Thursday, September 19, 2019

Austria Trip 2019: The Castles


There were four of them!  And when you consider that two are the top two from all of Germany, you're really saying something about what we saw.

Here they are in the order in which we saw them:

1.  Hohenschwangau Castle, Füssen, Germany

It's a 19th century castle in Bavaria, the childhood home of King Ludwig II,
built by his father, King Maximilian II.

It was fun to see it up close and personal, as well as from far away.

This is what it looked like from the next castle that day, nearby.

2.  Neuschwanstein Castle, Hohenschwangau, Germany

This also is a 19th century castle, commissioned by Ludwig II in honor of Richard Wagner,
the great German composer and conductor of operas.

This is Germany's most popular castle, with 1.3 million people visiting it annually.
It's also supposedly the castle on which Disney's logo is based.

We spent our most time at this castle, walking up to it and even further up the mountain
to the Marienbrücke Bridge to get the views from above.

We were close enough to actually touch it.
Can you imagine living there!

3.  Vaduz Castle, Vaduz, Lichtenstein

Believe it or not, we went to this castle only because it was in Lichtenstein
and we wanted to check off another country on our Bucket List.  HA!

We drove from our home base in Ehrwald, Austria, to the western border into Lichtenstein, 147 km.
See how tiny a country Lichtenstein is, snug as a bug between Switzerland and Austria!

It's a 12th century castle that's now the private residence of the Prince of Lichtenstein.
Absolutely No Entrance!

But we got close enough to see some of the details...

and then from afar, on the side of the mountain.

4.  Eltz Castle, Wierschem, Germany

This is Germany's second most popular castle, which we saw on our way home from Austria.
We first saw it from above and afar, while walking down the pedestrian road to it.

It's a 12th century castle that's been in the same Eltz family for 33 generations!
But why it's there is beyond me.  How/why would anyone want to attack it with no easy outlet?

We actually had time to eat a brat and drink a beer while there, all of 1.25 hours,
and only 37 km out of our way while driving the 860 km home.
A total no-brainer!

Four castles in a week's vacation to celebrate Astrid's 65th birthday!
That's what I'm taking about.

For those of you who wonder, NO, we did not enter any of them:
Neuschwanstein was too expensive, lines too long, and no photos inside,
Hohenschwangau was a side show to the Neuschwanstein,
Vaduz was a private residence, and
Eltz...not enough time, except to eat lunch on the terrace outside.


8 comments:

  1. I always wonder with such huge structures who maintains them. Quite a job.

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    1. I do, too, Marie. Can you imagine painting the color bits???

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  2. these castles are amazing, a true testament to the beauty of old countries... canada has no castles lol thanks for sharing with us, sister xoxoxox

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    1. I suppose Canada has "castles" like in America...that aren't very old. I have seen the hotel Château Frontenac in Quebec City, for instance, that really looks like a castle to me, even though it's only from 1893. But who comes up with the OLD castles of Europe? Indeed!

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  3. They are beautiful. I wonder why so many fairy tales involve castles? Did the normal people covet that life and create fantasies about them?

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    1. Who knows about such things, Ruth, indeed! Can you imagine being a child growing up in such a place?!

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  4. I wonder how many castles there are. To have found these 4 in a close range was already a miracle. I loved also the Eltz Castle, I do wonder though, why did they choose this location... that river way down there was not even enough for a rowing boat... Or was it just a "nice house" to live in. Great post again Ginnie, thank you for putting in so much time to make these memories

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    1. All I know is that there are about 20,000 castles in Germany. Makes you wonder how many there are in the whole wide world, indeed! We are so lucky that we got to see these four in a week's time. WOW! Thanks for sharing them with me.

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