It’s not all about the skiing, sledding, or the Christmas Market for that matter in the Bavarian town of Pfronten. You couldn’t ask for a town more chocked full of small churches and surrounding castles.
Yeah, that got your attention, didn’t it?
But, first we play! Pfronten’s castles have been here for hundreds of years, so I’m guessing that they’ll be here a while longer.
Whether you choose to hike or mountain bike, ski or snowboard — the Alps are your proverbial oyster! Careful, you don’t want to ski or take a sleigh ride right into neighboring Austria (not that anything’s wrong with our neighbor — you just have more to see here).
I think shopping could be considered a sport, good thing there’s an annual Christmas Market AND a Pfronter Costume Market (can anyone say, lederhosen?).
Besides, the annual Mountainbike Marathon is a really good time, even if you’re not riding one of the three distances marked out.
I know I would be hard tempted not to ride right to either the Falkenstein Castle ruins (the view alone from this castle is worth biking thousands of miles to see) or nearby Hohenschwagau or Neuschwanstein (yeah, Mad King Ludwig’s places).
Maybe a quick trip over to the Crystal Museum or Pfronten’s Local History Museum would be a good idea, too.
I can’t think of a place much older than the town’s St. Nicholas Church. There’s been a place of worship on this very spot for hundreds of years — with Romanesque, Gothic, and Baroque art and architecture added through the centuries.
St. Nick’s isn’t the only historical church around. The Church of the Visitation is an off-shoot of the St. Nicholas Church — thought to have been built in the late 13th century.
The Brother George Chapel is another wonderful religious site, built right on the spot where the town’s pious son lived.
With all these religious sites, I should say a prayer to still fit into my lederhosen. Maybe I should go get some exercise during that mountainbike race too. ;-)
