GERMANY - Best of Europe 2014 - page 554

Arrival in Reutte
If you're coming by car from Germany, skip the north (Nord) exit and take the south (Süd)
exit into town. For parking in town, blue lines denote pay-and-display spots. There is a free
lot (P-1) near the train station on Muhlerstrasse.
While Austria requires a toll sticker (Vignette) for driving on its expressways (€8/10
days, buy at the border, gas stations, car-rental agencies, or Tabak shops), those just dip-
ping into Tirol from Bavaria do not need one—even on the expressway-like bypass around
Reutte.
Helpful Hints
Internet Access: Café Alte Post has one expensive terminal in a back room (€7.20/hour,
Mon-Fri 7:00-19:00, Sat-Sun 9:00-18:00, Untermarkt 15).
Laundry: Thereisn'tanactuallaunderetteintown,buttherecommendedHotelMaximilian
lets non-guests use its laundry service (wash, dry, and fold-€16/load).
Bike Rental: Try Intersport (€15/day, Mon-Fri 9:00-18:00, Sat 9:00-17:00, closed Sun,
Lindenstrasse 25, tel. [phone]), or check at the recommended Hotel Maximilian.
Taxi: STM Shuttle Service promises 24-hour service (mobile [phone]). The car-
rental agency listed below also operates taxis.
Car Rental: Reisebüro Köck rents cars at Mühlerstrasse 12 (tel. [phone],
www.koeck-tours.com , [e-mail] ).
“Nightlife”: Reutte is pretty quiet. For any action at all, there's a strip of bars, dance clubs,
and Italian restaurants on Lindenstrasse.
Sights in and near Reutte
▲▲▲ Ehrenberg Castle Ensemble (Festungsensemble Ehrenberg)
If Neuschwanstein was the medieval castle dream, Ehrenburg is the medieval castle reality.
Once the largest fortification in Tirol, its brooding ruins lie about two miles outside Reutte.
Ehrenburg is actually an “ensemble” of four castles, built to defend against the Bavarians
and to bottle up the strategic Via Claudia trade route, which cut through the Alps as it con-
nected Italy and Germany. Today, these castles have become a European “castle museum,”
showingoff500yearsofmilitary architecture inoneswoop.TheEuropeanUnionishelping
fund the project (paying a third of its €9 million cost) because it promotes the heritage of a
multinational region—Tirol—rather than a country.
The four parts of the complex are the fortified Klause toll booth on the valley floor, the
oldestcastleonthefirsthillabove(Ehrenberg),amightyandmoremoderncastlehighabove
(Schlosskopf, built in the age when cannon positioned there made the original castle vul-