European Adventure – Neuschwanstein Castle and Ehrenberg Castle Ruins

After our time in Switzerland we drove to Fussen, Germany so we could visit Neuschwanstein Castle.

“The Neuschwanstein Castle is one of the most visited castles in Germany and one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe.The castle is located in Bavaria, near the town of Fussen. It was built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria, also known as the “Fairytale King”. See our Neuschwanstein Castle Tour page.King Ludwig was a great admirer and supporter of Richard Wagner, the world-renowned composer. Neuschwanstein Castle was built in his honor and many rooms in the castle’s interior were inspired by Wagner’s characters. The third floor particularly reflects Ludwig’s admiration of Wagner’s operas.The Singers Hall, which occupies the entire fourth floor of Neuschwanstein also contains characters from Wagner’s operas. Neuschwanstein literally means “New Swan Castle” referencing of “the Swan Knight” one of the Wagner’s characters.” – Source

We woke up early and drove to town to look for coffee and breakfast. We then drove just a few minutes to the parking lot for Neuschwanstein. We made the decision to not take the strollers because we weren’t sure what the condition of the trail to the castle was. That was a mistake, we got about a third of the way up the hill and Cannon refused to walk any further. I didn’t think I could make it carrying him all the way so we caught a horse drawn carriage.

It’s a pretty long hike so it was a good choice to catch a ride.

The castle really is like a fairytale.

The castle almost didn’t feel real it was so pretty.

We walked around the castle and up to a bridge, Cannon had found his hiking legs at this point.

There were some amazing views along the way.

We walked around the courtyard but opted not to take the tour of the inside.

My brother had just visited last December and said the tour was boring. I am sure it would be amazing to see the inside but the kids were hungry and tired so we marched back down the hill (Cannon can apparently handle down hill hiking).

We went back to Fussen and found a nice little Indian Restaurant to have lunch.

After lunch we drove back out of Germany to Austria to take care of some boring essentials like groceries and laundry.

The next day we visited the Ehrenberg Castle Ruins. We were really excited to see a real piece of history and explore the ruins.

“Built in 1296, Ehrenberg Castle offers everything you would expect from a medieval castle, defensive walls, tall towers and a lot of history. The gothic castle complex was home to emperors and kings, princes and tzars. True history was written here. For a long period of time, Ehrenberg could lead a peaceful existence. This changed with the outbreak of the religious wars. Ehrenberg was in the center of wartime battles several times. In 1546, the Protestant Schmalkalden occupied the fortress. In 1552, it was taken by the Elector Moritz of Saxony. In 1632 the Swedes stopped in front of its walls. In 1703, Ehrenberg fell into the hands of the Bavarians during the War of the Spanish Succession. From 1716 to 1717, Ehrenberg became the exile of Russian Tsarevich Alexei, who fled from his father, Tsar Peter the Great. Even in the Napoleonic Wars, it played a role. Beginning in 1971, Fridolin Schennach from Reutte took over the condemned ruin and initiated a rescue operation with numerous other idealists. – Source

There was a really cute playground at the base of the hill that the kids enjoyed while we got tickets to ride the tram to the ruin.