Our hotel in Hohenschwangau, Germany is at the foot of Neuschwanstein Castle. We can see it from the balcony of our hotel if you peer around the corner. This morning, after breakfast we walked to the Ticket Center and got reservations for the two castles in town. The castles are only visited on guided tours with a specific entrance time. The tours sell out every day because this is the top tourist destination in Germany. Most day trip here from Munich.
Our first tour is Hohenschwangau Castle at 9:50. The castle is a short hike up a steep hill. Like yesterday’s Linderhof, there are no photos allowed. Hohenschwangau was built as the mountain summer home of the Wittelsbachs, an alternative to Nymphenburg Palace we saw yesterday. It is not elaborate, but it does have murals on almost every wall in the house. Most depict medieval legends and mythology. One is of the marriage of Lohengrin, the Swan Knight. Interestingly, our ‘Here comes the Bride’ tune comes from the Wagner opera of that scene. The swan was adopted as the icon of the Wittelsbachs so they decorate almost every room. Even Hohenschwangau means High Land of the Swan.
The Mad King Ludwig II spent a lot of his childhood in the castle and apparently developed an obsession with the romance of Medieval times, probably because of the constant reinforcement from all the frescoes in Hohenschwangau. Neuschwanstein, our second tour, is Ludwig II’s attempt to recreate the romantic medieval castle.
Our tour of Neuschwanstein Castle is in two hours. We look at the vista from the local lake (which not surprisingly has a lot of swans) and then start our journey up to the castle. It sits on a piece of rock high above the valley. It takes us forty minutes to hike up to it. The best view of this castle is from a bridge that spans a gorge facing the castle. Alas it is closed for repairs. I am bummed We hang around the entrance until our time is called. Neuschwanstein was built in the 1880’s but never completed. Only a few of the rooms were ever decorated. The tour is pretty much a letdown, like seeing the Disney castle (which was inspired by Neuschwantstein) up close and finding it is made of concrete and is only a facade. I am not sure why every tour of Germany flocks here.
Neuschwanstein was Mad King Ludwig II’s final straw. The Bavarian Ministers were concerned about the financial drain of these fantasy castles. His uncle had him declared insane and he was soon found drowned in a Munich lake. His uncle had his brother declared incompetent and took over as prince regent.
After hiking back down to town, we relax the rest of the day, window shopping and sampling the desserts and beverages of Bavaria.
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