Connect with us
[the_ad id="89560"]

Alberta

My European Favourites – One Day In The Bavarian Alps

Published

17 minute read

 

 

My European Favourites – One Day In The Bavarian Alps

My favourite area of Germany is Bavaria. It’s the largest state, about one fifth the size of the country, and is located in the south-east of Germany. Bordering the Czech Republic and Austria, the state’s capital Munich is an easy place to fly into, and it is a great city to explore and enjoy, especially during Oktoberfest.

Hotel Wittlesbach and two buildings in Oberammergau with painted frescoes

Oberammergau, Germany

The Bavarian Alps are about an hour drive south from Munich, and one of my favourite places to stay is in the town of Oberammergau. You may have heard of the town as it is well known worldwide for its performance of the “Passion Play,” which is performed in the aptly named, Passion Play Theatre. In 1633, while the plague was rampant in Europe, the villagers promised to perform the play every ten years if no further deaths from the plague occurred in Oberammergau. The play details the suffering, death and resurrection of Christ. Their prayer was answered, and they kept their promise with the first play staged in 1634. The most recent performance was supposed to be in 2020, but due to the covid-19 pandemic, it has been moved to 2022.

Oberammergau is a compact place easily explored on foot. The Bavarian State Woodcarving School is located there, and there are shops where you can purchase everything from wooden toys to elaborate woodcarvings, including those of religious saints and crucifixes. As you walk through the town, you will see many buildings with painted frescoes (Lüftlmalerei) on their exterior walls with scenes from fairy tales, Bavarian folk themes, religious scenes and decorations that imitate architectural elements.

To be able to accomplish our sightseeing today we need to start with an early breakfast at one of the local hotels. One of my favourites is the Hotel Wittlesbach which is located right in the town centre and has been operated and owned by the Ternes family for many years. The hotel is full of the Bavarian charm you would expect, and the breakfast they offer is very good. We have stayed there many times over the years, and our groups love the hotel and location.

King Ludwig II of Bavaria’s Linderhof Palace and Neuschwanstein Castle

Mad King Ludwig II of Bavaria

Linderhof Palace is only a 15-minute drive away from Oberammergau and is the smallest of the three places or castles built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria. The Kingdom of Bavaria existed from 1805 until 1918, and the Ludwig’s Wittelsbach family ruled during the kingdom’s entire existence. In 1864, Ludwig became king at the age of 18. He had little interest in politics and soon began to spend his own wealth on personal projects, like three fairy tale palaces or castles. His spending and accumulating debt became such a concern by Bavaria’s political elite that they had a medical commission declare him insane and

incapable of reigning. A day later, he was on a walk with his psychiatrist, and they were both found dead; presumably drowned and floating in Lake Starnberg. Now that you know some of the story of King Ludwig II, we can talk about two of the three places or castles he built, Linderhof Palace and Neuschwanstein Castle. The third and largest building, the New Herrenchiemsee Palace, which will not be part of our day, was built on an island in Lake Chiemsee and was to be a copy of Versailles in France, but it was never completed.

Linderhof Palace, the Gilt Fountain and the Neptune Fountain

Linderhof Palace

Linderhof is the only palace that King Ludwig II lived to see completed, and it is located near where his father, King Maximilian II, had the royal hunting lodge. Ludwig went there many times as a child and was very familiar with the location in the Graswang Valley near Ettal.

Ludwig idolized the French Sun-King Louis XIV and wanted to emulate his grand palaces in Bavaria. Throughout the Linderhof Palace, you will find sun decorations as an homage to his idol and as a symbol of royal absolute power. Linderhof was initially intended to be Ludwig’s Versailles, but due mainly to an unsuitable sized area, it became a smaller project which was completed in 1886. During his construction of Linderhof, Ludwig purchased the much larger Herrenwörth island on Lake Chiemsee, and it became the new site to build his Versailles as Herrenchiemsee Palace.

The Linderhof Park is fun to explore and has a mixture of different garden designs, cascading waterfalls, fountains, and a large pond with a gilt fountain that jets water 25 meters in the air. As you walk through the park, you will find a swan pond, the Moroccan House, the Terrace gardens, a Temple of Venus, a Neptune fountain, a Royal Lodge, a chapel, a music pavilion, a Moorish kiosk, various parterres (level gardens with symmetrical patterns) and a grotto. The Venus grotto is an artificial grotto and theatre where Ludwig could sit in his small boat as it was gently rocked by a wave machine and watch his favourite operas by Wagner.

A ticket is required to tour the palace with a guide, but there are really only four rooms that served a specific purpose. The first room is the “Hall of Mirrors” which served as the main living room. Then there is Ludwig’s bed chamber, the dining room with a disappearing dumb-waiter, and the small audience chamber which was used by Ludwig as a study and not a room where he would see people. There are two “Tapestry Chambers” which serve no real purpose, and there are no real tapestries on the walls, but instead, there are canvas paintings made to imitate tapestries.

A visit to Linderhof is enjoyable mainly for the gardens and palace exterior, but you might as well see the palace interior if you are there. Near the parking area, there are shops where you can purchase your ticket to tour the palace, buy a souvenir or a snack. The Schloss Linderhof Hotel is there as well, but I would rather stay in Oberammergau.

