Curious Traveler

- Known for sweeping mountain views, Alpine traditions, some happy cows, some tasty cheese, a magnificent monastery, and a very curious approach to the good life.

Welcome to Allgau, Bavaria.

How's my form, Kilian?

(speaks in a foreign language) - I'm hoping that's a good thing.

(laughs) (upbeat folk music) - [Christine Voice Over] Curious Traveler is made possible by the following.

(cheery theme music) (upbeat dutch music) Allgau is a region of Bavaria in southern Germany.

Known for its kings and castles, bishops and monks, and lutes and some happy cows that produce famous mountain cheeses and make that quintessential mountain music.

(cow bell rings) One of Allgau's most charming towns is Fussen, with a rich medieval history and striking Baroque beauty in the most curious of corners.

So here's what I'm curious about in Allgau and Fussen.

Who needed some peace and quiet in this glorious library?

What is so important about this medieval musical instrument?

Where can you find a castle that plays tricks on your eyes?

Why does this cheese taste like a mountain meadow?

- Oh, that's so good.

- [Christine Voice Over] When were some powerful symbols painted into this lavish hall?

And how do you make a traditional Bavarian cowbell?

And what does a headstand have to do with it?

- This is a normal day in Bavaria.

- [Christine Voice Over] Who, what, where, why, when, and how, so much to be curious about in Allgau and Fussen.

We begin our curious journey in Fussen here along the Lech River.

The town dates back to at least ancient Roman times when a military post was established here along an ancient road that stretched from Italy all the way north into Germany.

That road was the Via Claudia Augusta Road, portions of which are still here.

Later, the bishops of the region decide that Fussen would be a nice summer residence, and Fussen establishes its shape, the high castle for those bishops at the top, (bell dings) the monastery for the monks in the middle, (bell dings) and the town below for the regular folk.

(bell dings) (cheery folk music) Well, I happen to be a regular folk.

So let's begin our journey here in the charming cobbled streets of the Old Town where we meet Anke Hiltensperger with Fussen Tourism to tell us all about those layers of history.

- Thank you for welcoming us to your beautiful town.

- You're welcome.

- Beautiful town.

So when we wander through an Old Town, we say, oh, this is medieval, but this is Baroque.

Talk about the different styles that we see here that all kind of meld together perfectly.

- Yes, Fussen has a history of nearly 2,000 years, yeah?

It started with the Romans building a Roman road here, and then we have houses from the medieval period with these high gothic gables.

Then at the beginning of the 17th century, the people would like to be modern.

They took over the new style, the Baroque style from Italy.

- [Christine Voice Over] And that beautiful Italian Baroque style stuck, and that's mostly what you'll see today as you stroll through the lovely cobbled streets, but as you gaze around and if you look carefully, (bell dings) you might just see a curious symbol that has been around a whole lot longer.

- Let's go back to an ancient history.

The city seal is, (bell dings) I recognized it.

I said, oh, that's the Trinacria, which is for Sicily, and then also it's a Celtic symbol as well, but there's an interesting story of how that got chosen and incorporated for the city seal here.

- And if you use the local dialect, you are talking about the feet, not only for the last part of your leg.

- But the whole leg, yeah.

- Yeah, but for the whole leg, and therefore, Fussen is the German word for feet.

Fusser, it's very close together, and in the dialect, it's fusser for the town and also fusser for the feet.

- Perfect, and the symbol itself also means kind of the cycle of life and things keep going on.

So I'm sure that's part of it as well, yeah.

- Yeah, yeah, of course.

(rhythmic orchestra music) - [Christine Voice Over] And as we will soon discover, having feet as a symbol is very appropriate, (bell dings) because we will be doing a lot of walking through these cobbled streets and especially up to the landmark that looms majestically over the town, one of the largest and best preserved late gothic castle complexes in all of Bavaria.

This, of course, is the former summer residents of those lord bishops of Augsburg, but I don't think they're home right now.

So let's take a peek through their windows.

- This is Hohes Schloss or the high castle, and it certainly lives up to its name.

It's up here high upon a hill, and you can actually see it up in the sky from anywhere down below in the Old Town, and its history is fascinating.

It begins in ancient times when a Roman fortress was built on this spot.

In fact, to this day, you can find that Via Claudia Augusta still running right through it.

Now we're gonna fast forward a little bit into the 13th century when a Bavarian Duke decides this is a pretty nice place, and he built his castle on it, but the problem was that was illegal, 'cause he didn't happen to own the land, minor detail, right?

