A Detour for Castles in Germany

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

After a week in Switzerland, we planned to drive south to Italy, which is what I was looking forward to most. But if you're married to Yuriy and he has his own car, he's going to try to squeeze in as much as possible. He convinced me that we should swing by Germany real quick, because Munich is only 5 hours away (from Zurich). He really enjoyed Munich when he visited with his brother almost ten years ago, and I'd never been to Germany, so I was pretty easily convinced to take a little side trip with the promise of a good brat and beer and some German history. 

Since we were already taking a detour to Munich, we might as well stop by and see some castles along the way, right? That's the problem with Europe... everything is so close and there's always something that's "basically on the way". One week in, and we were already feeling one month in Europe wasn't nearly enough...

We visited Neuschwanstein Castle and Hohenschwangau Castle, both belonging to King Ludwig II, who became king of Bavaria when he was just 19 years old in 1864. What else would you do as a teenage king but build a better castle? The castles are so close, you can walk from one to the other.

Unfortunately, the bridge that offers the best views of Neuschwanstein was under construction, so we missed out on that. We also arrived as the castle was ready to close for the evening, so we didn't get tickets to go inside. There were so many crowds and school groups leaving the castle as we were arriving, so we didn't feel too bad about missing the chaos, and got to walk around the castle with a little more peace and quiet. 

Munich up next!

- Yuriy and Julia

Look closely at the mountains in the background to see Neuschwanstein Castle. 

10 comments :

  1. GERMANY IS SO BEAUTIFUL!!! I didn't think they had castles but definitely checking them out right now.

    cabin twenty-four

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  2. Neuschwanstein looks so amazing! I've only ever seen it in vlogs so it's nice to see some pictures! It's a shame that you never got to go inside, but I guess it worked out ok in the end. The views are incredible!
    I love Europe for everything being so close. We live an hour north of London and it's so great to be able to drive over to France for a long weekend!
    xo April | April Everyday

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  3. Oh man, I wish you guys had stayed longer in Germany.
    That country truly has the best castles (totally biased because I lived there for a few years).
    If you're visiting there again, I would definitely recommend Drachenburg in Königswinter (Northrhine-Westphalia) and Sanssoucci (I'm not sure how to spell it) in Potsdam (near Berlin).
    Among others, of course ;)

    Alive as Always

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  4. Neuschwanstein Castle was among the highlights of my trip to Europe ten years ago. I remember it being quite crowded but still enjoyable, and the lake not far from both castles was quite beautiful. This post really makes me miss Europe, Julia.

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  5. Currently living in Basel but this post just inspired me want to get out there and explore the beautiful castles of Germany! <a href="http://www.detourswithdaisey.com”>detourswithdaisey.com</a>

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  6. Gorgeous. I am so excited to explore now that I live in Europe!

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  7. The pictures are just incredible! the castles look so great. Even though I've been living for many years now I still haven't seen many places!

    ❥ Vicky | The Golden Bun - Instagram TGB-

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  8. This is definitely one of the most beautiful castles in Europe. I'm planning to visit it next year.

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  9. Love this! It's totally my dream to visit the castles of Germany. Also, I'm a new follower and I must say I absolutely adore your photography style!!

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