Along the Romantic Road

J and A's adventure along the Romantic Road (Romantische Straße), Germany. (Links are in gray. Click on any photo to enlarge it.)

Our stops along the Romantic Road are marked with blue stars

Above: Panorama view of a fortress and vineyards from the second oldest bridge (built 1473-1543) in Germany (Würzburg).

Above: photos from the well preserved medieval town Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Andreas is pointing out a defense item used for pouring hot tar from above on invaders.  The above panorama is the lovely view from our hotel room. Below: We visited a shop (Armor Shop) that sells real armor and swords. They will ship these home!

Above: The town is protected by a wall along a cliff on three sides and many gates. We joined and enjoyed the popular Night Watchman's Tour. 

Above: Around 14 million years ago a ~1.5 kilometer wide meteorite (Ries Crater) hit the area near Nördlingen, Germany and changed the landscape from hilly to a wide (~20 kilometer) flat area. The townspeople wondered about the strange topography and it wasn't identified as a meteorite impact until 1960 by Eugene Shoemaker (same guy  as the Shoemaker Levy Comet).  The town and flat areas in the photo taken from St. Georg's tower are part of the meteorite field. 

Neuschawanstein Castle was built for King Ludwig II of Bavaria.  It sits on top of a hill and overlooks a lake, a beautiful valley and a waterfall.  It served as a model for Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty castle.View of the castle from Marie's Bridge.

View of the castle from below.  

View from the castle's balcony looking down at Alpsee (lake on left) and Hohenschwangau Castle (on the right in yellow). 

Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle (modeled after Neuschwanstein) for comparison. 

Above:  We  took a carriage ride down from Neuschwanstein (6 Euros up, but only 3 Euros down!). 

Above: In addition to castles and vineyards, the Romantic Road also has turquoise rivers (Lech River).

Above: Wieskirche has a very ornate interior and is a pilgrim church. 

Above: Linderhof Palace was also built by King Ludwig II.  It is modeled after Versailles, though it is much smaller. 

King Ludwig II was really into Man Caves! He had a Venus Grotto built that is an illustration of the First Act of Wagner's "Tannhäuser." It was the first place in Bavaria to get electricity so that the colors illuminating the cave could be changed for the king. 

Herrenchiemsee was the last King Ludwig II castle that we visited. It was not finished and Ludwig only stayed there for a few days, but what was built is very impressive. It is modeled after Versailles (see a pattern?). It is on an island in Germany's largest lake Chiemsee. Two swans bid us goodbye.