Day Trip to Hohenschwangau

6/30/14

My sister-in-law, Colleen, Keenan, along with my friends Steve, Amber and their boys, Devon, Nate, Parker, and Asher and I took a day trip to Hohenschwangau.  We packed lunches and drove the 3.5 hours to the border of Austria to see two Bavarian Castles.  The first one, Hohenschwangau Castle was the regular "family" castle.

Hohenschwangau is a super cute German town.

Such cute buildings

Look at that water!

It reminds me of Montana or Washington State

I would love to stay in that cabin!

Swans are a major part of Hohenschwangau or "High Swan County"

After walking around the town for a bit, we started our 10 minutes hike to Hohenschwangau Castle.

Hohenschwangau Castle

Our view hiking up to the castle

An entrance

I really liked the statues along with the colorful painting on the wall

View of the city from the castle

View of Neuschwanstein Castle from Hohenschwangau

The swan fountain

The little duck guy fountain

Roar!

Even the foliage was beautiful

Orange tree...or kumquat...or something orange and round!

When it was our designated time, we went in!  We had a sweet Austrian tour guide that reminded me of the priest in Princess Bride. ;)  Here is a little history on this castle:

"Hohenschwangau Castle or Schloss Hohenschwangau (lit: High Swan County Palace) is a 19th-century palace in southern Germany. It was the childhood residence of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and was built by his father, King Maximilian II of Bavaria. It is located in the German village of Hohenschwangau near the town of Füssen, part of the county of Ostallgäu in southwestern Bavaria, Germany, very close to the border with Austria.
Hohenschwangau Castle was built on the remains of the fortress Schuangau, which was first mentioned in historical records dating from the 12th Century. A family of knights was responsible for the construction of the medieval fortress, and it served as the seat of the local government of Schwangau. In 1523, the schloss was described as having walls which were too thin to be useful for defensive purposes. After the demise of the knights in the 16th Century, the fortress changed hands several times. The decay of the fortress continued until it finally fell into ruins at the beginning of the 19th Century.

In April 1829, Crown Prince Maximilian (the later King Maximilian II of Bavaria) discovered the historic site during a walking tour and reacted enthusiastically to the beauty of the surrounding area. He acquired the ruins - then still known as Schwanstein - in 1832. In February 1833, the reconstruction of the Castle began, continuing until 1837, with additions up to 1855. The architect in charge, Domenico Quaglio, was responsible for the neogothic style of the exterior design. He died in 1837 and the task was continued by Joseph Daniel Ohlmüller (died 1839) and Georg Friedrich Ziebland. Queen Marie created an alpine garden with plants gathered from all over the alps.

Hohenschwangau was the official summer and hunting residence of Maximilian, his wife Marie of Prussia, and their two sons Ludwig (the later King Ludwig II of Bavaria) and Otto (the later KingOtto I of Bavaria). The young princes spent many years of their adolescence here. The King and the Queen lived in the main building, and the boys in the annex.

King Maximilian died in 1864 and his son Ludwig succeeded to the throne, moving into his father's room in the castle. As Ludwig never married, his mother Marie was able to continue living on her floor. King Ludwig enjoyed living in Hohenschwangau, especially after 1869 when the building of his own castle,Neuschwanstein, began only a stone's throw from his parental home.

After Ludwig's death in 1886, Queen Marie was the castle's only resident until she in turn died in 1889. Her brother-in-law, Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria, lived on the 3rd floor of the main building. He was responsible for the electrification in 1905 and the installation of an electric elevator. Luitpold died in 1912 and the palace was opened as a museum during the following year.

During World War I and World War II, the castle suffered no damage. In 1923, the Bavarian Landtag recognised the right of the former royal family to reside in the castle. From 1933 to 1939, Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria and his family used the castle as their summer residence, and it continues to be a favourite residence of his successors, currently his grandson Franz, Duke of Bavaria. In May 1941, Prince Adalbert of Bavaria was purged from the military under Hitler's Prinzenerlass and withdrew to the family castle Hohenschwangau, where he lived for the rest of the war."

Entering the castle

Berchta Room.  The wall paintings are devoted to Charlemagne, the first great European, and his mother Berchta.

The Authari Room. Named after Bavarian saga of Authari, the King of Langobards when he was wooing for Princess Theodelinde.

The Hall of Heros.  The paintings of the festive hall illustrates the Wilkina Saga, part of the legend about Dietrich of Berne.

