August 18th - 25th 2013, Holiday in Allgaeu ...
On short notice, we booked one week in the Allgaeu area of Germany, which also encompasses parts of Austria and Switzerland. The weather forecast was good, so we went for it!
We took our new ‘baby’ and decided to drive along very narrow, winding roads to get there. The sun was shining and we had to roof down and thoroughly enjoyed the route to our Hotel, in a place called Oberstaufen, where we stayed at a really lovely Hotel.
As we were approaching our destination, we got a wonderful panoramic view of where we were staying … as you can see, the running theme with this landscape is wonderful lush green scenery!!!!
We enjoyed a welcome drink in the terrace area and relaxed with our books for a while, before getting ready for dinner, which we ate outside. For our first dinner, we chose their 5-course meal and it was absolutely delicious …. their breakfast buffet was also amazing, with a wonderful selection of fresh fruit including mangos, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, papaya, etc., all kinds of fruit and natural yoghurts, wonderful breads and rolls, home-made jams, freshly cooked eggs (anyway you wanted), all kinds of cheeses and really good coffee!!!!
After a day of relaxation we took a guided two and a half hour walk (offered by the Hotel) of the surrounding area and little mountain. It was very enjoyable and we got to know a couple of the people staying there, including the Mayor of a very small city!!
Again the landscape was truly beautiful and we rested for a drink along the way, which was also very nice.
The following day, the sun was again shining and so we took a tour to the Lake Constance, which is the largest Lake in the area and borders Germany, Austria and Switzerland. On the drive there we again passed some truly breathtaking landscapes and again drove along the smaller, more winding roads and we were completely alone!!!!
We bought a little book with suggested tours for motorbikes in the area and they are also really good for tours with convertibles, as they take you to the little known roads and away from the bigger cities, which are generally full of people and traffic.
Once at the Lake Constance, we took the ferry from Meersburg across to the other side. Not to mention a little winery at the lake, where we loaded three boxes of white wine into the car ...
In a lovely little place called Lindau, we enjoyed a refreshing drink and also a little wander around the Harbour and the town itself.
Day four was again lovely weather and we fulfilled Cynthia's dream she had since coming to Germany and that is to visit the ‘Neuschwanstein’ Castle, which is the castle that the Disney logo is based on. As it is a huge tourist attraction here, we decided to book our tickets online a couple of days before and take the first English Tour, which was at 9.20 am. So we got up at 6.15 and left the Hotel by 6.45 ... here the morning fog on the Autobahn ...
We arrived in Hohenschwangau (Bavaria) just before 8.00. We were first in line for our reserved tickets and after picking them up, had a coffee and bretzel and started the 15 minute walk up to the castle. Some lazy people took a horse and carriage or the bus, but we decided to do it the ‘healthy’ way!! The walk was really lovely and we were rewarded by the beautiful sight of the sun shining through the trees and also the Castle up on the hill.
We got to the top and were almost alone, but not for long …. The buses started arriving full with Japanese and Italian tourists and before long, it was quite packed!!! Anyway, we had our tour at 9.20 and it was really interesting. The castle inside was absolutely amazing …. King Ludwig certainly had very definite ideas of what he wanted and spared no expense. His story is quite sad, as he was eventually declared insane and was later found drowned, together with his psychiatrist in shallow waters. To this day it remains a mystery what actually happened!!!
Anyway, after the tour we went over to the Marienbruecke, from where we had a most magnificent view of the Castle … it was absolutely impressive and certainly worth the effort of coming ….
... although we would recommend to anyone interested, to take the trouble of doing it first thing in the day, as by the time we left (around 11.00am), it was completely overrun by people ... as you can see here with people queuing up on the streets ...
We continued the day with another wonderful drive through this most beautiful part of the world. We made a small stop at the Lake Halden (in Austria) and enjoyed the vivid colours of the green fields, blue skies and the wonderful turquoise of the lake.
We continued on along the way and decided to have a little lunch in a very typical Biergarten (Beer Garden) ... traditional Bavarian beer included ...
The next day we drove through Vorarlberg, in Austria, where we again enjoyed magnificent views of the Alps (in the background). We took this photo, as it also shows the houses with the beautiful window flower -boxes, so typical of this area.
We got up to about 1800 meters (Furka pass) and the poor car really struggled with overheating ...
... but after stopping at the top and taking photos of (again) this magnificent landscape, we drove back to the Hotel to enjoy another refreshing pre-dinner drink and as always a wonderful salad Bufett and dinner!!!!
On Saturday, our last full day there, the weather was not too co-operative, so we again decided to have a lazy day and relaxed by the pool. The most strenuous activity was reading our books!!!!! We again did our usual ritual of pre-dinner drinks and then enjoyed our last dinner there, followed by a couple of cocktails at the Bar and socializing with some other guests.
Our week there was absolutely wonderful and we can recommend this part of Germany to anyone who is interested ... especially as it is located so nicely for those kind of tours!