So by 1313, the prince bishops of Augsburg own the castle and own the land, and they build it up to this beautiful height that you see today, and then finally, in 1499, that brings us to the inner courtyard we see.

So if you look around here, you can see all the upgrades they did, all this beautiful intricate stone work around all those windows, but the problem is it's actually no stone at all.

If you look really closely, here's a good spot, you can see it's actually all paint.

This is what's called a trompe l'oeil effect or a little trick of the eye.

So why was the decision made to do this trompe l'oeil painting effect instead of to build the stone?

You would think that, of course, the paint's a little bit on the cheaper side and maybe they ran out of money, but in fact, the opposite is true.

This technique was so delicate and so difficult, it was actually more expensive than actually creating all of this stone work.

So why did they do this?

Well, my theory is this was the way for the prince bishops to brag.

(bright orchestra music) - [Christine Voice Over] And from its lofty post, the high palace overlooks that Lech River, and along the river is where the town developed, especially because of the trade that happened along it, and right on its banks, this trade and history heritage is commemorated by another unique painting technique that is not only beautiful but also very Bavarian.

It is called Luftlmalerei, where stories about religion, royalty, or town legends are all painted on the outside of the buildings.

- As the road slopes down here leaving Old Town before you approach the river, you will see this beautiful church here with all that gorgeous Loftlmalerei painting on the front.

This is the Heiliggeistkirche.

You're very impressed that I got that.

That just simply means the Holy Ghost Hospital Church, because this unique building served both purposes, and along its front, you can read its history.

So on this side of the church, (bell dings) we see one saint.

That is Saint Christopher, who is the patron saint of, among other things, the mighty men took their goods up and down the river here on their rafts.

So he's protecting them, but on the other side, we have St. Florian (bell dings) with something curious at his feet.

You will see a small, little, burning house, You will see a small, little, burning house, You will see a small, little, burning house, and the reason that is there is that those same mighty men who took the goods up and down the river lived in this district, and unfortunately, at one point in the neighborhood's history, it burnt down, but the theory is now that St. Florian is there, he's going to protect the city and that district so nothing will be burned down again.

(cheery orchestra music) - [Christine Voice Over] Right next to this pretty little church is a mighty abbey and monastery, the Saint Mang Monastery, full of curious history.

The Saint Mang Monastery was founded in the ninth century and is dedicated to St. Mang or St. Magnus, the patron saint of Allgau, who spread Christianity throughout the region.

Over the following centuries, the monastery and abbey become a pilgrimage destination, and in the 18th century, it had this glorious Baroque makeover.

Today, it is the Fussen Heritage Museum with room after room of Baroque beauty.

- This is the library, one of the most beautiful rooms here in the monastery, and as you look around, of course, you can see it's all decked out in that beautiful Baroque style with everything from those bright colors to the little frills over the windows and of course, my favorite part of Baroque design, those chubby little cherubs overlooking the library, and as you make your way up to the top, we have these gorgeous ceiling frescoes with all types of inspirational and religious messages for the monks.

Back down here, though, of course, it's a library.

So it's all about the books, but this is not your regular library, of course.

So the books that the monks would've had access to are everything from Christian texts, including the Bible, and other theological literature, but they wouldn't necessarily come up here, grab a book, and start reading.

Something very specific happened in these sets of rooms, because there's a room below us, and that's very important.

So one monk would stand up here and read down below his audience would be, which were all of his fellow monks, who were dining.

So they would be eating downstairs and not talking but listening instead to the book that was being read up on this level.

So why do it this way?

Well, the idea was, as we can see with the ceiling frescoes up here, is that the word of God would be coming from up above.

So that's exactly what they were listening to.

It gets even better, though.

There's a really curious function to this beautiful painting here behind me.

If you look here, you can see it just looks like a regular painting, maybe a nice fresco, but if you see it's in a nice oval shape, will look back down here.

There just happens to be an oval shape here as well, and so this served two purposes.

The first one was a very practical one.

So this whole huge painting was very carefully, I would assume, laid down on top of this opening here during the winter to keep the heat in downstairs, and then what happened was the monks below would then be able to look up, and they had their own beautiful ceiling fresco with none other than the founder of the monastery right there at the top.

(cheery orchestra music) - [Christine Voice Over] Next, we go from the somewhat solemn monks library used for quiet contemplation to a music-filled wing dedicated to Fussen's lute-making legacy.

(calm lute music) The lute was the violin of the middle ages, and Fussen became the center of lute-making in the Renaissance, bringing great prosperity to the town.

- The lute was an important instrument to the history, to the legacy and the economy of Fussen and the surrounding villages, and this exhibit just really shows off that instrument in all its glory.

