Neuschwanstein Castle

Europe » Germany » Bavaria » Fussen
April 7th 2007

Published: June 16th 2017

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jc80

01 From the carpark

View of the castle from the carpark.

Geo: 47.5737, 10.6924

Today Jen and I did a day trip to this well known castle, Neuschwanstein. It was a two hour train journey south and then a 5 minute bus trip. The car park at the bottom of the castle was full of tourist buses. Surrounding the car park there were many souvenir shops and lots of places to have a German snack. We were pretty excited to be visiting this castle, having seen many photos of it. I didn't know any of the history behind it and I actually learned something today, if I retain it- that's another issue. Looking up from the car park we could see the castle. From here it was all uphill. On the way up we walked past Hohenschwangau castle which was built in the 12th century. The most recent residents were King Maximilian II of Bavaria and his family who lived here during the summer. Twenty minutes later we arrived at the castle. The castle is surrounded by the Austrian alps. A few of the nearby mountains still had snow on them. The man that built this fairytale like castle was King Ludwig II, the son of the king whose castle we past on

02 Bratwurst

My new favourite food- Bratwurst!! So tasty, yum, yum.

the way up. Now, a bit about King Ludwig, his only relationship was with his cousin!! They nearly got married, but realized they were not in love, so it didn't happen. The castle building began in 1869. His idol was the German composer Richard Wagner. Ludwig only lived in the castle for 172 days. His death was very mysterious and still unsolved. A doctor was sent to examine the king, as many people thought he was crazy and unfit to be in charge of Bavaria. He was declared insane. The doctor went to visit the king a week later and they went for a night time walk. His body and the body of the doctor were found in a lake. Ludwig was a very good swimmer, which puzzled many.
The castle was very impressive on the inside, as well as the outside. To enter the castle we had to go in a big group. It was quite a rushed tour and we felt we didn't get enough time to enjoy the tour. We only spent 30 minutes in the castle. Many of the rooms are unfinished. From the castle there was a great view of the surrounding alps and King Ludwig's

03 Hohenschwangau castle

His family's summer home.

childhood house. To exit the castle we had to walk through about 3 souvenir shops! We then continued to walk uphill to Mary's Bridge, which is over the gorge and from here on the very, very crowded bridge we had a great view of the castle.
We then walked downhill and caught the bus back to Fussen train station and the train back to Munich.

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