You can find
part one of the adventure at: Sights to see: Linderhof & Tour of King Ludwig II’s castles
In my earlier
post, I mentioned how one of the main reasons I decided to take the bus tour to
Neuschwanstein was due to jet lag. True to form, I fell asleep somewhere
between Oberammergau and Schwangau. I regained consciousness in Schwangau and
tumbled off the bus in a state of sleepiness and confusion. Thanks to the
ticket in my hand, I saw my castle tour was at 3:25pm and set off looking for a
place to lunch, heading towards the lake. It wasn’t until I turned around that I
suddenly saw IT.
Little did I know, the castle was behind me the whole time
Schwangau is
a town on the smaller side, with a significant amount of its stores and
attractions tied in some way to one of the two castles. That’s right, this
turned out to be a three castle tour (luckily, without the same fate as the
three hour tour in Gilligan’s Island)!
King Ludwig built his masterpiece castle near the site of one of his childhood
homes, Hohenschwangau Castle. However, Hohenschwangau is fairly close to the
town, while Neuschwanstein is quite the hike.
Proof I made it to the castle! My only picture that isn't a selfie
Fortified by
an enormous sandwich (which I ordered in English and paid for with a credit
card; traveling abroad isn’t so scary after all!), I made my way up the hill.
By the end, I was a mess and sincerely wishing I had taken up one of the buses. There was also an option of taking a horse drawn carriage up the trail, but I
can’t say that appealed to me personally. The walk took me much less time than
the tour map had estimated, so I raced off to the gorge before my tour began.
I can’t say
this enough: if you are at Neuschwanstein, leave plenty of time to see the
gorge! It can get very crowded so you will need to over allocate time to visit.
The time listed on the map is not enough! However, some of the best views of
the castle are from the bridge spanning the gorge.
Gorgeous in the sun, moody in the clouds
As for the
castle itself, it was surreal to see in person. Not only was it gorgeous, but
the castle had a sense of humor. Just check out the gargoyles in the picture
below! The tour was fairly fast paced, but I felt that the audio guide (no tour
guides here) was just right. The information at each stop was relevant and
informational, without feeling like you were drowning in knowledge.
These faces though!
I was a
little underwhelmed in Neuschwanstein to be honest. After seeing Linderhof
first, the castle had a lot to live up to. However, this doesn’t mean much.
Coming in second place to Linderhof still places Neuschwanstein miles ahead of
any other building I have seen. I was not allowed to take any pictures of the
interior, similar to Linderhof. I would also have loved to see one of the unfinished
rooms, as only 15 of the 200+ rooms were finished. While Linderhof had a more
impressive interior, Neuschwanstein had the best views. You could see for miles
from its windows.
I wouldn't mind waking up to this view
Bonus castle:
I knew when I signed up for the tour, that I would see two castles so seeing Hohenschwangau
Castle was quite a surprise! I managed to convince myself to climb up the
stairs from town to see it, which is saying something after the hike to
Neuschwanstein and the many, many stairs on the castle tour. I am so glad I did
though; the castle was beautiful in its own way with lovely gardens and a
great view of Neuschwanstein.
I didn't have a helicopter, so this was the best I could do to get both castles in one frame
Check out the
final part of this series soon, with my stop in Oberammergau!
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