Landsberg near the river Lech

And again we are on the Romantic Street, today we will visit Landsberg near the river Lech. You know that river from the town description of Fuessen. Here you will find it again. In old times and evn now in spring time, this river is deep and fast. So the salt traders in ancient times who come from Salzburg via Munich in the direction of Allgaeu found that this was the only place to cross the swollen stream. A clever Duke had built around 1100 a bridge and a castle for levying taxes. And the town mayors of Landsberg were clever at taxing. Every trader had to stop and unload his "white gold" for three days.

So they could charge him for using the bridge, the pavement, the space for the salt and so on. Up to ten fees they charged and this was the beginning of the wealth of the town. You can see it on our picture of the main square.

But do not be afraid, in our times there is only one big tax shark in Germany, that's our tax goverment. I guess, you have the same feeling about yours. Let us go to the nicer things in life. Landsberg am Lech is a wonderful central point for being on vacation and visiting a lot of world famous location in Bavaria. The distance from the airport is about 100 km/75 miles, I need, under normal road conditions, a short hour to bring you there on the Munich-Lindau highway. Perhaps you have already visited yet the towns (descriptions) of Kaufbeuren or Kempten too. Then you will know how, from Landsberg you can reach very quickly the Bodensee or Switzerland, to both places it is only between 30 - 45 minutes.

The famous castles Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau are not far ( 50 km/35 ml), Garmisch-Partenkirchen or Oberammergau are reachable in an hour, the cities Augsburg and Munich are also very near, so you have a lot of chances to spend your time day and night.

Landsberg is an invisible border town between the region of Upper Bavaria and Swabia. You can see that in the wide choices of dishes in Landsberg's restaurants. You can have original Bavarian food and they also offer special creations from the Swabian kitchen. There is, of course, international cooking too.

The acommodations in Landsberg and around are mostly familiar-type and quiet although you have the flair of a town. But to discover that town it is very easy, because they offer foreign-language speaking guides at any time you want. (pic: witch quarter with fat tower)

The people in Landsberg have long welcomed guests, some whom they like (especially if they bring or brought money in the town) some they did not. One place in the town, named the "Leap of the virgins", tells about some very unwelcome guests. In 1633 the Swedish army was besieging Landsberg but the town would not surrender. So the Swedish fired for five days and created a breach in the wall. Although the defenders were very brave they had to surrender, because no help was in sight and the gunpowder had run out. The night before the surrender, enemy troops came over the broken walls and started to kill, rob and rape. So a lot of females of that town prefered to jump off the wall to their death instead of falling into the hands of the soldiers.

If you like to get a little touch of ancient times similar to that (take a look to the site from Dinkelsbuehl) you can visit a big event near Landsberg. The castle of Kaltenberg, 12 km, away every year celebrates a tournament of knights for several weeks.

It is the greatest "real" tournament in the world and they fight in armour with swords, morningstars and other murderous weapons of the Middle Ages. The only thing that never happens is killing the loser really, a good knight normally never did this.

Watching sports is nice for the most of us but doing things yourself sometimes can be challengeing and also fun. Landsberg am Lech offers a lot of them. You can bath or swim, you will find a very good nine-hole-golf course, they offer rent-a-bike and the bike roads go down towards the Alps in Fuessen if you want. Walking or biking along the river Lech or among the lovely hills around will please everybody and is not so energetic.

There would be much more to talk about but I think it is the best will be you get your own impressions. If you want, let me know. I will help you to contact the town or acommodations and pick you up at the airport.

You like "do-it-yourself" ? Ok, here is the adress of the tourist information and here the homepage from Landsberg.

I like that lovely town, hope, you will too. See you again in another nice place, your George.

(Many thanks to Donough correcting the big mistakes I had)

Script by J.W.Lohfink, for any mistakes in spell or grammar I apologize as a precaution, corrections, questions or comments please mail to me.

>> German version

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