I was invited along on a trip to Schwangau for Schloss Hohenschwangau and Schloss Neuschwanstein near the town of Füssen, part of the county of Ostallgäu in south-western Bavaria, Germany this Sunday. The invite came rather unexpectedly but I was glad of it.
So an enjoyable trip began, which required me to be up at 6.30 am. Of course an early start meant that some of us would be unfortunately be late especially since they forget that bus times are different on Sundays. For us Schwangau was reached by bus from Füssen which itself is between three to four hours from Nürnberg depending on the DB connection which we caught with only seconds to spare.
My companions were Reddy, Abhi and Sudeep, meeting the latter two for the first time on the day while they were running to catch our first train to Augsburg. Leaving Nürnberg at 7.38 meant we reached Schwangau at 12.15.
The Schloss at Schwangau is one of the busiest in Germany with 1.3 Million visitors per year. I could tell, we had to queue for about 40 minutes to obtain tickets for Schloss Neuschwanstein. It is possible to visit both castles but our tickets for the tour of Neuschwanstein were for 16.25 even though we obtained them at 13.00 and then it would not be possible to tour Schloss Hohenschwangau anyway.
It is a very beautiful landscape, lending itself naturally to the camera. Above we have Schwangau from slightly up the hill at Schloss Hohenschwangau.
Swans play an important part in the area, Schloss Hohenschwangau literally means Castle of the High Swan County and Schloss Neuschwanstein means New Swan Stone palace. You will find swans everywhere such as the fountain above in the Schloss Hohenschwangau courtyard, as door handles, as motifs, in the Coat of Arms, life size replicas and live Swans in the Alpsee which the castles look over.
More fountains in the courtyard. This one consisted of four lion heads as above. Lions also make part of the Coats of Arms and also is the symbol of Bayern and can be found as fountain heads etc.
Above, fountain near the rear entrance with religious motif as appropriate.
The views from the castles are truly spectacular which you are able to see for yourself above and in pictures to follow.
The views actually do look like paintings, which is something Abhi remarked while he was taking pictures.
The courtyards are all very well tended with a large number of ferns and plats and even fruit trees. With so many visitors I wonder when they get the time to actually tend to them.
Pictures of the archways at the rear entrance. I quite like the vaulted ceiling below and how the second arch interposes itself as above.
Above, the Guard Knight at the rear entrance which now that I think about it is probably the main entrance as it is the one with the road.
Above, a bell at the entrance and the archway it is set in below.
Above, a modern inclusion, if you look closely you will see an energy saving light bulb being used. And the front of the archway is is set in below.
So many arches.
Another modern touch at the water tap.
And finally, in this post ,a tower as seen from the entrance with the Bayern flag.
I realise that I have to many pictures I want to share and since I do not believe photo galleries are effective in blogs and also that by now you are bored with so many pictures, these will come in Part 2 soon.
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