Neuschwanstein Castle, Schwangau: My fairytale weekend

Neuschwanstein castle from Schwangau

I think many of us still love reading fairytales. At least I do 🙂 I still see “tangled ” with wide eyes and can spend a day reading the story of peter pan, cinderella, beauty and the beast and so on. I still read the Russian folk tales about the Ivanushka and Princess Vassilissa 😀  ! SO,  my reader, if you are like me, let me take you to most beautiful fairytale castle of Bavaria, the Neuschwanstein Castle ❤

  

I did plan for Prague on that Sunday, but after the hectic day trip to Austria, again 5 hours each way journey was too much for us! So, we plan to sleep late on Sunday and decided after we had a nice lunch, we will do a half day trip with Bayern day pass. Those who do not know about it, please consider it for cheap travel in Bayern via DB Bahn. It includes to and fro journey to any destination within is Bayern in 23€ for a person, 28€ for a couple, and 28€ for 5 people. And it is valid from 9 am to 3am of the next day.

 

We went to the Munich hbf and took a 13.30 train to Füssen. That city itself is very beautiful and I will do a short post on it. From Füssen hbf , you walk 3 min and you will get a bus 73/ the bus specified on your ticket. The funny thing is that , this bus fare is also included in this Bayern tickets. And also all public transport in Munich if you are buying from there. Anyway the train journey is about 2 hours and the way is too beautiful revealing bavaria countryside . Once we reached there, we got the bus which dropped us to the foot of the hill, revealing the first view of the castle. And for the first time in Europe we took a horse-carriage for fun. It takes 6€/ person, but there is also a cheaper option of bus to the hill top costing 1.8€/ head .

 

 

The horse-ride took around 20 min and we reached in a place with few restaurants, a hotel and a few souvenir shops. From there first we went to the waiting area and view point and snapped some pictures. It was raining and almost 4 pm.Understandably, I did not have good light for photography.

 

  

 

 

Not only the castle is beautiful, but the panoramic view from the place is amazing. I love mountains, and here so much green and blue mountains, and valleys and blue lakes. It is amazing. I would love to spend a night sometime here .

 

 

 

Apparently, there are few bridges high above the mountain, where you can go. One was closed for repair, and we did not have too much time. So, we were roaming in the castle itself.

 

 

The castle is a nineteenth-century Romanesque Revival palace, commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat for himself. It embodies both the contemporaneous architectural fashion known as castle romanticism (German: Burgenromantik), and Ludwig II’s immoderate enthusiasm for the operas of Richard Wagner , the famous German opera composer, theatre director and polemicist. The king was really passionate about building it and wrote “It is my intention to rebuild the old castle ruin of Hohenschwangau near the Pöllat Gorge in the authentic style of the old German knights’ castles, and I must confess to you that I am looking forward very much to living there one day” Irony is that he only slept 11 nights in the castle.

 

 

There are guided tours every 15 minutes and you can take audio guide. The ticket is 12€. With 1.3 million visitors per year Neuschwanstein is one of the most visited destinations in Europe. Till date, the total number of visitors was more than 60 million :O

 

  

The interior was not finished as the king died. The original plan was more than 200 rooms , but only 15 room and gallery exist . The castle has been the inspiration for Disney movie’s sleeping beauty castle!( did not I tell you I am taking you to fairy tale castle?)

 

 

  

A fun fact 😉 a meteorite reached Earth on April 6, 2002,near Hohenschwangau was named Neuschwanstein after the castle.  The meteorite is classified as an enstatite chondrite with unusually large proportions of pure iron (29%), enstatite and the extremely rare mineral sinoite (Si₂N₂O) .

 

We came down by foot, there is a fun short route through the hill. Then we took a bus to Fussen back and I took some photos. I will post them  another time 😀

 

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