The number of castles in Germany varies between 25,000 and 35,000 since often there is no differentiating between a castle, a fortress, and a palace: Some buildings are for representation, other are military installations, some are a mix of both. Plus, there are monasteries that look like castles. I have a map under my community tab of my channel with all this buildings in Germany, Belgium, France. These three countries are plastered with medieval buildings. Oh, roughly, one third are ruins, one third are restaurants/hotels/museums, and one third - tadahhh - are inhabited by noble families. Neuschwanstan: It's not even old, damnit! It was opened in the late 1800s! It was never really used by King Ludwig, and it had electricity right from the start. A massive tourist trap, don't go there, it's not worth it. Also, last year, an American tourist killed two other Americans there ... But actually, Walt Disney visited Neuschwanstein several times and made it the blueprint for his Sleeping beauty castle. If you wish to visit a REAL castle, go see Eltz. I've been there myself.
@@janchovanec8624 i wasn't talking about any route. I just meant like a straight line and how close they were. And even if we are talking about a route I definitely didn't walk for 3km when I was there.
Yepp, the current Baron is a surprisingly down to Earth guy in all his interviews. They don't live there constantly but they keep the castle in very good repair.
#1 is a natural. It ALWAYS is on place #1 because of Disney. 😅 There sure are lots more castles, some of them only fragments are standing. Nonetheless, those might be even more impressive.
In Heidelberg were the headquarters of the US Army in Europe from 1952 to 2012. I think that might be part of the reason, why the castle and the city are both fairly well known in the US for such a "small" city. Also, the pictures in the video don't really do it justice. The castle is above the historic old town next to the river Neckar with the old bridge. Looks way more impressive than in the video.
I know you are a car guy first but in East Germany there is Jagdschloss Augustusburg in Saxony. Last year they had their 50th anniversary of motorcycle meetings. It always happens in January!! Even with the Iron wall (curtain)up bikers from around the world met there. I was there as a child and a teenager, my great grandmother lived there. Look up their stories. The most dedicated and hardcore bikers go there during winter months, just amazing 😮 love your videos
Unfortunately, a famous German castle was not mentioned in the video: Braunfels Castle in the town of the same name called Braunfels. As a Texan, you might be interested to know that settlers from Braunfels founded the town of New Braunfels in Texas.
I‘ve left a link to it in a comment above… it’s the less comical "brother" of Neuschwanstein, only an hour drive away from Frankfurt/Main. BTw, nearby, in Weilburg you can canoe on the Lahn river through a tunnel, crossing a castle’s mountain, something that gets quite memorable too… Greetz from a Hessian :)
There is an interesting thing about the word castle in German. We are using two different words for two different styles of castles: “Schloss” and “Burg”. While “Burg” is used for a castle in a sense of a military fortress, “Schloss” is more like a prestigious palace. But there’re so many types of castles that the transition is fluent. Sometimes they were rebuilt or restructured and became the opposite. The early ones were intended to be a safe place for a noble and his peasants. But while the home of the nobles had to be more and more impressive and prestigious military needs increased. After a while they split up the concepts of a luxury home and a military fortress and a new word appeared: “Festung”, literally fortress. And at this point a “Burg” was something like an old concept. “Schloss” is used until today. In our region are many castles. It’s about 20 minutes to the castles of Manderscheid (Manderscheider Burgen), 15 minutes to Castle Bruch (Burg Bruch), 50 minutes to Cochem Castle (Reichsburg Cochem) and something about 1 hour to Eltz Castle (Burg Eltz). The last ones were in the video. There’re also ruins of more castles around. And I was born about 100 km (62 miles) away at the river Rhine, a region with hundreds of castles like Altenwied Castle (Burg Altenwied), Altwied Castle (Burg Altwied), Neuwied Castle (Schloss Neuwied), Castle Linz (Burg Linz), Sayn Castle (Burg Sayn), Hammerstein Castle (Burg Hammerstein) or the famous Marksburg. Also the Drachenfels (literally Dragon’s Rock) with the Drachenburg Castle (Schloss Drachenburg) from the video is nearby. For me it’s an absolutely normal view to see cars around castles, just the normal way to get there. And many castles are an interesting spot to go to. Many of them have restaurants, hotels, museums or public resting areas within beautiful parks. And there are also castle like monasteries around, like the Himmerord Abbey (Kloster Himmerod) or Maria Laach Abbey (Abtei Maria Laach).
Thank you so much for all this information. I’m learning German so this is incredibly helpful. I love etymology in any language, but Germany’s is fascinating.
I think the trick was in their transgenerational thinking, every lord building further on their mighty noble family and a mighty building to keep also future generations safe and mighty.
