As promised in my recent post about our pit stop in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, here's part two of our little weekend escape from a couple weeks ago. After exploring the medieval town centre of Rothenburg, we drove further towards mountainous territory and actually cut through Northern Austria on our way to Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria, Germany. Here's a confession: I've been to many European countries so far, including amazing places like Iceland, but I'd never really been to the Southern half of my own country. Tom and I had immediately added Rothenburg to our imaginary list of favourite places and the alps followed as soon as we reached the border to Tyrol.
The original plan was to see Neuschwanstein castle on our way to Austria, but whilst trying to find a parking space, dozens of buses full of tourists and impatient traffic wardens put us off so we fled the scene and accidentally discovered the 'Walderlebniszentrum Ziegelwies' - a stretch of woodland located on the German-Austrian border with different 'adventure' paths including a treetop walk. After a few minutes of walking through a snowy forest wonderland, we reached the river Lech and the scenery we were offered looked like something from a BBC documentary about remote Northern Canada or maybe Alaska - clear turqouise waters, large banks... the only thing missing to complete the picture was a brown bear trying to catch fish in the icy waters.
Our next stop was at 'Highline 179' near Reutte, Austria - the longest, Tibet style pedestrian suspension bridge according to the Guinness book of world records! From the parking lot down by the road we walked up to the ruins of castle Ehrenberg, which is located on one side of the canyon. The walls of the former medieval castle are well worth exploring and it offers amazing views over the valley. The bridge connects Ehrenberg with Fort Claudia, a medieval fort which sits on the opposite side of the valley. Crossing the bridge was quite a thrilling experience, the see-through floor of the highline makes sure you get the extra adrenaline kick - only flying is better! (As some of you might know, I'm not good with flying, hence I was both terrified and amazed, but I made the entire 800 metres across and back clinging on to the railing like a massive pansy and I was mighty proud of myself because I dared to look down, if only for a split second!) Fort Claudia was beautiful as well, all covered in snow and we were the only people there - naturally we made good use of having our very own fort and had a big snowball fight!
The drive to Garmisch-Partenkirchen through Austria was breathtaking - the evening sun made it look like the mountain peaks had been dipped in liquid gold. Whilst we weren't the biggest fans of Garmisch town, the surrounding area has incredible sights to offer. The town is in a lovely location, surrounded by mountains and full of traditional Bavarian houses, but we also encountered some dodgy personalities and traffic is a complete nightmare. Not sure what the 2€-a-day tax to stay here was for, because it wasn't really that noteworthy. It might have been nicer to stay somewhere a bit more remote although Partenkirchen does have an amazing Indian restaurant!
One of my favourite experiences on this journey was our trip to Lake Eibsee on the following day. The water is incredibly clear, there are multiple little islets and the lake is surrounded by forest. Also, it is located right beneath Germanys highest peak, 'Zugspitze'. We had to stop every few hundred metres to take in the otherworldly views and admire the deep, clear, emerald green pools which are dotted around the lake. The 7 kilometre walk around Eibsee was worth every step, so this is a big recommendation! I imagine this is an amazing wild swimming spot in summer!
On our final day there, we hopped on the cog train up to Zugspitze and went tobogganing at an altitude of 2600 metres. A cable car took us further up to the highest point at almost 3000m and what can I say, nothing beats the view of sunlit mountain tops peeking out of the clouds below. Although the Zugspitze plateau is very commercial, it is great for skiing, snowboarding and of course tobogganing! There are multiple cafés and restaurants to relax after racing down the slopes and we had a whale of a time. Thanks to the sunshine and sheltering peaks around the -10 °C didn't feel so cold at all.
The weekend was over too soon as usual, but we managed to fit in a little lunch break in Nördlingen, Bavaria - a medieval town similar to Rothenburg that's less overrun but also very pretty. It is located inside a 14 million year old meteorite impact crater. Pretty cool, eh?
I guess my personal lesson from this trip is that sometimes you don't have to look so far to find awesome places and it made me see Germany from an entirely different perspective. If you ever find yourself in the area, go check out the places I've mentioned - you won't regret it!
Have you been to the German alps? Would you like to go? Comment below, I'd love to read your opinions!
Lisa x
