HOME OF SLEEPING BEAUTY – NEUSCHWANSTEIN CASTLE

After exploring outdoors in Fussen, it was time to head to the main sight in the area. To the place which inspired Walt Disney when drawing the home for Sleeping Beauty, to Neuschwanstein Castle. The Castle itself is already impressive, but what makes it stands out, is the landscape of Bavarian Alps around it. Location makes this castle special and it's not difficult to understand why Disney was inspired by this landscape.

If you want to visit castle and explore it also inside, that's possible only with the guided tours which are lasting about 35 minutes. In case you are travelling during the high season, it's good to make booking beforehand. This place can get really crowded. I was travelling during the low season, but there was still lot of people there and it especially seemed to favorite visiting spot among Asian tourists. Photography is not allowed inside the castle, so I took my camera out from my bag only in the stairs when we were already heading out and pre-checked from the guide that can we take photos from the views outside. 

TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY IN TOWN OF FUSSEN

From Garmisch-Partenkirchen we continue our phototravel to another small town next to the Austrian border. Lot of tourists are visiting this town - or actually sights next to it - and unfortunately many of them are doing only day trip to these sights and not really exploring the town itself. For me this small town was perfect place to spend some relaxed and peaceful time and taking it easy in middle of beautiful landscape of Bavaria. Best activity here is to put your walking shoes or sneakers on and explore the outdoors!

Many people are giving up of their exercises when they are on holidays and traveling. For me the sneakers are normally first thing which I pack when I'm travelling somewhere. There are two reasons for this. First one is obvious - I exercise cause I love it, so why would I stop doing one of my favorite things during my holidays? Second one is the reason why I recommend this also to my fellow travelers - jogging is also perfect way to explore the new places and by doing this, you many times find yourself in the interesting places where you wouldn't find yourself otherwise. This happened also in Fussen in one early morning run - I found myself in this below beautiful place and it was all mine during that memorable morning run...

HIKING IN GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN – PARTNACHKLAMM

There are lot of hiking possibilities nearby Garmisch-Partenkirchen during summertime. I wasn’t a big fan of its slopes, so probably in future I will go skiing somewhere else, but landscapes in Garmisch-Partenkirchen were so beautiful, that I could come back here in summertime for hiking. But if you are travelling to Garmisch-Partenkirchen for ski holiday and you want to take a rest day from skiing, one easy but beautiful hike which is doable also in wintertime is hike from the city center to Partnach Gorge.

First you walk to the Olympic Stadium next to the beautiful river. After passing the stadium you continue to follow the river. After a while landscape starts to change and valley is getting narrower. After another while you arrive to gorge which is about 702 meters long and partly over 80 meters deep. You can walk through the gorge by paying small entry fee, or you can also decide to climb up and see the gorge from the above. We tried the first option and liked a lot what we saw. It was a bit surreal to see these kind of views in Alps in March when you have been skiing the day before... It looked like it would be October, not early March... 

TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY IN BAVARIA AND VISITING IN THE PEAK OF GERMANY, ZUGSPITZE

While visiting in Zugspitze, you can also visit in Austria

Most of the people who are visiting Garmisch-Partenkirchen are coming here to ski. That was also in my agenda. But although you wouldn’t plan to ski, you can still go to visit highest place of Germany – peak of Zugspitze in Bavarian Alps in the border of Austria. Zugspitze is 2.962 meters above sea level and if you don’t feel like hiking up there, there are 3 possible ways to reach the summit. First option is to take a cable car from Eibsee lake, near to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, to the summit. Another option is to take the cable car from Austrian side, from town of Ehrwald. We selected third and slowest option: to travel by train from Garmisch-Partenkirchen to skiing area of Zugspitze – Zugspitzplatt - and from there you can continue the travel with shorter cable car ride to the summit. As it was windy day when we were heading up, the first option wasn’t even possible then. There are restaurant and cafeteria in the top, so you can eat some snacks or lunch while enjoying the views from the top of Germany!

 

TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY IN BAVARIA: VISITING GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN

Let’s start our travel in Bavaria from its Winter Olympic town, Garmisch-Partenkirchen. IV Winter Olympic Games in 1936 were kept in town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen – or actually they are two different towns which have been forced to merge together by the same person who opened the IV Winter Olympic Games – Chancellor Adolf Hitler. Town is still today famous from its winter sports and it’s hosting regularly both Ski Jumping and Alpine Ski World Cups. Every New Year starts here in New Year's Day with the traditional Ski Jumping competition which is part of the famous Four Hills Tournament. Town is also the home of the many famous German winter athletes. Garmisch-Partenkirchen is idyllic place to visit in the mid of Bavarian Alps with beautiful landscape and relaxed feeling.

TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY IN FREE STATE OF BAVARIA, GERMANY

Currently there are 7 countries which have hosted both Summer and Winter Olympic Games: Canada, France, Italy, Japan, USA, Russia – or it was actually still Soviet Union when Olympic Games were arranged in Moscov – and Germany. Germany has been hosting Olympic Games 3 times and two times Olympic Games have been organized in biggest federal state of the country, Free State of Bavaria. This month we explore this one of the most wealth areas in whole Europe which is the home of many big companies: Adidas, Audi, BMW, Puma and Siemens among many others.

Bavaria is biggest state of Germany and its area is almost one fifth from whole Germany. It’s located in southeast corner of Germany and it shares the border with Austria, Czech Republic and Switzerland. What Bavaria then means for me? For me it’s about business trips, nice landscapes in Bavarian Alps, lot of unhealthy food and lovely Weissbier. And also its horrible Nazi history.

Munich, capital of Bavaria is third biggest city in Germany

Bavaria’s own Statue of Liberty – 18,5 m high Bavaria Statue - is located in Munich