Castles

We finally got a good nights sleep, so we were up early and headed for the famous castles of King Ludwig. Schloss Hohenschwangau was the boyhood home, while Schloss Neuschwanstein was the fanciful castle he built when he was King. He practically bankrupted the country building it. He did not live very long after that and it is a mystery if he was murdered, committed suicide or just accidentally drowned in a lake. The guide told us he did suffer from depression, however it happens shortly after his government declared him insane. Whether he was or not is speculation. They just might have wanted to stop him from building any more castles. The Disney castle is patterned after it.
First let me say it is a hike to get to either of them as they are both up high. Hohenschwangau is a smaller hill, but the other one is not for the faint of heart. They even tell you it is not for anyone who has disabilities. Neither have transportation to the top, but you can get a horse and buggy or a bus part way up. We walked up to both but rode down, once by buggy, and the other by bus.
When you get to the top of Neuschwanstein you can go up even further to Mary's Bridge for spectacular views of the valley below.
This is Hohenschwangau. I think they make the reservations by which language you speak as we had a very good English speaking guide.




The lake is Alp Lake. According to the buggy driver there are many lakes named Alp Lake.




You can see the distance between the two castles and just how far we had to hike to get to the castle on the other side. You can see Neuschwanstein in the distance behind Mike.


Here are are trusty horses for are ride down


Here is a word to anyone that may want to do this. The buggy drivers are independent and work at their own speed. We paid for the ride and then sat there for almost one half hour while he waited to try to fill up his cart, that put us way behind. Also, if you plan to do both castles, have a minimum of 3 hours between your reservations. We missed our second reservation because of this delay. We consoled ourselves with a German size pretzel.


This is a view of the castle from Mary's Bridge


This is looking straight down over the rail of the bridge on one side and then the other.





This is a view of Hohenschwangau from the trail to the bridge. You can tell how far up we have walked. I put on a pedometer before we started and we went 4.43 miles, and yesterday we walked 5 miles. Guess I can have an apple strudel tonight!

Location:Bavaria