schwaben (bayern, BY) - altenmünster, violau, eichholzsee, wittelsbach, ...

what a strange shaman retreat what my wife planned for her and partly for me as i joined the (lakota indian style) sweat lodge sessions in the evenings 😇. the seminar took place in the maria ward house with ayurvedic cousine in altenmünster in the small eastern bavarian disrict schwaben / swabia. unlike today, swabia was a huge historic territory in medieval southwest germany before with stuttgart as its major city.

well, i took the chance to visit the surrounding country:

• hiking tour to the alpspitz 1575m in allgäu
• wallfahrtskirche violau + lake eichholzsee
• krumbach (schwaben)
  
• babenhausen (fugger castle)
• weißenhorn / weissenhorn (the #2 fugger city in germany after augsburg)
• lake rothsee, zusmarshausen. okay, you can find uch nicer bavarian lakes here
  
• castle unterwittelsbach "Sisi-Schloss" => the wittelsbach family (wittelsbacher) ruled bavaria for many hundred years, you know? but there is no locality wittelsbach out there. and the wittelsbach castle also does not exist any more as it was razed (destroyed) by swabians in 1209 because one of the wittelsbachers (pfalzgraf otto VIII) killed the king philipp of swabia in 1208. so enjoy few pictures from unterwittelsbach + oberwittelsbach below
• oberwittelsbach => church + remainings of the castle, the original headqaurters of the bavarian wittelsbacher kings, razed in 1209
  
• aichach ~ beautiful medieval city
  

altenmünster

altenmünster

maria ward house, altenmünster

lakota indian sweat lodge

wallfahrtskirche violau

lake eichholzsee was a very shallow (fish?) pond. do not swim inside if possible 🐋

 

good-bye, violau

the lake rothsee in zusmarshausen is shallow too, but fine enough for swimming

castle unterwittelsbach "Sisi-Schloss"

the wittelsbach dynasty starts with this couple

oberwittelsbach, burgkirche (castle church)

castle wittelsbach before 1209

oberwittelsbach

more pictures here.