The Original Disney Castle

Saturday morning started out with the most beautiful drive ever. Leaving Austria first thing in the morning, we got a spectacular view of the Alps that we had missed driving into the city at night. The first dusting of snow had settled during Saturday’s morning rain, but the clouds had cleared for our drive. Words simply cannot describe how beautiful the setting was. I could scarcely bear to take it all in. We were surrounded by those rugged, bare-rock mountains in the near distance as we drove through farms set in the rolling hills.

The purpose of our drive was to reach Schloss Neuschwanstein, Germany’s most famous castle. Built by the crazy King Ludwig less than 200 years ago, he died under mysterious circumstances when only 1/3 of the interior was finished. But it is the exterior of this castle which is the most recognizable; it served as the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty’s castle at Disneyland.

This crazy king built a quirky castle. Obsessed as he was with the works of Richard Wagner, especially Swan Lake, he dedicated the castle to his works. All of the scenes painted on the interior walls are scenes from his operas and swans are in all of them. A swan sits on the head of a warrior slaying a dragon. Door handles are in the shape of swan necks. The town at the bottom of the cliff is called Swangau, or Swan City. The lake on the edge of the town is full of swans. Swans are everywhere.



 

An entire third floor passageway was built as a cave. Between the king’s bedroom and living room is a plaster cave of stalactites and stalagmites, hot and moist, painted with moss. Secret doors along the hall lead to little rooms of glass with pebbles on the ground and greenery attached to the walls.

The best view of the castle can be seen from a bridge stretching across a canyon behind the castle. From this angle it looks as though the castle is sitting on the very top of the world. It was gorgeous to see with the reddening trees surrounding the castle mountain.

The day finished off sunny and warm, giving us another fantastic view as we drove along the Romantische Strasse heading home. Austrian roadtrip complete.