We parked the Van at Camping des Bords de l’Aure in the north of the city and within 15 minutes had completed a delightful walk south along the river bank to the old town centre.

It was a delightful walk along the banks of the River Aure into Bayeux

The streets in the centre are lined with a mix of beautifully preserved half timbered houses and elegant mansions and towering over almost every part of the Bayeux is the impressive Norman-Gothic Cathedral of Notre Dame. More about that later. For those wanting to know more about the city there are a series of bronze studs in the ground which if followed will lead you around the city for a mile or two to some 20 plus information panels – You can take a self guided walking tour.

The streets in the Old Town are enchanting

After a brief look around the old (medieval) part of the city we made for a small restaurant which Vanya had read about and where I had subsequently reserved a table – Le Moulin de la Galette, a Creperie on the Rue de Nesmond. The restaurant is in a beautiful setting alongside the river and it was this as much as the menu that attracted us both. There are three parts to the restaurant – inside, outside and upstairs (by an old waterwheel). We were inside. Not the best place for the views but perfect for catching the eye of a waiter whenever our glasses required filling. Vanya was on the wine but I went for the local cider (and very nice it was too). The galettes we ordered were not the best we have eaten in France but they weren’t bad. The place was packed with locals but service was good; attentive without being overbearing and; we’d eat there again.

Over the next couple of days we did all the things expected of visitors to Bayeux, such as checking out the Cathedral of Notre Dame and visiting the Musee de la Tapisserie to see and learn more about the Bayeux Tapestry (and they were well worth visiting – see below) but; equally enjoyable was our simply wandering the whole city and; perusing the local Saturday morning market on Place Saint Patrice and; people watching and drinking local beers in the city centre outside ‘Le Montmartre Bar’ on Rue Saint-Jean. Wonderful.

The Cathedral of Notre Dame is Norman-Gothic and dates back to the 11th century (the church was first consecrated in 1070) but only the crypt survives from that time. Much of the current building, including the 77 metre tower was constructed in the Gothic style during the 15th century. It’s most impressive from the outside.

The famous Bayeux Tapestry was first housed in the Cathedral although it is now to be found in the Musee de la Tapisserie de Bayeux on Rue de Nesmond. Part of the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme, the Bayeux Tapestry is in fact an embroidered cloth and not a tapestry at all. It is nearly 70 metres in length (and almost 2 feet wide) and in a series of some 70 richly detailed and colourful scenes portrays events leading up to and including the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. For just a few Euros it is possible to follow the ‘tapestry’ around the museum with a hand held Auto-guide Commentary which explains each scene. Unsurprisingly the story is told from a Norman perspective but, for me, it brought the tapestry to life and is truly enthralling. It was well worth the admission fee of 9.50 euros.

Just around the corner from the Musee de la Tapisserie in the very centre of the city on the largely pedestrianised Rue Saint-Jean is ‘Le Montmartre’. A small local bar with limited outside seating Le Montmartre is invariably packed (especially late afternoon and early evening as the locals make their way home from work). This is hardly surprising given the warm and friendly service, a good range of local beers and delicious tapas style food. We spent a couple of hours there during the early evening of our second day in Bayeux, just drinking and people watching. I could repeat that again and again.

The local market is another great place to people watch and the regular Saturday morning market on the Place de Saint Patric is no exception. It is a typical (albeit fairly large) French market at which you can buy just about anything from calvados to goslings. Particularly appealing was some of the fast food (take a look at the paella in one of the photos below) and the fish stalls (which consisted of super large tanks full of live crabs, lobsters, crevettes, etc).

Wimereux (Hauts de France), France June 2021 (Tour 4)

EUROPE TOUR 4 BEGINS – Finally, the Covid situation seems to be improving! It is June 2021 and France has re-opened it’s borders to tourists and we have begun another tour of Europe. Hurrah!