Fussen Arena, Fussen’s colorful old town, plus the Abbey and Castle

Fussen

After spending the morning at Linderhof, we travel west for about an hour through winding mountain roads to the town of Fussen just north of the Austria border. Our hockey tours often go to Fussen to play at the BLZ Arena or Bundesleistungszentrum, which ever you prefer. The main arena is a fabulous structure with windows installed above the seating area offering natural light into the building and onto the ice surface. The hometown team, EV Fussen, nicknamed the Leopards, play in the U20 Deutsche Nachwuchsliga II. The BLZ complex also has a second arena, and surprisingly, a curling rink.

Fussen is at one end of the Romantic Road which is a 350 km tourist route with interesting towns, villages and sights. Wurzburg, in wine country, is at the other end and the medieval walled town of Rothenburg, just south of Wurzburg, is one the must stops on the road.

We will stop in Fussen for a couple of hours to explore the old town and have time for lunch. Fussen is an underappreciated town with medieval walls, baroque churches, a former Benedictine Abbey (St. Mang’s) and a museum with historical music instruments including violins and lutes. The interesting Fussen Castle has the unfortunate luck of being located on a few kilometers from one of the most famous castles in the world and gets no respect. With just a couple of hours in Fussen I’m walking directly to the old town’s pedestrian friendly cobblestone streets to find a nice place to have lunch. I don’t have a big sweet tooth, but I will try to make time to slip over to the Hotel Schlosskrone’s Konditorei Kurcafe for a nice dessert. The hard part at the pastry shop is deciding which one to have.

Hohenschwangau Castle and the scenic Bavarian Alps

Hohenschwangau Castle

Just a few kilometers from Fussen, you will find one of Germany’s top attractions- the Neuschawanstein Castle. When you arrive to the parking place, you will immediately see a mustard colored castle that is not as famous, named Hohenschwangau. King Maximillian II of Bavaria, Ludwig’s father, rebuilt this 19th century castle on the ruins of a previous castle which had been partially destroyed in various wars. The castle was restored to its original plans and became the summer residence of the royal family and a young Ludwig. The castle, which is now often overlooked by the larger Neuschwanstein Castle, can be toured along with the Museum of the Bavarian Kings. Unfortunately, our schedule does not allow time for it.

Mary’s Bridge, Neuschwanstein Castle entrance, lower courtyard and tower

Neuschwanstein Castle

Our goal today is to see the Neuschwanstein Castle before it closes. It’s a good idea to reserve your time online prior to arriving, especially in the busy season from May to September. After getting your ticket and tour time at the ticket office, you must get up to the castle courtyard on your own in time to join your tour. There are three ways to get up to the castle from the town; a walking path up to the castle that can take 20-30 minutes, horse carriages that take you most of the way up to the castle, and a shuttle bus that takes you up to the Mary’s Bridge (Marien Brucke). We will take the shuttle bus which costs a couple of Euros to the Mary’s Bridge drop off. The Mary’s Bridge offers a fantastic panoramic view of the castle and the valley below. Tourists flock here prior to or after touring the castle to take their most prized photo of the day.

After taking our photo, we still have to walk from the Mary’s Bridge on a paved path to the castle courtyard to join our English tour which takes about 35 minutes and ends, as most tours do, in a souvenir shop.

Despite its medieval look, Neuschwanstein was built in the 19th century and served no defensive purpose. It was built for one man, King Ludwig II of Bavaria, but unfortunately, he only spent eleven nights there. The original castle name was New Hohenschwangau Castle but was changed to Neuschwanstein Castle after Ludwig’s death. Neuschwanstein literally means “New Swan Castle” and was named after a character in one of Wagner’s operas, the Swan Knight.

In addition to being a big admirer of the French King Louis XIV, Ludwig was a big fan of the renowned composer Richard Wagner and was his patron. Many rooms in the castle were inspired by other characters in his operas, but sadly, Wagner never got a chance to see the castle as he died before its completion. The singer’s hall which occupies the entire third floor is adorned with characters from Wagner’s operas. The amazing woodwork in Ludwig’s bedroom took fourteen carpenters four years to complete. You will find that there is no throne room in the castle for Ludwig as the Throne Hall had not been completed by the time of his death. Although the fairy tale castle is one of the most photographed buildings in the world, tourists are not allowed to take photos inside the castle.

After our tour, we can slowly make our way down to the parking area and make our 45-minute drive back to Oberammergau where we can have dinner and enjoy the evening at an outdoor patio. Maybe tonight we will go to the Ammergauer Maxbräu in the Hotel Maximillian where they brew their own beer. That concludes a great day in the Bavarian Alps.

Explore Europe With Us

Azorcan Global Sport, School and Sightseeing Tours have taken thousands to Europe on their custom group tours since 1994. Visit azorcan.net to see all our custom tour possibilities for your group of 26 or more. Individuals can join our “open” signature sport, sightseeing and sport fan tours including our popular Canada hockey fan tours to the World Juniors. At azorcan.net/media you can read our newsletters and listen to our podcasts.

