Europe Trip 2016: Day 7
No trip to Europe would be complete without seeing a castle, fortress, or ancient ruins. After an easy-paced morning in Lindau, we jumped in the car and headed east. The leisurely drive took us through small villages and towns right out of fairy tales and before we could bore we arrived in Schwangau.
This was one of the few tour days that I chose so the guys were kind enough to indulge my (many) needs. I, of course, had to visit every shop in the castle village, insisted on reading every historic sign passed, and paused mid-day to send 11 post cards home before the next leg in the car. Ironically, we call the boys “the Princes”, but they absolutely let me be Princess for a day.
The Castle
King Ludwig II and I share a few things in common: a love of cobalt blue, lions, incredible views, and epic romances, but the real reason I chose Neuschwanstein Castle above the others is that it was the for Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle. (Aurora from Sleeping Beauty is my favorite Disney character.)
Neuschwanstein Castle (Schloss Neuschwanstein in German) is a nineteenth-century Romanesque Revival palace on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau near Füssen in southwest Bavaria, Germany. The palace was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and as a homage to Richard Wagner. Ludwig paid for the palace out of his personal fortune and by means of extensive borrowing, rather than Bavarian public funds. (Wikipedia) It is everything you’d hope to see in a castle: majestic, inspiring, and refined.
If you are going to visit, carefully consider your plan to get up to the Castle itself. It is a steep 30-40 minute walk uphill or you can wait for a horse-drawn carriage to shuttle you to the Castle landing. Tickets are purchased in reserved times to allow for exploration before and after your guided tour. Be prepared to walk a lot or be lucky enough to have a few fairy god mothers on hand.
(Note: interior photography is not allowed so we borrowed our favorite images from the castle’s website in the video.)
