Our first day in southern Bavaria is familiarization - finding a gas station, a food store, and a bakery! Day two we're ready for adventure which means a visit to the famous castles: the summer palace of young Ludwig (Hohenschwangau), later King of Bavaria, and the other, Neuschwanstein, his fantasy castle known around the world and the inspiration for the centerpiece of Disney's Magic Kingdom.
It was a somewhat sturm unt drang day but that didn't deter the hordes of tourists. Estimates are that as many as 6,000 people visit these castles every day, and up to 1,000,000 a year. We were advised to get there early (8:30) and that was wise. We were among the first in line to buy tickets and then queue up for the horse and carriage ride up the looming hill. We didn't go much faster than the people on foot but it was a whole lot easier!!
Tours are 30" long and start every 5 minutes! About every fourth tour is in English; otherwise they're in German with the occasional self-guided audio tour in several other languages.
You line up and feed your ticket into a turnstile, all automated, too bad if you're late!!
Photos are absolutely, utterly forbidden inside Neuschwanstein. We had one opportunity ('landscapes aren't copyrighted') . . .
. . . and at the end of the tour we could photograph the massive kitchen.
Poor Ludwig led a sad and lonely life both as a child and later into adulthood. He idolized the composer, Richard Wagner, and this castle was actually designed by an operatic set designer, not an architect. Reports differ as to how many nights Ludwig actually slept here - some say three, some 100 and others 177. Not many at all given that it took 17 years to build and only about one third of the interior was completed at the time of his death. Six weeks after his death in 1886 at the age of 40 - under mysterious circumstances at a nearby lakeside where he'd been committed to a sanitarium for 'madness' - the castle was opened for tours. And the interior remains in its unfinished state even today.
The parts that are finished are indulgent and grand - like the kitchen. Ludwig was a night owl and the kitchen staff had special night shifts to accommodate his culinary whims. Another rumor about Ludwig was that he insisted on eating all of his meals outside . . .
Another opulent spot is the throne room which has 2,000,000 pieces of mosaic in the floor but no throne . . .
Looking up at the entranceway . . .
We ride the horse carriage back down the hill and hustle to make our next timed-tour for Hohenschwangau, the summer home of Ludwig's parents. Looking at this lovely, intimate summer palace, at one time a medieval knights' castle, you would think that this was a happy home and a lovely place to spend ones childhood, It reminded us of many warm family homes in Mexico!
All the roof tile is terra cotta (note the cement in all the joints) and many of the walls are ornately painted.
It was a somewhat sturm unt drang day but that didn't deter the hordes of tourists. Estimates are that as many as 6,000 people visit these castles every day, and up to 1,000,000 a year. We were advised to get there early (8:30) and that was wise. We were among the first in line to buy tickets and then queue up for the horse and carriage ride up the looming hill. We didn't go much faster than the people on foot but it was a whole lot easier!!
Tours are 30" long and start every 5 minutes! About every fourth tour is in English; otherwise they're in German with the occasional self-guided audio tour in several other languages.
You line up and feed your ticket into a turnstile, all automated, too bad if you're late!!
Photos are absolutely, utterly forbidden inside Neuschwanstein. We had one opportunity ('landscapes aren't copyrighted') . . .
. . . and at the end of the tour we could photograph the massive kitchen.
The parts that are finished are indulgent and grand - like the kitchen. Ludwig was a night owl and the kitchen staff had special night shifts to accommodate his culinary whims. Another rumor about Ludwig was that he insisted on eating all of his meals outside . . .
Another opulent spot is the throne room which has 2,000,000 pieces of mosaic in the floor but no throne . . .
Looking up at the entranceway . . .
We ride the horse carriage back down the hill and hustle to make our next timed-tour for Hohenschwangau, the summer home of Ludwig's parents. Looking at this lovely, intimate summer palace, at one time a medieval knights' castle, you would think that this was a happy home and a lovely place to spend ones childhood, It reminded us of many warm family homes in Mexico!
Another Mexican touch, the fountain in the courtyard!
Once again, photos inside the castle are forbidden . . . too bad, as this is a wonderful home with many delightful touches: a chair our guide described as the 'first Lazyboy' - a reclining reading chair, complete with book holder and foot rest and set in an alcove with 270 degree views of the mountains; the king's bedchamber with an elaborately painted tree behind the headboard, arcing onto the ceiling inset with stars and a changing moon.
A view from one of the windows . . .
And a few more photos . . .
I loved the potted succulent in this environment!
Sadly, this was not a place of childhood happiness for either Ludwig or his younger brother, Otto. From our guide, we learn that their mother had 'some issues' - I questioned why in that time only two children, Ludwig and Otto, were born to the royal couple, As the heir apparent, Ludwig was tutored, trained, and disciplined - all things he didn't take to at all well. He was a brooding, introverted, artistic child whose close friends were all male. Upon the death of his father, Ludwig became King of Bavaria at 18; he was engaged for a long while, but never married.
Legend has it that he was beloved by the locals despite the fact that he spent all the allowance granted him as King of Bavaria by the newly-installed German ruler and then some. When Ludwig was removed based on his 'madness', Bavaria was deeply in debt thanks to the construction of Neuschwanstein as well as several other, lesser-known castles. Was he mad? Eccentric, no doubt, and a not very effective ruler, sure.
But he had to be certified insane in order for those in power to have him removed. (They used the fact that his younger brother, Otto, had been declared mad years earlier as justification for declaring it a family curse.) The fact that Ludwig died just days later in waist-deep water at nearby Lake Starnen in the company of his 'attending' physician who was also found dead and severely bruised . . . all very suspicious. Every year on the anniversary of Ludwig's death, the locals hold a candlelight vigil at the site of his death.
I couldn't help but wonder if he had any idea what his 'folly' would become - an iconic structure and the source of thriving tourism for this part of Europe (we're only miles from Austria, Switzerland, and France). Just look at the parking lot:
Thank you Ludwig! Oh, almost forgot - the meaning of their names: Hohenschwangau - 'high swan land' ---- Neuschwanstein - 'new swan land'. All the door handles in Neuschwanstein are shaped like the curved necks of swans . . .
