Fussen - The Castles

Of course everyone knows this logo. What some people might not know is that Disney's Sleeping Beauty castle was actually inspired by a castle in Germany called 'Schloss Neuschwanstein', in Fussen.

Ever since my (soon to be) sister in-law sent us a postcard with Neuschwanstein on the front, I've wanted to see it. There's also another castle in the area which isn't as impressive but still sounded cool so we decided to check both of them out.

The first castle we visited was Schloss Hohenschwangau. It was built by King Maximillian II of Bavaria in the 1830s and is actually a really modern castle built in the neogothic style. Out of all the castles we've seen in Europe, this is by far the most liveable. In fact, the current owners still live in a part of the castle not open to tourists and both Alice and I were VERY jealous of them!

The views from inside the castle are amazing. The building was electrified way back in 1905 and the owner at the time (Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria) even had an electric elevator put in because he was getting too old to walk up the stairs. What a dude. I wouldn't want to leave either ;) 

The paintings here were similar to the ones on the inside walls.

View from one of the windows

Zoomed in view out of the same window

Another shot of the view

Gate to the outdoor bath house

Mary Poppins helping out in the Kitchen

After lunch we walked to Schloss Neuschwanstein, the Disney castle. The walk took about 40-50 minutes and was pretty tough. The road up was busy with busses and horse drawn carts (there was no footpath) and we had to dodge lots of poo left from the horses too. It was also an extremely hot day which meant that there were heaps of flies and the road was very steep too. In hind site we probably should've taken the bus but even with all my complaining, it was still totally worth it.

View from one of the rooms

From the viewing bridge

The castle itself was amazing. It was just like I expected on the outside but a whole lot different on the inside. Even from the first castle tour it was clear that King Ludwig II of Bavaria (son of the King who built the first castle) was more than just a little bit crazy.

He was absolutely obsessed with the operas of his good friend Richard Wagner. This castle was essentially a shrine to those with each completed room being richly decorated with paintings of scenes or themes from one opera or another. The castle even had a music hall so that Wagner's operas could be performed there. Unfortunately he spent WAY more money than he actually had on this castle. Eventually he was deposed by the Bavarian government and a few days later was found dead in very shallow water. To this day they don't know whether he committed suicide (possible) or was murdered (more likely in my opinion).

Crazy or not, King Ludwig II left one hell of a mark.