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 Festung Koenigstein - south of
Dresden by globetrott, 4 more photos
The castle was built on the very top of a rather flat mountain above the river Elbe, and it was used as a prison and fortification untill 1922.
NO enemy was ever able toget into the castle...
...BUT in 1848 Sebastian Abratzky was able to climb up one of the steep rocks and get into the castle. His profession was to clean chimneys and so he knew some tricks of climbing.
He was set into prison for a few weeks as well...
On the castle you may still see plenty of great cannons, like on my picture, you may see the old castle and prison-cells, there are various restaurants and exhibitions about the old times and so you may spend almost the whole day there, when you like to see everything.
You may go to Königstein by train or by ship, and with your own car of course, but you have to leave it at the big parking and walk for the last 1000 meters up the hill, or take the small street-train, actually a tracktor with wagons running on a regular basis. Leave a Comment
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 Schloss Pillnitz - 10km south
of Dresden by globetrott, 4 more photos
This palace with the beautiful park around of it once belonged to countess Anna Konstanze Cosel, one of the many mistresses of August the strong.
She had an interesting life with a sad end :
In 1699 she got divorced of her husband, beeing a minister of Saxony , in order to become the mistress of the king. In 1712 she fell into disgrace and was held as a prisoner in castle Stoplen between 1716 and 1765.
In 1723 August der Starke had the castle of Pillnitz re-constructed in chinese style by the famous architects Pöppelmann and Longuelune.
Schloss Pillnitz is one of the highlights of any cruise on the river Elbe and inside you may see a museum of laque-furniture, musical instruments, clocks, glass and keramics.
Inside the palace and museum you will be able to take photography against a small fee ! Leave a Comment
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 The Chinese tea-House in
Potsdam / Sanssoucie by globetrott, 4 more photos
My favorite one was the Chinese Teahouse, you will find it at about halfway between the New Palais and Sanssouci palace !
China with its special customs and architecture was admired in many european countries and so it became quite common to add a small teahouse or maybe a Chinese Saloon to many castles in the baroque-times.
But such a big and special Tea-house is still quite unique and it is beautifully decorated with golden sculptures and ornate golden decoartions.
When the king and his friends had tea there, they were dressed in long silk-dresses and drank the tea in precious chinese porcelain.
Today the Chinese Teahouse is used to show the collection of precious chinese porcelain:
The Chinese Teahouse is open:
May 15th-oct.15th :
Tuesday-Sunday 10.00a.m.-05.00p.m.
Just a few meters outside of the park of Sanssouci you will still see the old windmill, that existed already before King Friedrich the Great started to build his castle. The King tried quite often to buy the mill - simply because it made lots of strange noises during the day and it looks a bit strange to have such a mill as a background to a castle - still today, when you take a picture of the castle it looks strange...
The miller did NOT sell his mill, and Friedrich had some sorrows even in Sans - souci... Leave a Comment
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In the north-west of Munich and just a bit outside of the centre of the village of Dachau you you can still see the remains of the former KZ Dachau and it looks rather realistic and spooky still, with a system of several walls around the camp and watch-towers and barbed wires around of them.
You may get guided tours of 2,5 hours
for 3 Euros a person
daily at 01.30p.m. it is in English
at 02.00p.m. it is in German
Sat+Sun also at 12.00 noon in English
The whole museum is closed on Mondays !!
The former KZ is a bit outside of the centre of Dachau:
follow the signs for "KZ-Gedenkstätte" Leave a Comment
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Blutenburg is a small castle in the west of Munich ,and it looks almost a bit like a russian monastery with a huge wall and towers around it and a system of canals and moats around it.
Blutenburg is in a distance of about 4km from Nymphenburg and dates back to the 14th century.
Blutenburg means "bloody castle" or rather "bleeding castle" and is used as a library today and as a recreation-area with great parks.
The link below - unfortunately in German only - has plenty of interesting details about
Agnes Bernauer, Lola Montez etc. in Blutenburg !
During the day you may walk inside the Blutenburg and will see this lovely old church,that was once part of a monastery (my 2nd and 3rd pic).
You may enter the church and it is really lovely inside ! - see my picture under "off the beaten path"
On the right of my picture you may also see the great medieval entrance-gate of the castle !
In the innercourt of Blutenburg you will also have a big "International Youth -library" and a nice garden-restaurant !
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How to get to Blutenburg: When you arrive by highway A8 from Stuttgart, you have to turn right towards Pasing, and will pass by it / hidden behind the park ! Follow the signs to Blutenburg ! Leave a Comment
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Franziskanerkirche is my favorite church in Berchtesgaden and it was built in the year 1488 for the Augustinian-nuns and was changed to a franciscan church and monastery in 1695. In 1822 the monastery was given up and the building was first used by the bavarian ministery of justice and recently it became the seat of the National Park Berchtesgaden.