The Hall of the Swan-Knight.  Wall paintings depict the saga of the Swan Knight Lohengrin.

The Hohenstaufen Room.  The dressing and music room of the king.  The wall paintings are devoted to the Hohenstaufen dynasty. Wagner played here for Ludwig II.

The Kings study.

The Livingroom of the Queen.

The Tasso Room.  The Royal bedroom was painted according to motifs of Italian poet Torquato Tasso.

Very pretty religious fountain

Leaving the castle was just as pretty as arriving

The Infante family and Colleen hiking down to go to the next castle

We decided to take a horse drawn carriage up to Neuschwanstein instead of walking up.  It was about 6 euro per person but so worth it since the walk was pretty steep.

The view from our ride

Neuschwanstein Castle

The courtyard

The Gatehouse

Neuschwanstein Castle, or the "Disney Castle" is pretty impressive.  Here is a little history on this castle:

Neuschwanstein Castle (German: Schloss Neuschwanstein, English: "New Swanstone Castle") is a nineteenth-century Romanesque Revival palace on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau near Füssen in southwest Bavaria, Germany. The palace was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and as a homage to Richard Wagner. Ludwig paid for the palace out of his personal fortune and by means of extensive borrowing, rather than Bavarian public funds.

The palace was intended as a personal refuge for the reclusive king, but it was opened to the paying public immediately after his death in 1886.Since then more than 61 million people have visited Neuschwanstein Castle. More than 1.3 million people visit annually, with as many as 6,000 per day in the summer. The palace has appeared prominently in several movies and was the inspiration for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle and later, similar structures.

In the Middle Ages, three castles overlooked the villages. One was called Schwanstein Castle. In 1832, Ludwig's father King Maximilian II of Bavaria bought its ruins to replace them with the comfortable neo-Gothic palace known as Hohenschwangau Castle. Finished in 1837, the palace became his family's summer residence, and his elder son Ludwig (born 1845) spent a large part of his childhood here.

Vorderhohenschwangau Castle and Hinterhohenschwangau Castle sat on a rugged hill overlooking Schwanstein Castle, two nearby lakes (Alpsee andSchwansee), and the village. Separated only by a moat, they jointly consisted of a hall, a keep, and a fortified tower house. In the nineteenth century only ruins remained of the twin medieval castles, but those of Hinterhohenschwangau served as a lookout place known as Sylphenturm.

The ruins above the family palace were known to the crown prince from his excursions. He first sketched one of them in his diary in 1859. When the young king came to power in 1864, the construction of a new palace in place of the two ruined castles became the first in his series of palace building projects. Ludwig called the new palace New Hohenschwangau Castle; only after his death was it renamed Neuschwanstein. The confusing result is that Hohenschwangau and Schwanstein have effectively swapped names: Hohenschwangau Castle replaced the ruins of Schwanstein Castle, and Neuschwanstein Castle replaced the ruins of the two Hohenschwangau Castles.

The pictures below are what I have found online since all photography inside the castle is forbidden.

The Hall

The Study

The Dining Room

The Bedroom

The Drawing Room

The Hall of Singers

The Throne Room.  The Upstairs area.

The Throne Room

The Throne Room floor detail

The Throne Room detail

The Throne Room

The Throne Room ceiling detail

View of Hohenschwangau Castle from Neuschwanstein Castle

The views were stunning!

I can see why he wanted his castle here

Mary Bridge from the castle

View from the Kings balcony

It's a little like heaven

Mary's Bridge from the castle

We hiked up to Mary's bridge since it was open.

The castle from Mary's Bridge

He may have been a little crazy but he knew how to build castles

The view beneath Mary's bridge

 When we were done with the second castle, we hiked down to the bottom and headed home.  There was a very cute church on our way out that we had to stop and take pictures of.

Baroque Church of Saint Coloman

Dedication to Coloman of Stockerau

The story about this little Church is that an Irish or Scottish monk was doing a pilgrimage and when he was in Bavaria, the locals thought he was a spy.  Since he could not speak German, he could not defend himself so they tortured him and hung him.  Where his body was lain, it was not eaten by animals or insects so they built a church a that spot to commemorate him.

Our view from the church

This was a great day trip.  Although with construction it actually took us about 4.5 hours to get there but only 3.5 to get back.  I had been so eager to go see the castles and I will always remember how stunning Bavaria is.  That part of Bavaria/Austria is my favorite to look at.