Images compliments of Paul Almeida and Azorcan Tours.

Paul Almeida: My European Favourites in 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before Post

I have been in sports management and the sports tour business since 1994 when I created my company, Azorcan Global Sport, School and Sightseeing tours. Please visit our website at azorcan.net for more information on our company, our tours and our destinations. We are European group tour experts specializing in custom sightseeing tours, sport tours (hockey, soccer, ringette, school academies) and fan tours (World Juniors). Check out our newsletters, and listen to our podcasts at azorcan.net/media.

Follow Author

Alberta

Alberta takes big step towards shorter wait times and higher quality health care

Published on

From the Fraser Institute

By Nadeem Esmail

On Monday, the Smith government announced that beginning next year it will change the way it funds surgeries in Alberta. This is a big step towards unlocking the ability of Alberta’s health-care system to provide more, better and faster services for the same or possibly fewer dollars.

To understand the significance of this change, you must understand the consequences of the current (and outdated) approach.

Currently, the Alberta government pays a lump sum of money to hospitals each year. Consequently, hospitals perceive patients as a drain on their budgets. From the hospital’s perspective, there’s little financial incentive to serve more patients, operate more efficiently and provide superior quality services.

Consider what would happen if your local grocery store received a giant bag of money each year to feed people. The number of items would quickly decline to whatever was most convenient for the store to provide. (Have a favourite cereal? Too bad.) Store hours would become less convenient for customers, alongside a general decline in overall service. This type of grocery store, like an Alberta hospital, is actually financially better off (that is, it saves money) if you go elsewhere.

The Smith government plans to flip this entire system on its head, to the benefit of patients and taxpayers. Instead of handing out bags of money each year to providers, the new system—known as “activity-based funding”—will pay health-care providers for each patient they treat, based on the patient’s particular condition and important factors that may add complexity or cost to their care.

This turns patients from a drain on budgets into a source of additional revenue. The result, as has been demonstrated in other universal health-care systems worldwide, is more services delivered using existing health-care infrastructure, lower wait times, improved quality of care, improved access to medical technologies, and less waste.

In other words, Albertans will receive far better value from their health-care system, which is currently among the most expensive in the world. And relief can’t come soon enough—for example, last year in Alberta the median wait time for orthopedic surgeries including hip and knee replacements was 66.8 weeks.

The naysayers argue this approach will undermine the province’s universal system and hurt patients. But by allowing a spectrum of providers to compete for the delivery of quality care, Alberta will follow the lead of other more successful universal health-care systems in countries such as Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland and create greater accountability for hospitals and other health-care providers. Taxpayers will get a much better picture of what they’re paying for and how much they pay.

Again, Alberta is not exploring an untested policy. Almost every other developed country with universal health care uses some form of “activity-based funding” for hospital and surgical care. And remember, we already spend more on health care than our counterparts in nearly all of these countries yet endure longer wait times and poorer access to services generally, in part because of how we pay for surgical care.

While the devil is always in the details, and while it’s still possible for the Alberta government to get this wrong, Monday’s announcement is a big step in the right direction. A funding model that puts patients first will get Albertans more of the high-quality health care they already pay for in a timelier fashion. And provide to other provinces an example of bold health-care reform.

Nadeem Esmail

Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute
Continue Reading

Alberta

Alberta’s embrace of activity-based funding is great news for patients

Published on

From the Montreal Economic Institute

Alberta’s move to fund acute care services through activity-based funding follows best practices internationally, points out an MEI researcher following an announcement made by Premier Danielle Smith earlier today.

“For too long, the way hospitals were funded in Alberta incentivized treating fewer patients, contributing to our long wait times,” explains Krystle Wittevrongel, director of research at the MEI. “International experience has shown that, with the proper funding models in place, health systems become more efficient to the benefit of patients.”

Currently, Alberta’s hospitals are financed under a system called “global budgeting.” This involves allocating a pre-set amount of funding to pay for a specific number of services based on previous years’ budgets.

Under the government’s newly proposed funding system, hospitals receive a fixed payment for each treatment delivered.

An Economic Note published by the MEI last year showed that Quebec’s gradual adoption of activity-based funding led to higher productivity and lower costs in the province’s health system.

Notably, the province observed that the per-procedure cost of MRIs fell by four per cent as the number of procedures performed increased by 22 per cent.

In the radiology and oncology sector, it observed productivity increases of 26 per cent while procedure costs decreased by seven per cent.

“Being able to perform more surgeries, at lower costs, and within shorter timelines is exactly what Alberta’s patients need, and Premier Smith understands that,” continued Mrs. Wittevrongel. “Today’s announcement is a good first step, and we look forward to seeing a successful roll-out once appropriate funding levels per procedure are set.”

The governments expects to roll-out this new funding model for select procedures starting in 2026.

* * *

The MEI is an independent public policy think tank with offices in Montreal, Ottawa, and Calgary. Through its publications, media appearances, and advisory services to policymakers, the MEI stimulates public policy debate and reforms based on sound economics and entrepreneurship.

Continue Reading

Trending

X