Archive for September 2011
.
Continued from Part I……
.
.
This is the ticket center for both castles, which also less than 5 minutes walk from our hotel. It is located in between Hotel Alpenstuben and Hotel Muller.
Our hotel had helped us arrange the tickets, hence we saved the time for queuing.
The horse carriages of both castles will be departing and returning right in front of Hotel Muller.
Miss photogenic. She was so camera-ready.
.
For Hohenschwangau castle, the horse carriage costs €4/adult, up-hill and €2/adult, down-hill; or else 15-20 minutes walk is good option. For Neuschwanstein castle, up-hill €6/adult and down-hill €3/adult, or approx. 30 -45 minutes walk.
.
On the way to Hohenschwangau castle
.
We decided to get to Hohenschwangau castle by foot. The thing was, we had checked out the hotel and forced to carry a 3-4 kgs knapsack with our laptop in a very cold rainy day (my goodness, less than 10°C for sure because there were white fog came out from our noses and mouths whenever we breathed and talked), shamefully we were already out of breath by the time we reached the castle, lack of exercise in our daily life….
.
.
Hohenschwangau castle is also King Ludwig II parent’s castle, where King Ludwig II spent his childhood here. Unlike Neuschwanstein, it is still private owned today. For both castles, we need to be part of guided group in order to visit the castle interior, photographing and filming are not allowed inside castle.
.
.
Said goodbye to Hohenschwangau, we were heading to Neuschwanstein, the fairy tale castle. As we need to catch the train to Munich on 1pm, we took horse carriage to Neuschwanstein.
.
Poor dear… they carried 15 people to the mountain at one time, I could imagine they were exhausting… in cold drizzling day
We have to walk a short distance after got down the horse carriage
Hallo ~ Schloss Neuschwanstein
The main gate
The castle looked dusky and melancholy in non-sunny day
We were allowed to take picture at window
.
Marienbrücke, Mary’s Bridge is where you can get the view of full castle. Take bus at Schlosshotel Lisl ( uphill journey €1.80 / downhill journey €1 / return ticket: €2.60), do expect long queue by the way. Then it is about 10-minute walk on a steep downhill path to the entrance of the castle. Regretfully, we did not have time for this, instead, I was viewing full Mary’s Bridge from the castle.
.
The front view and the side view of the castle
Downhill is easier and faster, and we got some “exotic fragrance” too
Oh ~ they do take good care of horses, we saw them changing horses.
.
Perhaps the Neuschwanstein in my pictures is not fairytale castle alike but definitely more realistic. Please refer to the Neuschwanstein castle in those postcards, it is stunning! Did I mention it is the inspiration of Disney’s castle?
.
.
If you like fairy tale, these castles are definitely worth visit. There are many 1-day tours departure from Munich to both Neuschwanstein and Linderhof. I have planned to explore different view and wanted to hike the surrounding hill of the castle village, but the weather did not turn out as we expected, ended up I was being lazy and reluctant to go out. I did check the weather forecast of Schwangau few days before the departure (giving us idea what clothes need to be packed), knowing we would have rainy and colder weather during our stay, hence we were actually psychologically ready to sacrifice part of the itinerary. Not to say our flight from Bangkok had been delayed one day, otherwise we could have an extra (sunny) day for extravagant lavish Linderhof Palace and French Versailles inspired Herrenchiemsee Palace.
.
.
░ Useful link of King Ludwig II Castles ░
Herrenchiemsee Palace, Herreninsel
.
………… Part III to be continued.
.
Recent Comments