Bavarian Castles

Sunday, January 17, 2009

Today was another up and at 'em day. First of all, we woke up to a snow-covered winter wonderland in Garmisch. A fresh coat of snow makes for such a nice start to the day. Then an incredible drive through the mountains, up and around, to Bavaria to see a few castles. We passed ski slope after tiny town after ski lift on the way there--we surely want to return because it was so quaint and uncrowded.

Our first stop was Hohwenschwangau Castle. A little background...it is a 19th century castle built by King Maximilian II of Bavaria as a summer, hunting home for he and his wife, Marie, and their two sons Ludwig and Otto.
Across the way and up the a steep hill, is his son's Ludwig II castle, he later became King, which is only one-third the way finished.

Now back to Hohenschwangau. It stands for castle of the High Swan Country. The swan was one of his favorite symbols and you could find them all over the castle, in every room. No pictures were allowed inside the castle so you'll have to take my word for it. It. Was. Amazing. The difference in the castle and the places we have seen before is the age of the building itself. King Maximilian bought the castle in the 1830s and the inside still looks impeccable. The other places we usually see the paint starting to fade or already faded because it has been there since the 5th century.

Maximilian and Marie's son Otto was declared insane at an early age so their younger son Ludwig was declared King upon his father's death. He enjoyed living in his father's home but had to build a bigger and better one...the Neuschwanstein Castle. Look familiar? It is what Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle is modeled after. Ludwig had a lot of wild fantasies about what his castle should have and how modern it should be.

For example, he was a patron for electricity in Bavaria and in his castle, along with heated pipes, and a water system on all floors.

Here we are before our tour.

Just a small ski slope right behind me. So convenient.

The back area where our tour began. Again, no pictures were allowed inside the building. Ludwig II was later declared insane and was found dead one day later in a lake along with his doctor...suspicious? The castle was then opened up to the public as a way to repay the debt Ludwig II incurred.

We enjoyed our day, tiring because of the steep hill to climb and a lot of walking, but so informative and truly breathtaking views from each of the castles. It rained on us on the way to Austria and began snowing on us as we left--but while we were there--sunshine. We couldn't have asked for better.

Below are the two castles from the road back to Garmisch. Not great but you can see Hohenschwangau on the far right and Neuschwanstein mid-way up on the far left.

***These next few pics are from Monday morning. This was our view from our balcony at Gastheus Maria.

You can make out the Olympic ski jump a few miles away.

The sun is just starting to come up and make some light for the day.

Manuela, the proprietor, snapped our photo outside the B&B. We tried to explain to get the name in the picture but we'll settle for this.