The original plan was that Tour 4 would commence late March or early April 2021 and last until the end of Summer, with us exploring some of France, Austria, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Georgia (and perhaps even Azerbaijan) and then finding our way home again. The new Brexit rules limit the amount of time we can spend in EEC countries to just 90 days in every 180 day period, hence we developed an outline plan that would see us divide our time evenly during the first six months of the tour between EEC (France, Austria, Italy and Greece) and non EEC countries (Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan). The delay caused by Covid lockdowns has put paid to that plan and as of now we have no fixed agenda. We are back in France with the Van and our two dogs and that is all that matters. We’ll make plans as we go.

… an early stop at a Motorway Aire while we determine where to overnight

The paperwork necessary for us to get back to France was enough to try the patience of Job. If Covid wasn’t bad enough with vaccinations and vaccination certificates, Antigen tests and associated certificates, etc; Brexit rendered our pet passports invalid and … Sod it! You don’t want to know! We’re here.

During previous tours the trip through the Chunnel went very smoothly but on this occasion there was a delay for the best part of two hours because of a train breakdown – frustrating but no real problem. We can live with two hours out of a tour that will hopefully last a number of months. In real terms it meant only that when we finally arrived in France we decided to park up sooner rather than later so as to find a decent restaurant and bar.

Brexit has well and truly arrived – French immigration insisted on stamping our passports. The last time they did that was early in the 1970’s

A little town called Wimereux delivered on all counts. It’s a fairly quiet seaside resort on the French Opal Coast just to the east of Boulogne. We found a well priced municipal camping site on the edge of the town, stocked up on essentials from a local Carrefour store (i.e. bottles of Cotes du Rhone, Picpoul de Pinet and, of course, Vanya’s favourite Cremant) and not long after were sitting on the terrace of a reasonably priced beach restaurant eating oysters and mussels with carafes of particularly good Muscadet and a not bad Chardonnay.

We were soon sitting on the terrace of a seaside restaurant (dogs settled quietly under the tables) and tucking into copious carafes of wine, fresh oysters and large bowls of mussels…

… and we stayed there until the sun went down

Wimereux was a pleasant enough place and it served our purpose but, except for the beach it offered little to warrant staying on and in the morning we elected to move on to Bayeux in Normandy.

One interesting aspect to Wimereux are the countless beach huts stretching the full length of a fairly long promenade; all of them named and many painted by local artists

Presles-et-Boves (Aisne), France November 2020 (Tour 3)

It is Friday 25 June 2021 and it is only now that I discover I didn’t complete and post the last blog of Europe Tour 3 during 2020! Silly me. Here it is…

Our last night of the third tour was spent in France at a small two star campsite in the hamlet of Presles-et-Boves on the Aisne River and it was some time early in November. An increasing number of Covid lockdowns throughout mainland Europe had finally prompted us to conclude the tour and head back to the UK and we broke the journey from Colmar to Calais at the ‘Camping Le Domaine de la Nature’. No, it wasn’t a naturist campsite!

The owners of the campsite were wonderful in that they were quite happy for us to stay over in the event the Anglo-French border was closed because of Covid but, no problem, we secured a place on the Shuttle back to the UK the following afternoon.

Sadly, no interesting photos; just two snaps of the River Aisne, where we walked the dogs. A disappointing ending to a really great tour.

Colmar (Alsace, Haut Rhein), France October 2020 (Tour 3)

We arrived late at our campsite on the edge of Colmar by the River L’Ill but the receptionist, bless her, had stayed late to check us in. I stopped at the same campsite two years ago for a few nights and knew it would be open this time of the year but, because of the National Covid Lockdown starting the next day, I wasn’t sure if we would be allowed to stay the two nights we needed (we had to get the dogs seen by a local vet for tapeworm tablets before they would be allowed back into the UK) but, I needn’t have worried. The receptionist told us that whatever happened we could stay the extra night. Again, bless her.

