There are two castles in this area, close to the Bavarian town of Fuessen. Hohenschwangau was built by Maximillian II, King of Bavaria, and Neuschwanstein was built by his son Ludwig II, who succeeded him as King of Bavaria in 1863 at the tender age of 18. Ludwig II is the more famous one mostly because of his tendency to build ornate and expensive castles which nearly bankrupted the country. Ironically, these castles now bring in so much money that Bavaria might have been better off if Ludwig II had built a couple more.



Along with being the inspiration for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle (and the castle in the Disney logo), Neuschwanstein has a very odd history. Although it looks pretty medieval, it was actually started in 1868, long after most people stopped building such castles. Ludwig built it in dedication to Richard Wagner, a famous and controversial composer of the time, and every room in the house was to be dedicated to one of Wagner's fantasy-epic operas. While the castle was still being built, Ludwig was declared insane and was forced to abdicate. A day after being put into "protective custody" at a different castle, he was found dead along with the psychiatrist who declared him insane. They had apparently drowned in the very shallow water of a nearby lake. To this day, it's unclear what happened.





We had quite a hike up to the castle. We got some great pics, though.









Once you get up to the castle you have a gorgeous view of the "city".



The castle gates.



Inside the gates, you can see where parts of it were unfinished. If you look closely at this pic of the upper courtyard, you can see an outline on the floor for what would have been a keep with a really tall tower.







Inside, less than twenty of the planned 200+ rooms were finished at the time of Ludwig's death but the parts that are finished are very interesting. It's like a lot of the other castles we've seen... ornate, paintings on every ceiling, every inch of every wall covered, etc., but this one was a little different because of its dedication to Wagner. They don't allow photography inside, so we only got a few sneaky pics in (usually to disapproving looks from non-rule-benders).



This room was for showing Wagner's operas. The painting on the back wall depicts one of these operas, and was painted by the same theatrical artist who drew the concept for the exterior of the castle.





When you look out from Neuschwanstein you have a great view of the other castle, Hohenschwangau.



Here it is closer up.



On the walk down we came across these amazing looking donuts... a good end to that part of the day.