Travel Tips for Austria and Germany

AUSTRIA

The world's best music festivals. The world's biggest and most famous music festival is the Salzburg Festival. Other important Austrian melomaniac delights include the Haydn Festival in Vienna and the International Chamber Music Festival. Tickets to the festivals are cheapest if you buy them in Austria. "Tickets for Events in Austria" is an information sheet which is available from Austrian National Tourist Office, tel. (212)944-6880; website: www.austria-tourism.at.

The world's best horsemanship. The 400-year-old Spanish Riding School, located in the Hofburg, trains the noble white stallions that descend from the Spanish horses imported to Austria by Emperor Maximilian II in the 16th century. The horses dance to Viennese music, guided by expert riders wearing the traditional gold-buttoned brown uniform and gold-braided black hat. Performances are held at the school most Sunday mornings at 10:45 a.m. and occasional Wednesday nights at 7 p.m. from March to June and September to December. It's difficult to get tickets; write six months in advance to the Spanische Reitschule, Hofburg, A-1010 Vienna, Austria; tel. (43)1-533-9031.

The most romantic hotel. Less than an hour from Vienna, the Schloss Durnstein, tel. (43)2-711-212, presides over a wide curve of the Danube River. Located deep in the wine district of Wachsu, this magnificent castle is surrounded by distinctive vine-clad hills, age-old ruins and timeless picturesque villages with one-lane streets. According to the legend, it was here that the imprisoned King Richard the Lionhearted was reunited with his faithful minstrel, who had sung his way across Europe searching for his master. Also intriguing is the wine cellar (which can accommodate 8,000 "buckets" of wine), the arch-crossed cobbled courtyard and the 33 rooms all with chandeliers fronting the Danube.

GERMANY

Heidelberg, the most romantic town. Heidelberg is the hub of German Romanticism. Schumann began his career as a Romantic composer in this pretty town and Goethe fell in love here. Heidelberg is also the oldest university town in Germany and the site of scenes from the movie and opera The Student Prince. The best place to ramble in Heidelberg is the Haupstrasse, which is lined with coffeehouses and little shops. Have a drink in one of the cafes beneath the rathaus. Or meander along Philosopher's Walk, where Goethe and Hegel wandered. From the path you'll have a bird's-eye view of the city and Heidelberg Castle. Don't leave town without visiting the Electoral Palatinate Museum, where the 500,000-year-old jawbone of Heidelberg Man is kept.

Germany's best fish market. The best fish market in Germany is held on Sunday mornings in Hamburg. This raucous but fun affair is located by the docks in Altona and begins at 5 a.m.

Worms: the strangest history. The city of Worms has a strange name and an even stranger history. It was named for a legendary giant worm with fangs and webbed feet that lived in the Rhine and demanded human sacrifices. Worms was the fifth-century capital of the legendary Nibelungs. The tribe left the area, according to legend, after the wicked Hagen slew their hero, Siegfried and threw their treasure into the river. A huge statue of Hagen commemorates the story. The town was destroyed in A.D. 436 by Attila the Hun. In the center of the town's old section is the tall, spired Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, built in the 11th and 12th centuries. Worms has a huge statue of Martin Luther; the oldest synagogue in Germany, built in the 11th century and restored in 1961; and the oldest and largest Jewish cemetery in Europe. Tombstones date from the 11th century.

Hitler's favorite hideout. The Kehlsteinhouse (also known as Eagle's Nest), perched on a rocky crag above the town of Berchtesgaden, was Hitler's favorite hideout. No wonder-the view from the hideaway-turned-restaurant is exhilarating. Anyone could develop delusions of grandeur here. Alpine peaks rise above cottony clouds at this level. The snow at their summits glistens in the sun. Below, a thick carpet of dark green pines stretches toward the valley. The road to Eagle's Nest is so steep and dangerous that cars are not allowed to use it; you must take a special bus from the Obersalzberg-Hintereck parking lot. You can dine in the restaurant from mid-May through mid-October.

The world's best passion play. Every 10 years, the world's most moving passion play is performed in the shadows of the Alps in the little artisan town of Oberammergau. From May through September in years ending in zero, local amateur actors put aside their daily professions and devote themselves entirely to the play. Written in the 17th century, it enacts Christ's suffering between the Last Supper and his death. Villagers have performed the play every 10 years since the 17th century, when they vowed they would perform the passion if the black plague ceased. It did and they have. The picturesque Passionsspielhaus (Passion play Theater) can be visited any time of the year. The immense open-air stage holds 700 actors and the theater's wooden benches hold 5,200 people. You can see the elaborate costumes used during the passion play when you visit. Performances begin at 8:30 a.m. and finish at 6 p.m., with a two-hour break for lunch. The best hotel Oberammergau is the Alois Lang. This quiet place has rooms with private bathrooms and three good dining rooms.