The camp site on the River L’Ill – (Camping de L’Ill -GPS: N48. 4′ 51″ E7. 23’12”)

We were happy staying over, it gave us a chance to wander around Colmar, a small town in the Alsace Region of France not far from the German border. Vanya had never seen the place. I walked the largely pedestrian old town on my own that first morning and I have never seen it so quiet. It was the first day of the Lockdown in France and the place was virtually deserted. It was much the same in the afternoon when I showed Vanya around the town.

The old part of Colmar is a labyrinth of cobbled streets and timber framed chalk box coloured houses with steep pitched rooves and wooden shutters and it is truly beautiful. When I last stayed there, in 2017, it was packed (not least because it was the day of the town’s annual 10 km run) and I arrived as the runners were finishing. Not so this time.

What is particularly sad is that prior to our arriving the local authority had been putting up the town’s Christmas decorations. Ordinarily, Colmar has 5 weeks of Christmas Markets which are supposedly amongst the best in France – I suspect that will not happen this year.

I sat and had a pint of beer on this little square in 2017. Nobody drinking today because no bars were open

*There were very few people about. I didn’t see more than two dozen people during the whole morning in the town and during that time I twice entered the covered market.*

I probably mentioned this in my earlier blog on the town in 2017 but, amongst other things, Colmar was the birthplace of Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi who created the Statue of Liberty. The house he lived in is now a museum dedicated to his work and there’s a statue of Bartholdi in the Parc du Chateau d’Eau with him holding a small replica of the statue of “Liberty Enlightening The World”.

The statue of Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi in the Parc du Chateau d’Eau in Colmar and a photo (not mine) of his masterpiece

Oh, and we made it to the vet. Would you believe it, he charged a staggering 91 Euros for administering two tapeworm tablets?!? Robbery!

Fussen (Bayern), Germany October 2020 (Tour 3)

Situated at the southern end of the Romantic Road, within walking distance of the Austrian border, Fussen is a small, pretty town on the banks of the River Lech with a history of violin and lute making (you can learn all about that in the town’s museum). Don’t get too excited about the Romantic Road – there is nothing in the least romantic about the road(s). It is simply a 300 mile mix of roads between Wurzburg and Fussen, stylized by a group of travel agents in the 1950’s who were out to promote Bavaria.

None of the above is to suggest you shouldn’t visit the area and especially Fussen. Fussen has it all – a medieval old town complete with it’s own castle (the Hohes Schloss), sitting in the shelter of the Ammer Mountains amongst numerous lakes. It is a very pretty town and well placed for visits to other similarly pretty towns and, of course, to at least two very famous castles, the Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau Castles.

I walked from Brunnen to Fussen along a good path on the banks of the Forggensee, passing through the villages of Schwangau and Horn on the way. The weather was brightening all the time and the walk was delightful, taking no more than an hour and a quarter even allowing for photo stops. A walkers path goes all the way around the Forggensee but I imagine that walk would take about 6 hours. It’s a sizeable lake.

That’s the view towards Fussen from near Schwangau at the beginning and the end of my day

The old town in Fussen is small but enchanting. It could probably be walked in an hour or so but I was keen to make the most of it and took the best part of 4 hours strolling the old town, the castle, the Lechtfall, the Baum Garten and the town’s principal churches.

The Old Town with it’s narrow lanes, cobbled streets and pastel coloured buildings is almost perfect

For me, Die Heilig Geist Spitalkirche (the Church of the Holy Ghost) stands out from the others in the town as being one of the most unusual and impressive churches I have seen. The original 15th century church was destroyed in a fire in 1733 and when it was rebuilt a few years later, it was constructed in the style of the monastery church of the Franciscans of Dillingen and with the exterior being adorned with colourful frescoes.

The Heilig Geist Spitalkirche (Church of the Holy Spirit) – Only small but packed with colour, inside and out. Not easy to see in my photo but the Holy Trinity feature in the upper part of the frescoe while the Saints Florian (on the left) and Christophorus (on the right) feature in the lower part.

