Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
adult/child €1.50/0.50; 10am-noon & 2-5pm Tue-Sun)
. You may have to duck your
head when touring this 400-year-old farmhouse that offers a glimpse into yesteryear's life
on the lake and also boasts a precious Ignaz Günther sculpture in the little chapel. A mod-
ern extension showcasing a fancy royal barge and a section on its construction are the
most recent additions to its exhibits.
Starnberg is just 30 minutes on the S6 from Munich (€5).
BERG
It's about an hour's walk (5km) from Starnberg (starting on Nepomukweg and following
the shingle) to Berg on the northeastern lake shore, where King Ludwig II spent summers
at
Schloss Berg
and where he and his doctor died in 1886 under mysterious circum-
stances. The palace and its lovely gardens still belong to the Wittelsbach family and are
closed to prying eyes, but you're free to walk through its wooded park to the
Votivkapelle
( 08151-5276; Votive Chapel; admission free; 9am-5pm Apr-Oct)
. Built in honour
of Ludwig and shrouded by mature trees, this neo-Romanesque memorial chapel over-
looks the spot in the lake - marked by a simple cross, erected years later by his mother -
where Ludwig's dead body was supposedly found.
POSSENHOFEN & FELDAFING
Austrian empress Sisi, cousin of Ludwig II, spent her childhood summers at
Schloss
Possenhofen
, a chunky cream-coloured palace on the western shore of Lake Starnberg.
It's since been converted into condos but the grounds are now a huge leisure park with
lake access, volleyball nets and barbecue pits that swarm with city folk on hot summer
weekends. To learn a bit more about the Sisi mystique, call in at the
Kaiserin- Elisabeth-
Museum
( 08151-164 79; Schlossbergstrasse 2; admission free; 2-6pm Fri-Sun
Jun-early Oct or by appointment)
. It's a small exhibit in the grand surroundings of the
former royal waiting rooms of the historic
Bahnhof
Possenhofen, now the S-Bahn station.
Sisi was so taken with the lake's beauty that she returned as an adult to summer in what
is now a hotel, in the hamlet of Feldafing a couple of kilometres south. A larger-than-life
sculpture in the garden shows her with a book in relaxed repose, gazing back at the hotel.
You can eat in the rustic Ludwigstüberl or the silver-service restaurant where aproned
waiters serve the Sisi Menu.
Fans of art-nouveau villas should take a spin around Feldafing, which also has a popu-
lar swimming beach, the
Strandbad Feldafing
.
From the Strandbad, it's an easy 10-minute walk to the Glockensteg, the place to catch
a ferry to the
Roseninsel
. Sisi and Ludwig frequently met on this romantic island, where
Ludwig also received other luminaries, Richard Wagner among them. Neglected for a cen-