The list is kind of a mixture. Some are castles, some are palaces, some are something in between. Drachenburg at 6:00 was built by a rich man in the late 19th century, so it's more like a millionaire's estate of its time. Neuschwanstein falls into the Romantic era with Ludwig bringing Bavaria close to bankruptcy because of his fairy tale wishes. Hohenzollern one of the mightiest royal branches in Europe, family of the last German Emperors. Probably only topped by the Austrian Habsburger (look for Austrian castles/palaces, they are top notch, too). Nevertheless there are plenty of castles and palaces in Germany. Just take a look at a map of the Holy Roman Empire at any date and you will see, how divided the whole German area was into seperate prinicipalities and almost every duke, king, whatever wanted to have his own palace. Then one for their wives. And if the realm was divided into seperate branches between the children, everyone got their palace and so on :D And the same goes for castles. Especially the rivers. Following the Rhine you'll see one every few kilometers. Most of the time you'll see another castle standing on the top tower of one of them.
There was a big US-Garrison in Heidelberg back in time, this might be why you have heard of it. I encountered something similar when i was in the states, talking with people about where i am from. I was surprised how many knew Ansbach but its logic, there are two garrisons nearby 😅.
Greetings from Hamburg/Germany! Just returned from a trip to Bavaria, visiting the Kaltenberg Knight's Tournament, the city of Landsberg/Lech, and Füssen with Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau. While Neuschwanstein Castle is "magical", I'll always prefer Hohenschwangau Castle because it's way more "alive" and much more beautiful.
that is why I always say I live in very young city - first written record from 1302, city rights in 1312 (If I was US citizen, it will be like - our railstation is old as fck - it is built in 1867-1872 = 152yo) you get like always from me, greetings from Slovakia
Neuschwanstein was essentially a vanity project, as castles of that kind were quite outdated. The trend had shifted towards palaces with vast gardens to symbolize wealth, as "modern" weaponry had rendered fortress-style castles virtually obsolete.
I stayed hundreds of nights and days in a castle. Castles are so common here that my family actually rented one as a holiday home for 30 years. (and we are not rich) ok it was not big, but it was a real one, from the 1600s, with towers, a moat (with water!) and a bridge. it was a bit in disrepair, thats why the rent was very cheap and 3 generations of us visited as often as possible (we also shared the costs between the extended family members. I loved it as a child, but we had to let it go when the renovation costs were too high and the owner had to sell it to somebody with millions to fix it. it looked Exactly like the 1st white one you showed, except much smaller, about 1/3rd the size edit, just saw more footage , make that 1/8th the size. we went there on school holidays and often just the weekends. you could play in the forests and on the water, but the land around was public grounds, open to anyone, basically a park. we kids, told many a ghost story on those stays, to scare our little sisters, and it had plenty of nooks and crannies to explore, 4 cellars and at least 5 attics... but other than that it was just a normal, yet very big house, but old fashioned, without modern comforts. we still had to use coal and wood to heat it, and the bathroom situation was never developed beyond the 1950s. it was incredible fun. as a child I didn't know how lucky we were.
I had groan up in one and I can tell you it's fun!! Ok Neu Schwanstein castle looks cool and it is cool! But you have to understand that there are only 15 full build rooms in it, because after the daeth of king Ludwig they don't build it further!! To describe it like this: completely overcrowded and not enough to see inside! That's why I recommend visiting Linderhof Castle, also built by King Ludwig. It's smaller but fully developed! What you see there is just wow!! Above all, Linderhof Castle is not as well known as the other King Ludwig castles!!
Since before Roman age the builders knew many fancy tools made from wood and iron and ropes, they knew many types of constrution cranes. thats how those very tall structures were build. We sometimes forget that we dont need electric machines to build exeptional constructions :) I think the mechanical and phisical ideas behind wooden tools with ropes were the same as behind medieval siege machines.
"Stating that Germany has a total of 25,000 castles. Germany has population of about 83.2 million, so that's about one castle for every 3,300 people. Some articles also speak of 20,000, but either way, that's way higher than. the number of McDonald's locations in the entire US, which as of this year is 13,520." Just leaving this here. And yes i slept in a castle a few times, once in a round corner tower and with a "Schlossgespenst" (a castle ghost which was totally real), and although it's technically not a castle but a Napoleonic era fortification our student bar was in one of the bastion towers. You should also look into King Ludwig II of Bavaria, his story is really wild and there are conspiracy theories and even secret societies surrounding them to this day.
