Garmisch Partenkirchen

Yesterday (Thursday) we had one of our longest driving days in Germany (4.5 hours) but only covered about 280kms. And it was a day fraught with road works (an ever present bane), traffic jams through small towns with speed limits reduced to 30km/h and trucks, trucks, trucks (and tractors) impeding progress.

Fortunately, we were travelling through absolutely the most beautiful part of Germany (spitting distance from Austria and Switzerland) and so it was very pleasant to be driving at 6-16kms/hr through the vineyards and past Bodensee (will try to stop there on our drive to Lucerne in a few days time). Just stunning!

Stopped for lunch and to stretch our now cramped legs at Füssen – looked pretty ordinary at first, then we turned a corner and found a lovely Altstadt with the obligatory cobbled street, fountains etc.

One of the reasons we are in this part of Germany however is to see Neuschwanstein Castle – a 19th-century Romanesque Revival palace on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau.
If you’re interested, you can read the history here.

Another asthma-inducing hike up another friggin steep road in the heat to reach said castle. But worth the pain and suffering not only for the castle, but the views of the surrounding area from the lofty heights.

We were up bright and early (7am!) this morning in order to beat the locals (who appear to only surface around 10am) to the Partnach Gorge.
The reason for the rush is that we read online that due to COVID, (a) face masks need to be worn for the entire walk and the forecast for today was 30 degrees and (b) they’ve made the walk a one-way which meant “a slightly steep exit back to the car park”.

The Partnach River, a mountain stream, has cut a 262 ft deep crevasse into pure rock, creating one of the most beautiful gorges in the alpine region. The Gorge is ~800 metres in length and its walls rise to 80 metres. It was declared a natural monument in 1912.

The pics speak for themselves …

What they failed to mention is that the “slight steep exit” was in fact clawing our way up a vertical path and once at the top, then having to walk ~2km down a narrow, winding road with an incline so steep that we had to practically lie horizontal to stop picking up speed. That little jaunt brought us back to the start of the gorge where we still had a 2.3km walk back to the Olympic ski jump where we had to leave the car (the closest you can get by car to the gorge).
The Olympic Ski Stadium first gained international fame when the 1936 Olympic Games were held here. You can see more pics and read here for additional history and truly appreciate the height and scale of it. Unbelievably brave (or insane) people to come down these jumps!

Next stop today was to Eibsee lake, at the foot of the great Zugspitze mountain (Germany’s highest on the border of Austria). It is home to three glaciers, has a unique 360° panorama including mountain peaks from four countries, and in good weather, views extend over a sea of 400 peaks in Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland! (No, we didn’t go up – saving our Euro’s for the mountains in Switzerland).

But back to Eibsee – it has a surface area of 177.4 hectares (large!) and has the most beautiful clear water. After lunch we went and sat on some rocks with our legs in the water – it was a very refreshing 20 or so degrees. Spent some time just people and dog watching and enjoying the cool water on a hot day (~29 degrees again today).

Deb, Pip, Jo, Barb and Carol – we used my “Luna towel” today (not the first time) and so Luna was in our thoughts, especially as we were watching a large black poodle-cross dog retrieving a toy from the lake – over and over again.

We both agreed that we’d rather swim in lakes like this than the ocean! Fresh water for starters, clear water so you can see what lurks beneath and rocks/pebbles instead of muddy sludge like our lakes! We may just have to stay! 🙂

Daily Giggle
Had to stifle the giggles when a middle-aged woman went tottering into the water in a rather undignified and uncontrolled manner.
It was funny ‘cos (a) I’m evil, (b) I saw it coming – she was trying to navigate the sharp, slippery rocks underfoot, slipped, tried to recover with arms flailing and went into water at high speed with a yell and (c) I’d nearly done the same thing myself … 🙂
In my defence, she was in her cozzie and going for a swim anyway.

UNDIGNIFIED DIVE