Friday 12 September 2014

Guided Tours

If you like castles, take one of the guided tours where the bus driver takes you on a stop at the magnificent Neuschwanstein
Castle, built as a shrine to Richard Wagner by Ludwig II, the craziest King of Bavaria that ever lived.  He also built two
other castles nearby worth looking at.  The Castle Linderhof is beautifully maintained inside and out, and contains a grotto
that was also based on the works of Richard Wagner.  The Castle Herrenscheimsee is sixty kilometers south of Munich.  Any
one of these castles is picture perfect and all of them are delightful stops on your tour.

Speaking of Munich, not one guided tour of Munich would be complete without a stop in this fantastic Bavarian city, famous
for its beer, its music and for Oktoberfest.  Visitors can shop inside the city and can take a rest at Munich’s most famous
beer establishment, the Hofbrauhaus.  Having seats for nearly a thousand people on several levels, woman rush by in
traditional Bavarian dress with mugs of beer big enough to satisfy the thirstiest of travelers.  It’s just one of those
places that you need to say you’ve “been there”.

There are hundreds of different places that guided tours of Germany can take you.  The example above is just one of the
wonderful tours and places this quaint country has to offer.

Exploring Nostalgic

There are numerous guided tours available for singles, couples or families that will take you through the most quaint and
nostalgic parts of Germany.  You can choose a trip that covers the northern part of the country, the southern part of the
country or take a sampling of both if you don’t mind spending a few hours on an air-conditioned tour bus.  The best times
to see Germany are from March through July and in the autumn. Many places are closed in August so that may not be the best
time for a tour.

A good example of one of the guided tours of Germany that give you a sampling of the entire country would begin in Frankfurt,
Germany, where they have a large airport.  You can visit the Old Town area that make you feel like you’ve gone back in time
to several hundred years ago.  The architecture is quaint and well preserved.

Many guided tours of Germany can take you to Cologne, called Köln in German. Cologne is the fourth largest city in Germany
and lies along the Rhine River.  One of the sites you wouldn’t want to miss is the beautiful Cologne Cathedral, which is
especially striking at night.

For a special treat, a few guided tours of Germany take you on a day-long river boat ride down the famous Rhine River with
stops at Bonn or at several of the smaller towns along the river, ending in Koblenz.  Have your camera ready as the scenery
is thrilling and you’ll see numerous castle ruins high along the banks as the boat travels down the calm and lovely river.
You’ll likely spend some time on one or more of the towns along the Danube River, which originated in the Black Forest and
flows mainly east.  In German, the Danube River is called the Donau River.  Along the Main River, many guided tours of
Germany will take you to Würzburg, where you can see the famous Fortress Marienberg. a castle on a hill across the Old Main
Bridge from the city or the  lovely 18th Century Würzburg Residenz.