König-Ludwig-Weg, 2. Etappe: Dießen - Paterzell

Equipment:

Hiking without luggage

King service - just enjoy, no ballast. Your luggage will be transported to the hotel reserved for you by the tour operator. You can discover the magnificent Bavarian Alpine foothills without a care in the world. The King Ludwig Trail is offered in four variants with 6-9 overnight stays, the LechErlebnisWeg with 6 overnight stays. The package deals with accommodation, luggage transportation and hiking maps can be booked at:

• Feuer und Eis Touristik GmbHTM, Südliche Hauptstrasse 33, 83700 Rottach-Egern, Tel. 08022-66364-0, hallo@feuerundeis.de, www.feuer-eis-touristik.de/wanderreise-koenig-ludwig-weg
• Alpenland-Touristik, Postfach 101313, 86833 Landsberg a. Lech, Tel. 08191-308620, Fax 08191-4913, www.alpenlandtouristik.de, info@alpenlandtouristik.de

Way description:

From the landing stage, the trail leads through the village center with its partly cute houses, many of which house craftsmen's businesses, up to Dießen Minster, which is considered one of the most beautiful baroque churches in Bavaria.

Dießen goes back to the former counts "Diezzan", who also founded the monastery in 1132. After an eventful history and in the context of baroque changes, Johann Michael Fischer built a new monastery church in 1732-39 with a perfect design. Renowned German and Venetian sculptors, plasterers and painters designed the magnificent interior.

In general, Dießen was a place of artists, for example Carl Orff and Carl Spitzweg lived here. Today, artisans such as glaziers, pewterers and potters have settled here. The Diessen pottery market, which takes place every year on Ascension Day and attracts many international exhibitors, is well-known far and wide.

The path meanders alongside a small stream to the wooded Schatzberg, to the miraculous Mechtildisbrunnen fountain and up to the chapel, which is said to have been built from the ruins of the former castle of the Counts of Dießen-Andechs. Afterwards, a wide view opens up from the heights across the countryside to the high mountains. After dreamy meadows, the route continues through the Bayerdießen state forest, then with beautiful mountain views up to Haid and down to Wessobrunn, whose monastery produced famous master builders and artists.

Wessobrunn is a monastery founded by Duke Tassilo III, who dreamed of a triple spring fountain under a lime tree in 753. When his hunter Wezzo discovered the springs nearby, he had a monastery built there in 753. The mighty Tassilo lime tree can be found to the east of the monastery wall, the fountain in the monastery grounds.

The "Grey Duke", the tower of the former church (mid-10th century), is also located here. The most famous artists of the time immortalized themselves in the parish church, as the former abbey produced gifted plasterers, painters and master builders, including the Zimmermann brothers, the Schmuzers and the Feichtmayr family. The famous Wessobrunn stucco can still be found today in churches and palaces throughout Europe, including in the abbey itself, some of which can be visited as part of a guided tour.

You pass the village along the main road, where a memorial stone under old lime trees commemorates the oldest Old High German linguistic work of art, the "Wessobrunner Gebet". The route then leads through a romantic stream ditch in the forest up to the hamlet of Schönwag. The "K" leads down a partly damp spring slope to Paterzell on partly winding paths and trails. Here you can still complete the circular trail through the only yew forest in Germany, which is home to over 2,000 old yew trees.

Pfaffenwinkel hiking map, scale 1:40,000, HW-Verlag, nominal fee EUR 1, available from the Pfaffenwinkel tourist office, www.pfaffen-winkel.de