As you can see here, this was not just for playing music, but they were actually works of art as well, and in fact, even a status symbol.

This one, of course, is a little bit larger than what a typical lute would be, and instead of one rosette in the middle, we have three.

Over here, you can see it as well.

So this was the back of it.

Look really closely here.

We have two different types of wood that were fused so tightly and so beautifully together.

On into this room.

Now, typically, whether you have a guitar or a violin or a lute, you have to have a carrying case, and no one really cares what the case looks like, right?

Well, not so when it came to these particular lutes in this time period.

Look closely here, and you can see on the inside, it is lined with pages of a book with mythological creatures, of course, playing the lutes.

What could be prettier?

(cheery lute music) - [Christine Voice Over] And these works of art and music were exported all over Europe during the Middle Ages, and now, some of the most beautiful ones have found their way back home, here, to Fussen.

Now we enter a soaring hall where those lutes would sound fantastic.

- How gorgeous is this room?

This is the Prince's Hall, one of the rooms specifically built for the emperor, and this room was initially used for receptions, and today, you can see it's all set up for a concert.

Now wouldn't a reception or a party or a concert in this room be amazing?

I have a little theory, though.

Sometimes, if the concert might get a little boring or if the chitchat at the reception got a little boring, there was always something to entertain the guest, and you can find that way up high.

As you kind of look around the room, there's all kinds of symbols.

I see a unicorn over here.

I see Neptune over here.

I even see an elephant over here and symbols of justice here, but of course, we have to remember we're in a monastery.

So a lot of the symbolism will, of course, be Christian and religious.

So look all the way to the top.

You see this very curious calendar?

Just on one side of it, you will see, very tiny there, the hand of God reaching down with chains, connecting himself with all of the different planets.

So of course, that was an early symbol of religion versus science.

I told you there's all kinds of symbolism here.

So from the Prince's Hall, if you were lucky enough, you might get invited into the next chamber.

This one is called the Pope's Chamber.

Now here's the really fascinating thing, because of course, the Pope was and is so important he only spent one night here, but this whole room was dedicated to him.

So again, people might be received into this room, and it's decorated throughout, but it also was chosen because of its very specific location.

So from the Prince's Hall into the Pope's Chamber, if you can kind of hear the chanting outside, this was the window where the Pope would then reach out and say hello and greet his people.

(upbeat orchestra music) - [Christine Voice Over] Now it's time to journey outside of Fussen and up into the idyllic Bavarian countryside where we are in search of four things, cows, cheese, cowbells, and yoga.

(cheery orchestra music) I swear this will all make sense very soon.

Our first stop, the mountain village of Isha for the Hoimat Dairy, where we find a polka dotted pony.

- [Christine] He does.

He pauses like, I was expecting that to taste better.

- [Christine Voice Over] plenty of happy cows, and some delicious Allgau cheese.

- As we were driving up here in the whole region, it's breathtaking, and it looks like exactly what people think of when they think of Bavaria.

- Oh, thanks.

- I mean, it's amazing.

What is it about the climate here?

Is it a special type of grass?

Is it a special type of cow?

What is it that produces these really fine cheeses that you're known for?

- Yeah, because we are so high in here in the mountains, also, and the the grass is very herby.

It's very, very much herbs in it, and so much flowers.

It's mountain flowers, mountain herbs.

This is the best grass for the cow.

- Perfect, so the cows are eating the perfect grass and beautiful little flowers, and that produces this wonderful cheese.

- Yes, they are outside the whole day.

That's also very good.

Our farmer is so good to the animals, and that's all some reasons because the milk here is so good.

- [Christine Voice Over] The cheese shop where Lisa and I are standing used to be horse stables.

That's because the entire factory, cafe, and shop is inside her partner Philip's family home, a gorgeous 270-year-old farmhouse nestled on this sprawling farmland.

Their third partner is Busty, who you can see working hard here inside the factory, which is the former cow shed.

Here is where they produce the fresh, raw, soft cheeses that Hoimat is known for.

Their cheeses are made only from organic mountain farmers hay milk from a nearby family farm.

I'm going to let the two guys wear the stylish caps, and I'll go back with Lisa to nibble on the final product back in the cheese shop.

Their specialties here are their camembert that has a slightly peppery taste, and they do several soft cheeses with this double rind ash coating that creates a special flavor, and then this one with the greatest name ever, and please pardon me talking with my mouth full.

- I've learned how to say this, cork.

- Cork.

- Explain what cork is.

- It's a cheese that's a very-- - Not yogurt, it's cheese.

- It's cheese, completely different than yogurt.

