Day 88 - July 22: Kempten to Fussen (44mi/71km)

It’s a hard but scenic day of riding. Turn out the Bavarian foothills are hillier than one - well than I - expected.

And funny town names

We push up an extra-steep hill to an aptly-named town…

As we near Fussen, the forest thins…

And the mountains appear

We arrive at our fantastic hotel – Hotel Fantasia, which is a good precursor to the fantasy world of our afternoon sights. We head out through town.

Royal stables converted to retail

But everyone comes to Fussen for one thing - the Mad King Ludwig sights. MLK, the last king of Bavaria, is a beloved romantic figure (worth a wiki-read) who blew the bank, and his own reputation, building castle after castle to satisfy his obsession with 17th century France, Wagner and seclusion. This is Hohenschwangau, where MLK grew up.

And Neuschwanstein, MLK’s last and unfinished fantasy castle, model for Disney’s Magic Kingdom and Bavaria’s top sight.

First we climb up another 20 minutes to Mary’s bridge to get the postcard shots of the castle

And a nice shot of the plain little castle that MKL grew up in - clearly too plain Jane for him…

You aren’t allowed to erode the moneymaking juggernaut that these castles have become by taking pictures inside, but here are some exterior shots…

After the gift shop complex we could walk through the kitchens - I was so dazzled by the collection I took a few shots. This is one of three walls.

The original pot filling tap

And the views back down to town