Of Castles & Forts

What is the 1st thing that comes to you mind when you think about kings? Ofcourse, their forts and castles.

So that s what we thought we will see in Germany. Since it is every traveller's dream to backpack across Europe , we started small with just a part of Germany.

We had packed just enough luggage needed for the 3 days that we were supposed to be on the road and planned to leave rest of the luggage at the airport locker. Once that was taken care we were on our way to explore the

old world charm of Germany.

As a tourist with limited time, we always try to fit in as much as possible. Different places, different experiences all squeezed in. And hence our journey began from Frankfurt in the best public transport ever... The "Deutsche Bahn" ! First stop, oberwesel. Why you ask? Oh well just to get into our next mode of transport , the Rhein river cruise.

The Rhein river cruise is a good 13.5 hours journey end to end but the best part is you can get on and off anywhere in the route.
We got on to the cruise at Oberwesel .
All along the route there are castles on either side of the river and also a river facing pretty little town. And each castle has a signature style , the style of the King who built it.

They say every town in the upper Rhein valley is very beautiful and can be a destination in itself. So after some time as we started to get bored cruising we noticed a cute little approaching town. The name read " Boppard " & we were in the mood to explore it. We bid adieu to the cruise and started exploring Europe the way it is meant to be- on foot.
Boppard was such a happy accident because it was a beautiful town with the cutest city center and gorgeous outdoor cafes. A bus tour in the winding alleys, a walk around the market and lunch at the cafe later we were on our way to the next town Cologne satisfied with the lucky happenstance.

Cologne or Koln is rather overwhelming at the first sight. You exit out of the hauptbahnhof to go see the most important attraction of the city -the koln Dom and there it is staring right at you . You stagger a bit till the enormity of the building sinks in and and then it's all ok. A tour inside the Dom shows you the brilliance of the church with it's pretty paintings and beautiful architecture. We then went to the cable car ride to get a birds eye view of the city and the green park along the river looked extremely enticing.
We got off the cable car and walked across the park , along the river watching the setting sun to the old bridge.

All along the bridge there are hundreds of locks being a testament of love and at the end of the bridge is the knight mounted on his horse, overlooking and protecting his city.
After a long day of travelling on water, tracks, roads and foot we were back in the train station taking an overnight train to our next destination the fairytale castle of Neuschwanstein .
This journey was a rather long one as we were cutting across the country going from north to south. And as we started getting closer to the south, precisely closer to Munich , the whole atmosphere of the train started to change. There were people dressed in the traditional dirndl and lederhosen carrying crates of beer, singing traditional songs and that's when you realise of course it's Oktoberfest!
Amidst the festivities which start off in the train we finally made it to Fussen even when we had a connection time of 1 min to change trains. Some German

punctuality I say!

We were in Fussen early morning to beat the crowd and we managed to get into the bus to the castle entrance. The walk upto the castle is a beautiful journey as it gives the different views of the castle. The castle it self looks like it is perched on top of trees, so secluded, so surreal. No wonder Walt Disney drew inspiration from the Neuschwanstein castle for his fairytale sleeping beauty!
Well how often do you get to be part of a fairytale inspiration!
Going inside the castle is quite exquisite with each floor dedicated to different operas. The King was so fond of the operas that the whole experience is built into the castle. If the opera needed a cave , a cave is built inside.
Only the last floor has the royalty and beautiful chandelier that looks like a bohemian crown.
Unfortunately the castle is unfinished as the King , King Ludwig died early. I can only imagine how much more grander the castle would have been had the King completed what he started.
After the tour of the beautiful castle we went to a town called Karlsruhe just to spend the night and this town also added its own flavour into our journey with its myriad of tram lines and intersections.
While the weather gods had been quite kind on us till now suddenly turned gloomy on our last day. Probably they were gonna miss us? Well you never

know !
Braving the gloom and rain we started towards the last city on our agenda - Heidelberg . Honestly this city was added almost like an afterthought but it turned out to be a very good decision . The gloomy weather, the old fort , the old bridge , the lucky bridge monkey and the university winding alleys. They call it a university town for a reason coz the greats like Kirchhoff worked there. It was just the perfect combination. The perfect end to a perfect trip!
Every time I leave the continent I have the same words " Oh Europe! I can't get enough of you!"