Normally you may see the interior of Franziskanerkirche freely and without restrictions during the day, it is quite interesting to see the gothic construction with a row of columns in the middle of the church, deviding the church into 2 halfs, both of wich are equally decorated. Normally you would expect a large nave in the centre and columns at both sides, but here it is different ! Leave a Comment
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Hessenthahl is a small village next to Mespelbrunn and it is famous and well known for its lovely pilgrim-church and the great altar-sculptures made by Tilman Riemenschneider.
This church in Hessenthal-Mespelbrunn is a combination of 3 different churches and it does not at all look very special from outside. There is a small chapel with the famous sculpture of Holy Mary, the pilgrim-church dating back to the year 1293 and the modern parish-church of Hessenthal-Mespelbrunn that includes some of the famous wooden sculptures by Tilman Riemenschneider.The famous altar made by Tilman Riemenschneider in 1485 is hidden inside the modern parish-church, just opposite of the main entrance (see my 1st and 2nd pic !).
I almost did not pay it any attention, until I saw it mentioned in the small booklet, that I bought for 2 Euros in the church.
You may get inside the churches and chapels freely and without restrictions. Photography is no problem !
The church is almost at the beginning of the village,when you arrive by the Autobahn / highway A3 and leave at exit Weibersbrunn. Leave a Comment
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The village of Geiselwind is about 200 meters off the highway A3, and about halfway between Wuerzburg and Nuernberg / Nuremberg. The exit is also called "Geiselwind"
This village is a great place for a stop-over with a lot of lovely half-timbered houses, it is close to the highway, but still in quite a distance, so you will not hear any of its noises there. Take a walk through the village, plenty of these houses are quite old and perfectely restored.
You will find 2 petrol-stations there, a super-market and various cheap hotels. Prices are low and so it might make sense to do your shopping there instead of the expensive petrol-stations along the highway.
Freizeitland Geiselwind is one of the best-known recreation-parks in Germany or at least in Bavaria.
You will see it from the highway A3 and it offers great events and fun for the whole family. There is an area, where you may see Flamingos, apes, storchs, parrots, owls etc.
There will be merry-go-rounds for the smaller children and roller-coasters for the others. A whole day might not be enough to enjoy all of the attractions there.
Freizeitland geiselwind is open mainly in summer :
end of March till the end of october: 09.00a.m.-05.00p.m.
May till August even till 06.00p.m.
You may get in untill 1 hour before closing-time !
Go to Geiselwind when you have your birthday:
NO entrance-fee for you
visitors under 1,10 m are free
visitors taller than 1,10 m pay 16 Euro
taller than 1,40 m pay 19 Euros Leave a Comment
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Inside the park of Linderhof palace you will find some special buildings that were favorite places of "mad" King Ludwig II of Bavaria :
1) Hundinghütte looks like a simple hut from outside, but inside it has a certain luxury. Hundinghütte is a remote little hut at the east-end of the castle-park.
It was built at a small lake and King Ludwig very often spent the whole day and even some nights there, living the "simple life" like one of the persons in his beloved legends and epics.
There is a huge artificial tree with a chandelier and a fireplace on a table , surrounded by benches covered with the skin of bears. (on the right, in the back of my 3rd pic )
Under the chandelier there are large horns that the king used to drink of.
Gurnemanz-Klause (my 4th pic) is a small church that was built by a monch at a remote place inside the woods - according to one of the stories that King Ludwig liked so very much.
So he decided to build such a small church inside the park as well and he used the area also for performances of special scenes of operas.
And his servants sometimes had to remove all the snow, and plant flowers especially for this one performance, and make sure, no animals will eat these "early" flowers, before the king saw his performance there...
On my last picture : This small church is 200 meters east from the castle.
It was built in the style of Bavarian alpine churches, but much smaller than normally.
You may not enter the church, but have a look inside through a window.
__________________________Linderhof palace is about 17 Km west of Oberammergau and Ettal.
There is a fee to park your car ( 2,- € a day ) and the parking is big enough for some hundred of cars. Leave a Comment
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Wieskirche is a rather large church,standing alone in the landscape surrounded by a few houses only.
It all started with a miracle in 1740 and since then lots of pilgrims come to this lovely church, that is even a bit over-loaded with ornaments, paintings and frescoes.
The church is open daily from 08.00 a.m. till 07.00 p.m.
There is no admission fee, but a donation is expected for the renovation of the church, and you may decide upon the amount by yourself, and put it into a large box at the entrance.
When driving by car from Munich towards Fuessen, you will pass by it, it is just 6 Km off the regular road.
_____________________Wies has a busstation directely at the church. Take BUS Nr. 9651 from FÜSSEN to Weilheim i.OB ( Weilheim in Oberbayern)
For the exact schedule you may have a look on this web-page and use the destination "Wieskirche" and NOT "Wies"... Leave a Comment
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