Epic European Adventure, Volume 3

Castle Neuschwanstein

As much as I thought about spelling Neuschwanstein differently every time it cropped up in this post I restrained myself. J

Castle Neuschwanstein is about an hour and forty five minutes outside of Munich. It’s less than a mile from the Austrian border in the middle of the Alps. Hugh and I elected to use Mike’s Bike Tours for the day trip instead of renting a car and attempting it ourselves. The full day trip included a coach bus ride to the town where the castle is located, a bike ride through the area with a stop at Swan Lake, and then a 45-minute hike up the backside of the castle that cuts over a waterfall gorge and a trip over Mary’s Bridge. The day concluded with the castle tour and a ride back home. Our guide was named Brad and he was from South Africa. He’d been doing this trip for twelve years and he gave great insight to the history of the castle.

The castle was built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria. He was a considered to be an eccentric and he bankrupted the country building his collection of castles. Castle Neuschwanstein was his crowning glory, and the interior was only partially finished before he died. The government owns the castle and they give a very simple “politically correct” version of how they acquired the castle and what happened to “Mad” King Ludwig. I’m going to spare you the boring government version and tell you what you can find out on the History Channel. Apparently Ludwig was a homosexual that had no concept of money and how it worked. He and his brother were not exactly brought up in a loving household. In fact, they were banished to their own section of their family castle and were not seen for years at a time. Apparently he managed to put the Bavarian government into such great debt that they had him declared insane by a psychiatrist that had never met him. He was arrested in his own home and he died “mysteriously” 3 days later in 3 feet of water, along with his psychiatrist. There’s a large amount of conspiracy theory surrounding the King and his death, but let’s be honest: He wouldn’t have been the first king to be killed by his own government. The government opened the castle up for tours exactly 6 weeks after his death. Since 1886, they’ve been making serious money from giving guided 25 minute tours year-round.

Now, enough of the history lesson. The day of our tour, the weather was a little rainy. We persevered and made great use of our rain jackets that we bought at the Eddie Bauer outlet two years ago. The bike ride was incredible. We drove down one lane that had trees on either side that had grown over to form a canopy over the top. I felt like we were actually on the set of The Sound of Music. I may have even hummed a little bit, Julie Andrews style. Swan Lake was beautiful, and some VERY brave (translate: stupid) people in our group even decided to jump in and swim for few moments. 

The hike was a ton of fun. We actually started our behind the castle and hiked up the back part of the mountain. There’s a river running down the backside of the mountain and the water was rushing by us as we walked. Several parts required us to walk on metal walkways that hugged the side of the mountain while the water was rushing below us. It was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. After about 45 minutes we made it to the castle entrance. We then were given 30 minutes to relax before our castle tour or told that we could continue hiking up to walk on Mary’s Bridge. Mary was King Ludwig’s mother. She loved to hike, and she had a bridge built over the waterfall gorge so she could cross over more easily. We decided to make the extra effort and we were rewarded with some of the most memorable views of our entire vacation. The pictures can tell the story themselves.

The castle tour itself was neat. King Ludwig spared no expense in his castle building. There were mosaic tile floors and every fixture we saw was made of gold. His bed was made of wood, and it took 14 wood workers 4 years to complete it. His bedroom was the most ornate, gaudy room that I’ve ever seen. The German government doesn’t allow any photos to be taken inside the castle, but several have leaked online. Feel free to google away!

I’m including a few of our favorite photos from this trip. I’m uploading the rest to shutterfly, and if you’d like me to send you the link please just ask!

The castle, from one of the biking trails.

This is where I was feeling very "Sound of Music-y"

Swan Lake. See that ripple way out on the right side? That was one of the crazy people that decided to swim.

Hugh and I at Swan Lake.

Here we are in front of one of the waterfalls.

Rain biking. Gotta love it. The castle is WAY in the background.

Hugh, braving the rain for a picture.

Hiking up the waterfall gorge. This is where they divert some water to allow for a crossing. Don't worry, it goes right back after.

The walkway here is made of metal. You can see through it and it's actually a little steep. And wet.

Apparently it's very popular to stack rocks at the riverbed. Kinda cool.

That's Mary's Bridge. This picture was taken about halfway through the hike.

It's really worth clicking on these pictures to see the detail. This is the valley, with Hohenschangu Castle.

Castle Neuschwanstein

The small village in the valley. Just gorgeous!

One side note: There was this one woman on our trip that we gave the nickname “Kim Kardashian”. Everyone that signed up for this tour new that there would be a bike ride, and hike, and the possibility of rain. This girl actually shows up for this excursion in white skintight leggings, 5-inch stiletto riding boots, and attempts the bike ride. She held the group up quite a bit and THANK THE LORD that she finally decided to bow out of the hiking. I was worried that some members of the group were going to go all Lord of the Flies on her and start calling her Piggy and stoning her to death. Sometimes, I really wonder what goes through people’s heads.

One more side note: We did this trip on my birthday. Not a shabby way to turn 31!