Up on the top of one of the mountain cliffs was one of the castles of King Ludwig II. His parent's had a castle just down the road, and he built this "fairy tale" castle that was the inspiration for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty castle.
It was a 1 1/2 mile hike up the mountain to get to and we had a nice time walking up in the shade.
The castle itself was pretty amazing. It took many years to build, and was never really completed before Ludwig's mysterious death. He only got to live in it for 172 days. The inside was in homage to Operas of Wagner, with frescos all over the walls that depict scenes from his Operas. Wagner never got to step foot in the castle before he died. They still have Wagner concerts in the concert hall that was built for him.
This was the last place I could take photos inside the castle, which is too bad, because it was pretty incredible inside. It was decorated over the top.
Once we got to the top floor of the castle and looked out on the veranda, there was no question as to why he built his castle here. There were lakes every direction you looked. The land was all so green and beautiful. There were a few villages below and a lot of farmland. It really was the most breathtaking thing we have seen in all of Europe.
This was looking down on his parent's castle.
After we finished looking through the castle, we went down the back path over to a bridge over a waterfall. This gave us a perfect view of the castle and the land around it. We could have stood there all day (but we were getting hungry!). Danny really wanted to hike down to the waterfall, or hike to the top of the mountain area and take the tram down, but no one wanted to embark on a 2 hour hike after the hike up and through the castle.
Danny said "Truly one of the closest experiences I have had to living in a fairy tale. Even more magical than Disneyland. I just thought it was idyllic. If I could build in a castle, it would be right there in that spot."
4 comments:
That was one of my favorite places we went to!!! Such an amazing place!!!
How beautiful!
It's like Disney Castle on steroids! Did they have any princesses there that would sign your autograph book and let you take pictures with them? Or at the least, a fairy grandmother?
I'm loving your pictures and commentary. But next time, you guys have to stop HERE! :) I just have to say that I think it's funny that the castle is said to be the inspiration for the castle at Disneyland, because we have castle here (in Segovia) and they claim the same thing!
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