[ May 2013] From Munich, we joined a bus tour, visiting castles in the southern Germany.
The first destination was Neuschwanstein (Swan Castle).
This was built by Ludwig Ⅱ, who became a king of Bavarian Kingdom in 1845 when he was 18, and he wanted to make a perfect medieval castle.
It is very popular and tourists from all over the world were there.
The walking tour inside the castle was run every 5 minutes.
This was my second visit here actually.
I remember thinking that the outside was beautiful, but inside was shallow when I was there last time, but this time, I felt inside was worth looking, too.
Ludwig is often described as a king of madness and one of his obsession was Wagner.
Inside this castle is full of elements derived from Wagner’s operas.
Apparently, they did not complete this castle as Ludwig planned.
When he died in 1886, they just stopped.
Swan Castle is on the hillside of a mountain.
We had to get off our tour bus and take the local shuttle bus (1.80 euro) .
On the way back, I took a sort of stagecoach (3 euro for going down).
The last part to get to the castle, you need to walk up and on the way, you can see the breathtaking view of a lake and Ludwig’s parents’ castle, Hohenschwangau.
