Neuschwanstein Castle

This morning we departed from the Wengen train station promptly at 7:30am. We traveled 30 minutes down to the valley in Lauterbrunnen where we connected with our bus driver.

I took in some more views of the beautiful Swiss mountainside scenery, while Dave discovered some more interesting instructions in the bathrooms.

From Lauterbrunnen we settled in for a 5-hour bus ride to Germany. We made a stop in Austria where we could stretch our legs and get some lunch. On the walking path I found a few signs of spring that made me happy.

We drove a couple more hours and finally made it to our destination of Neuschwanstein Castle. This fairytale castle inspired Walt Disney so much that he used it to create Cinderella’s castle in the original cartoon film. It is also the castle on which Disney’s logo (the one you see at the beginning of every Disney movie) is based.

Neuschwanstein is one of Europe’s most popular tourist destinations. It opens its doors to 1.3 million visitors every year!

The castle is settled on top of a rugged hill, and I t takes about a 40-minute walk to get to the top.

On the way up, there are places to stop to take in the views of the would-be surrounding kingdom.

Neuschwanstein was built and funded by King Ludwig II of Bavaria. It was to be a personal retreat in honor of Richard Wagner, a German composer known primarily for his operas.

We were able to take a guided tour through the castle and learned many fascinating details about Ludwig II’s life. Cameras were not allowed to be used on the tour. Our guide told us that, in her opinion, Wagner the composer was not really a “friend” of Ludwig’s because he was known to be an unkind person. She thought that Wagner took advantage of Ludwig’s wealth.

Ludwig II is known as the fairytale prince. However, his life didn’t seem much like a fairytale. We learned that he came into power when he was only 18, after his father died. Our guide told us that he had little interest in being king and was more passionate about art, architecture, and building extravagant castles.

Ludwig spent all his royal revenues on his projects, including Neuschwanstein. He borrowed money extensively and went deep into personal debt. He did not use state funds as was commonly believed, but his ministers unsuccessfully attempted to restrain his spending.

In fact, Ludwig II was eventually declared insane due to all his extravagant spending. This accusation later caused much suspicion after Ludwig’s mysterious death. He and his psychiatrist went out for a walk along Lake Starnberg. When neither of the men returned, there was a search that went out. Both their bodies were found in only waist-deep water.

Sadly, Ludwig never lived to see his castle completed. When the construction of the castle began, Ludwig estimated that it would only take three years to complete. With rigorous deadlines, the workers were busy both day and night. But even then, it took 12 years before he could move in, and the castle was still unfinished. Just 7 weeks after Ludwig’s death, the castle was opened to the public as a museum to try to pay off his debts.

Neuschwanstein sits high above Hohenschwangau Castle, which was the childhood home of Ludwig II. It was built by Ludwig II’s father, Maximillian II.

Obviously, Ludwig was used to opulence from a very young age.

The most amazing views of Neuschwanstein castle can be seen from the Marienbrücke (Queen Mary’s Bridge), which crosses the gorge behind the castle. The bridge was built by the crown prince’s father and was named after Ludwig’s mother, Queen Marie.

We walked to the bridge before touring the castle. The bridge was originally constructed out of wood. The Crown Prince Ludwig reconstructed it out of steel.

As we walked back down the foot path, we admired the forest around us. Some of the roots literally looked like they came out of a fairytale book and would wrap around our ankles if we got too close.

Of course, we didn’t get tangled in roots, but little pebbles managed to jump into my shoes from time to time!

A musician was playing some medieval tunes as we walked away from the castle. We threw a couple Euro coins into his hat for entertaining the crowds

We got some more views of Ludwig II’s childhood residence as we came down to street level. We had also learned that the royal family is still around today and their lineage can be traced as far back as the 11th century. Although not in power, we were informed they still have plenty of money and we shouldn’t feel sorry for them. Ironically, Ludwig’s ideas of a building that produced so much debt are now making loads of money through tourism in this area.

We snapped some last few pictures of the fairytale castle of Neuschwanstein before walking back to meet our group.