It's soft but creamy, and you can make breakfast with it.

- So they buy it in a container like that, - Yes, yeah, in the glass.

- and you have it for breakfast with fruit.

- Yes.

- You wouldn't spread it on bread or anything like that?

- No, no, it's-- - I love how you be like, don't go spreading that cork on bread.

- No, yeah, and so it's a very healthy breakfast here.

- You don't have to tell me.

All cheese is healthy.

I love it.

I love it all.

- Yeah.

- [Christine Voice Over] Okay, before we leave this little piece of cheesy paradise, just one more bite.

- Oh good, the happy cows, who ate the beautiful flowers out there on the mountainside.

- Oh, that's delicious.

- And until you tasted it?

- Yeah.

- I do ta, yeah.

I taste the flowers that they ate.

(upbeat jazz music) - [Christine Voice Over] For our final stop, we head to Fronton where we are sticking with the cow theme, but instead of cows and cheese, we are exploring cow bells, a time honored Alpine and Bavarian tradition, (bells ring) but there is one blacksmith cowbell maker who is turning this time-honored tradition on its head, literally.

This is Kilian Trenkle.

He comes from a long line of cowbell makers, - It looks easy, but it's tricky because the flames shooting out from underneath.

- [Christine Voice Over] five generations, in fact, since 1839, all making cowbells inside this blacksmith shop.

- What do we have right there?

- So this is my grandfather, yeah.

He inherited the blacksmith business from this guy.

So this is my grand-grandfather.

- Wonderful.

- [Christine Voice Over] Of course, cowbells have been used for centuries as a pretty simple way for farmers to keep track of their cattle.

- These are kind of the Hall of Fame, the cowbell Hall of Fame.

- This is the cowbell Hall of Fame.

We have a range of 80 different cowbells, different tracks, shapes, and sizes.

- Let's listen to all of 'em at once.

- Are you ready?

- Yeah, I'm ready.

- Imagine you're on a green meadow in the mountains.

(bells ring) - [Christine Voice Over] Each handcrafted cowbell has a slightly unique sound, and believe it or not, farmers can actually distinguish their cow's bells over another's.

So let's learn how it's done.

- So back in the days, we used to take old saw blades, and we used to cut out single pieces from the saw blade.

- [Christine] Really?

- It was a type of old day recycling.

- Recycling, yeah, yeah.

- Exactly, and then you have one half of it, and in the fire, it gets very hot.

You wanna make a half, and then you wanna make the other half, and at the end, you join those two pieces together, and this is what creates the cowbell sound.

- [Christine Voice Over] All right, let the apprenticeship begin.

Step one, stand back.

- Fresh coal afterwards.

- I'm gonna stand back and let you do that.

- [Christine Voice Over] Step two, let the coals heat up to about 2,000 degrees.

Yep, you heard me, 2,000 degrees, which does not seem to phase our blacksmith one bit.

- We're not gonna roast marshmallows on this.

We're gonna make a cowbell.

So once this gets down to a certain level, what do we do next?

- So we're gonna take one half off the cowbell - With no gloves, by the way, I notice.

You're like, oh no.

- Exactly.

Place it on the fire.

- That's for wimps.

Gloves are for wimps.

(laughs) - Exactly, these are proper gloves.

- Oh my gosh.

- Man gloves.

- Yeah.

(both laugh) - No, we joke about it, but you really get used to the heat, and once one half is is on it, it takes about one minute, two minutes to glow.

- Well, that's fine, 'cause I wanna ask you a little bit more about this.

So do you ever have any maybe customers that you're selling new to and they still have one that maybe your great-great-grandfather made?

- Absolutely, - That's so cool.

- and usually, they last for about a hundred years, and then they come back to the shop for maybe some small refining.

- Oh, that's so neat.

- So an old farmer brings in the cow that my grandfather made.

I'll make it for free.

- Oh, I love that.

- That's great customer service.

- That's great customer service.

You're like, it really is a lifetime warranty, - Yeah, exactly.

- a five lifetime warranty.

All right, is our pizza done?

- I think the pizza's done.

Let's get it on.

- That's crazy, yikes.

I'm gonna follow you at a safe distance, and you now only have 20 seconds?

- Exactly.

(hammer taps metal) It's around 20 seconds to mesh it, and then you can already see it starts to cool down.

- That's incred-- - and this is the time when it needs to go back into the fire.

- And so you have to put in there for another, what was it, minutes or so?

- Now it's gonna happen fast.

Now the iron is hot.

So it's gonna only be like-- - [Christine] Strike while the iron's hot, they say.