The high point of the town (quite literally) is the Hohes Schloss, a one time retreat of the Bishops of Augsburg, which sits alongside St Mang’s Abbey. Access to the castle courtyard (which is a masterpiece of illusion) is free but there’s a charge of 4 Euros to go inside the castle. It is worth 4 Euros for the views over the town alone but from inside you can also access the state art gallery.

I found a cafe-bar before leaving Fussen and, while reflecting on the numerous photographs I had taken during the day, enjoyed a particularly good Apfel Strudel. That was always going to help me cover the ground back to the Van in no time.

That’s the Schwangau church steeple… I’m parked a mile or so further on… and there’s the camp site with the Van parked by the waters edge

Schwangau (Allgau), Germany October 2020 (Tour 3)

We opted to stay for a couple of days at the 5* Camping Brunnen at Schwangau in the Allgau region of Bavaria. The campsite is almost equidistant between Die Konigschlosser (i.e. the castles of Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau) and the town of Fussen. Two days would allow us to catch up on some chores and visit both castles and the town.

Because of poor weather the dogs had been denied their regular exercise and I took them with me on the 12 mile round trip towards Neuschwanstein Castle, passing the Hohenschwangau Castle and the church of St Coloman on the way.

The first castle we saw up close was the Hohenschwangau (no time to dwell here but in any event it looked closed) and then it was on to St Coloman.

Hohenschwangau Castle together with a picture of Ludwig II of Bavaria who was brought up there as a child and who subsequently had Neuschwanstein and various other prominent buildings built

*St Coloman Church with Neuschwanstein in the background*

St Coloman – I didn’t go inside because I had the dogs with me

My primary target that day was Neuschwanstein, a most elaborate castle sitting on a rock ledge over the Pollat Gorge in the Bavarian Alps. It was built by order of Bavaria’s so called “Mad King” Ludwig II; construction beginning in 1868/69 but not being quite finished before Ludwig died in 1886. Ludwig II was a great admirer and supporter of the composer Richard Wagner and much of the castle was inspired by Wagnerian characters. Indeed, Neuschwanstein is German for New Swan Stone and the Swan Knight is the principal character from Wagner’s Opera Lohengrin.

*Neuschwanstein Castle in the Ammer Mountains*

Neuschwanstein is a fairy tale castle in a truly beautiful setting. The best place to take photographs of the castle is from above but I didn’t have time to climb above it and, besides, our little dog (Beanie) was getting tired.

While Neuschwanstein’s look is that of a medieval castle, it was equipped inside with 19th century state of the art technology. For example on every floor of the castle there were toilets with an automatic flushing system (water being supplied from a spring some 200 meters above the castle) and an air heating system for the whole castle. Today, it is one of the most visited castles in Germany and one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe with over 1.3 million people visiting. It is said to be the inspiration behind Walt Disney’s Magic Kingdom.

Another quite remarkable project of Ludwig’s was the Linderhof Palace. This then very private palace was designed as a refuge for an increasingly reclusive king to hide away in. Being designed for just one person, Ludwig himself, the palace was tiny with just 10 rooms (4 of which were for servants) and the dining table was designed to accommodate just one person. If you think Neuschwanstein is a fairy tale palace, Linderhof has to be seen to be believed.

The Linderhof Palace, not far from Ettal.

Ludwig II’s situation was tragic. It seems he became obsessive about his personal projects and indifferent to state business. It is said too that he was unable to rein in his excessive spending; so much so, his government advisors started plotting against him and, very suddenly, had him diagnosed as clinically insane, and therefore incompetent. Although he had no prior diagnosis of ‘madness’ he was declared mentally insane by four separate, government-sanctioned psychiatrists and removed as King. Historians don’t know for sure how ‘Mad’ King Ludwig died but not long after, his body was found floating in Lake Starnberg alongside the body of his personal psychiatrist, Dr Gudden.

Now if that is not material for a Netflix Movie, nothing is. Time to head back to the Van. The dogs are wiped out.