ewx | Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein

We went to Germany this year…

Our first stop was the Bavarian village of Hohenschwangau, a photogenic location blessed with a pair of castles.

The more famous of the two is Neuschwanstein, a folly built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria, based on his rather inaccurate ideas of what a medieval castle looked like, and fixing the subsequent image of the stereotypical fairy-tale castle.

The interior is richly decorated, much of it with imagery from Wagner’s operas; but there is also an artificial cave and a throne room inspired by Byzantine churches (it reminded me of Monreale). The interior is unfinished.

I visited both castles before in the early 1980s; not speaking a word of German at the time I’d not figured out the relationship between the names. The widespread swan motif, here seen on Hohenschwangau castle itself, is a bit of a hint though.

The surrounding scenery is beautiful.

I had Weissbier and Currywurst for lunch (and slightly more sophisticated examples of locale cuisine later in the holiday l-). As the sign in the background hints, Germany is remarkably resistent to paying for anything with plastic.

The best place to get a photo of Neuschwanstein is from the Marienbrücke. One end is completely full of tourists trying to take photos and get past, the other end is largely empty (and therefore a much better place to take photos from…)