The world's best asparagus. Every spring, Germans go stalk-raving mad, gorging themselves on the country's Weisser Spargel, or white asparagus. The German asparagus, introduced 2,000 years ago by the Romans, is plump and ivory white with delicate purple tips. It is prized among epicures, who come from around the world every April, May and June to the world's asparagus mecca. Asparagus is especially big business in Finthen, near Mainz, where all 5,000 inhabitants are engaged in the cultivation of the white vegetable; in Lampertheim, between Worms and Mannheim, where every housewife grows the prized vegetable in her back yard; in Schrobenhausen, the center of the only area in southern Bavaria where asparagus is grown; and in Tettnang and Schwetzingen, known together as the asparagus capital of Germany.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Travel [http://travel-guided.com]

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The 10 Greatest Castles of Germany

If you like castles, you'll love Germany, for Germany has castles the way Venice has canals, or Norway has fjords, or the Napa Valley has wineries. There are literally scores of them, virtually in every German state and seemingly on every other hilltop, especially along the river Rhine. There are schlosses, which are essentially castles or palaces, and there are burgs, which are castles or fortresses; and then there are festungs, quite simply, fortresses.

Here are ten of the most famous German castles, the must-sees, the "great castles" of Germany.

1. Schloss Neuschwanstein

Schloss Neuschwanstein is perhaps the most picturesque, the most recognizable of Germany's great castles. This is the one that inspired the magical castle at Disneyland, the one with interiors that resemble scenes from Wagnerian operas. Perched high on a hill in an alpine setting in Schwangau, along Northern Bavaria's Romantic Road, the castle follows a distinctly Romanesque style. It was originally built between 1869 and 1886 and was the ultimate fantasy of the Mad King Ludwig. Public tours of it are 9 euros each, not cheap, but worth it.

2. Burg Eltz

Burg Eltz, located in the lower Mosel Valley, high above the Rhine, is one of Germany's most beautiful medieval castles, 850 years old, and unscathed! It is still family owned and occupied, but can be seen on guided tours for 6 euros a pop. And it's worth it, offering the visitor a peek at not only the original period furniture and decor, but 20 flushable toilets that supposedly date back to the 15th century.

3. Meersburg Alte Burg

Meersburg Alte Burg, located in the Black Forest area in Baden-Württemberg, is another of the famous 'burgs'. It dates from the seventh century and offers superb views out to the Bodensee. This is also the oldest of Germany's castles that is inhabitable. A Merovingian king, Dagoberth, originally started it, and it served as the residence of the bishop of Konstanz for decades. For 8.00 euros you can take a self-guided tour of the castle that leads through 30 rooms that include the chambers used by famous German poet Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, who frequently sojourned here in the mid-19th century.

4. The Wartburg

The Wartburg, situated just outside Eisenach in the Thuringia region, has been described as the most German of the German castles. It was here that Martin Luther translated the New Testament from Greek into German while in hiding. This one is open to public tours for 5 euros per head.

5. The Marksburg

The Marksburg. Indeed, the Marksburg is perched on a hill on the shores of the Rhine, high above the town of Braubach in the Rhine Valley. And make no mistake, the Marksburg is not just another one of those 19th century imitations - and yes, there are several of those in Germany as well! - this is the real thing, boasting one of the most impressive armory collections anywhere, including one of the oldest cannons in Germany. For 4.50 euros you can see it all on a guided tour.

6. Schloss Sanssouci

Schloss Sanssouci: Now there's one you can't miss. Located in Potsdam in the Brandenberg region, not far from Berlin, this is a veritable masterpiece from the Baroque period. What's more, it has its associations with Frederick the Great. In this small but lively summer palace Frederick the Great entertained the thinkers and musicians of his time, including Voltaire. The Rococco residence can be toured for 8 euros, albeit with commentary in German.

7. Schloss Braunfels

Schloss Braunfels, an 800-year-old palace located in the Hesse region's Lahn Valley. While well worth touring, the unfortunate thing about this one is that it was rebuilt in the 19th century in the Neo-Gothic style. But don't let that deter you. A guided tour of the castle includes the interior, with rooms displaying medieval weaponry, porcelain, and paintings. And it's 4 euros for the tour.

8. Festung Königstein

Festung Königstein, located near Dresden in the Saxony region, is easily the largest fortress in Germany, and a triumph, if ever there was one, of fortress construction in Europe. Now more than 750 years old, it represents a confluence of Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and 19th century architecture. During world War II, it housed senior French prisoners of war as well as Dresden's best artworks. Guided tours of fortress and its grounds are available year-round for 6 euros.

9. The Residenz

The Residenz, the principle address of the ruling Wittelsbach family for over 500 years, is located in Munich, Bavaria. It is a massive complex, lavishly decorated, constructed between 1720 and 1744 by Balthasar Neumann for the bishops of Würzburg. It is also one of the finest Baroque palaces in Europe and a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site. And it's 4 euros for a guided tour.

10. Schloss Heidelberg

Schloss Heidelberg, located in Heidelberg of course, in the Baden-Würtemberg region, is perhaps Germany's most famous ruin, and possibly also one of its most romantic sights. For five centuries the principle residence of the Prince Electors of the Kurpfalz, it was destroyed by the French in the 17th century but continues to dominate Heidelberg's skyline. Photograph this for the memory.

Baljeet Sangwan is a globetrotter, travel editor and travel writer who has published 12 travel guidebooks. He is a contributor to Great Castles of Germany, as well as articles on The Rhine Valley, Germany and The Mosel Valley, Germany.

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