- [Kilian] Exactly.

- [Christine Voice Over] And just a few minutes later.

- [Kilian] It's already hot.

It already starts to get orange.

- [Christine] The color changes are amazing.

- Exactly, so you want to go from red to orange to yellow.

Once it gets light yellow, it's maybe already too hot.

Now it's soft.

Now we can bend and shape the metal.

- [Christine] Who knew science was so exciting?

(hammer taps metal) - [Christine Voice Over] Kilian repeats this process until the curve of one half of the bell is correct and complete.

- What's the cowboy sound?

Yee-haw.

(Christine laughs) - All right.

- That's for our American viewers.

- Exactly.

- [Christine Voice Over] Okay, time for the apprentice to give it a whirl.

(whimsical oboe music) A 2,000 degree flame, a red hot piece of iron, a giant anvil fit for the roadrunner, what is the worst that could possibly happen?

- Should I be shimmying it or doing something?

- Oh yeah, sure.

- No, serious.

- No, you can take it with both hands and do it a little bit like this.

- Oh God, sparks are flying.

If my hair sets on fire, it's completely your fault.

- Great job, Christine.

Amazing.

- Oh my, thank you, thank you.

Look, I've got blacksmith arms already.

- Already, huh?

- Nice, I wanna do the part where I-- - You want some black color on your face?

(laughs) - Oh, look, I'm sweaty.

I've been here all day.

- I'm gonna take over.

- Please do, by all means.

- You're gonna take the big hammer, because you're a big lady.

- Yes, I am.

(chuckles) I'm huge.

- One, two, three, let's go.

- All right, and just hammer in the middle.

- Yeah, take it with both hands.

Smaller, smaller, exactly.

(hammer taps metal) Just like that, boom, boom, boom.

- [Christine] I don't wanna be a baby, but my fingers are burning.

- [Christine Voice Over] So I wisely get the real blacksmith to finish things up.

(hammer taps metal) - Ta-da.

- All right, I get half credit for that, right?

(laughs) - Exactly.

- [Christine Voice Over] And then we get a true, traditional, wonderfully melodic Bavarian cowbell, (bells ring) but wait, that is not really the final step in the process, because after a hot day's work in the blacksmith shop, what does one do?

Well, apparently one pops out to get some fresh air, and of course, flips upside down to do some yoga.

- Little hop.

- Wow, look at you.

- I like, wow.

(speaks in a foreign language), right?

(laughs) - (speaks in a foreign language).

- My only German word I know, okay.

- [Christine Voice Over] Because Kilian isn't just an expert fifth generation blacksmith, he's also an expert yoga instructor.

Well, of course he is.

- From here, you can straighten up one leg first.

- Okay.

- Exactly.

- Flamingo pose.

- And then switch the legs upside down, exactly.

- Okay.

- We call this the Bavarian (speaks in a foreign language).

- The Bavarian (speaks in a foreign language)?

- Exactly, it's the mountain climber, and if you're dare, let go of one hand.

- Ooh, okay.

- Peace sign.

- Peace.

- Yeah, perfect, and rotate your feet and bring them back together in eagle legs.

- I think I am doing what you're doing.

I'm not a hundred percent sure.

So I'm gonna go like this instead.

(laughs) - All right, I'll join you.

That's perfect.

- Kilian, I have a very important question to ask you.

- What's that?

- Does this make you a better cowbell maker?

- Ask the cows.

(both laugh) (upbeat orchestra music) - [Christine Voice Over] So from a beautiful Old Town made wealthy by lute makers with some speedy legs for its symbol with a glorious monastery at its center with a clever and artsy way to keep its library quiet to a church covered with fascinating tales and a castle covered with some tricky art to that Allgau countryside full of happy cows, happy cheese makers, and happy cowbell makers - Yee-haw.

- who use a very special, topsy-turvy technique.

- (speaks in a foreign language), right?

- (speaks in a foreign language).

- [Christine Voice Over] Allgau and Fussen have so much to be curious about.

- Danke for joining us on our educational journey, and hopefully now you're even more curious about the who, what, where, why, when, and hows of beautiful Allgau and Fussen.

As they say here, (speaks in a foreign language).

- And bring them back together in eagle legs.

- I think I am doing what you're doing.

I'm not a hundred percent sure.

So I'm gonna go like this instead.

(laughs) - All right, I'll join you.

That's perfect.

- [Christine Voice Over] Curious Traveler is made possible by the following.

(wind blows) (upbeat theme music) Still curious?

Go to curioustravelertv.com and find our links to follow us on social media.

(upbeat folk music)