25,000 castles in Germany alone?! 😂 The Czech Republic is the country with the highest density of castles in the world (maybe with the exception of Wales - but that's not independent country) and it has "only" 924 castles including castle ruins or castles, forts and fortresses that have been converted into chateaus and if you include objects built as the original chateaus you get to about 2,000 buildings and ruins in total. Germany is 4.5 times bigger than the Czech Republic, so it should have at least 4,158 castles and including chateaus about 9,000 buildings in total to have at least the same density of castles as the Czech Republic. 25,000 is either total nonsense or they have declared every private hacienda as a castle... 😉😁
@@toruvalejo6152That 20’000 number comes from a private association (Deutsche Burgenvereinigung) that has been trying to catalog all ‘castles’ in Germany. They published that 20’000 number a couple of years ago, adding they had not finished their work yet (which might be the origin of the 25’000 number as an estimate). In German they use the terms ‘Burgen, Schlösser und Herrenhäuser’ which can be translated as castles, palaces and manor houses. This probably can be defined as all residences of the nobility. Castles (or Burgen in German) can generally be defined as fortified residences of members of the nobility, whereas palaces and manor houses dispense with the fortification aspect. There are also a relatively small number of medieval fortresses that belonged to associations like the Knights Templar, a military order or fortified monasteries, which would not fall into the category of private residences. Finally, this 20’000 number includes all ruins, with sometimes as little as remains of foundations, as well as documented historical ‘castles’ even if no remains are visible any more.
The majority of them are not castles they are country houses. A castle has to have a laird and significant defences and fortifications to be a castle. Not exactly hard to invade when you can walk right up to the front door. They're pretty much fancy country houses.
A lot of people go to Neuschwanstein but miss Hohenschwangau. They're right next to each other but Hohenschwangau is less famous (They're located like 500 meters apart). Hohenschwangau is way prettier inside than Neuschwanstein.
We do have a LOT of castles ;D Just for perspective... I'm living in a small countryside town (pop 35k) near the Dutch border and there are at least 10 castles just on the German side in a circle of 30min drive from me.
Thousands? There are between 18.000-25.000 (depending on how you count) castles, palaces and other historic fortifications in Germany (not counting WW1 and WW2 ones), some are ruins, others are privately held and some you can visit, and some you can rent.
I always have my problems with Neu-Schwanstein shown as a castle together with real old castles like the Warthburg ect. Neu-Schwanstein is just a play castle that was built by a looney Bavarian king in the late 1800s. Like kids build a Playmobil castle today. Just that he thought he can do whatever he wants, and the population has to pay for it. And when it was ready, he drowned hinself in the lake you see below the castle. Not the worst solution, IMHO.
Cool. Last year, on the return back home from my vacation to Austria, we took a little detour and stopped in Southern Germany. There, I saw the Hohenschwangau Castle and the Neuschwanstein Castle in real life. :)
and some fun facts, germany has more castles than the u.s. has mcdonalds > ruclips.net/video/ez3Ui4_LmSY/видео.html burg eltz is familyproperty for more than 800 jears, so you could say they lived there before colubus found america > ruclips.net/video/3ezoCvDZDkU/видео.html
Wartburg castle's historical importance wasn't mentioned here... it was here that Martin Luther was given shelter and refuge from catholic persecution and it was here that he defined German grammar and translated the bible which led to the reformation and the 30 years war.
This was also one of the two important steps - the other was Gallileo Gallilei - that allowed the Enlightenment to happen, leading to the creation of "the West". Sadly the concept is under attack by religious ideologies ... from feminism, communism to "carpet kneeling invaders that intend to violently destroy it".
I just visited Neuschwanstein a few weeks ago......in Japan! Near Himeji (mostly known for their impressive original Japanese castle....) is a kinda weird theme park named Taiyo Park, with a 2/3 scale replica of Neuschwanstein.... Never seen the real thing though, even when I have been in that area 😅
The funny thing is that IWrocker thinks that the youngest and least historic castle is the most historic. Neuschwanstein was nothing more than a romantic dream of a Bavarian king, which almost drove him to financial ruin.
Albrechtsburg missing, Plassenburg missing, Rosenberg and Veste Coburg missing... Königsstein missing. These are real military castles, historically correct and really used as military garrisons and in real wars. 🤷♂️
my personal favourite castle is the castle of Bran, Romania. visited in 2005. it has all the comfort you need: electricity, central heating, but also the medieval stoves to heat the rooms. you could still live in it today.
Actually "Castle" ist splited in its meaning, there is "Schloss" and there is "Burg". A Schloss is kind of for representing yourself and receive guests at fancy events, a Burg is more like a defense building to protect yourself inside during conflicts. Of course some times this is combined.
Fun fact: Germany has more castles than the USA has McDonald restaurants. The last count puts the number of castles to more than 16.000 and they are still counting.
*Well, there are a few castles, which definitely should have been on this list.......Schloss Herrenchiemsee [ Old Palace (Herrenchiemsee Abbey), New Palace ], Schloss Linderhof [ Linderhof Palace ], Schloss Nymphenburg [ Nymphenburg Palace ], Würzburger Residenz [ Würzburg Residence ], Nürnberger Burg [ Nuremberg Castle ], .............*
I stayed for the weekend in Carcassonne castlated town, for a kid it was as close as possible to living in king arthurs castle, I will never forget that weekend,we were invited to stand guard two times during that weekend wearing chainmail and trus and spears, just awesome,if ever you visit southern france I strongly suggest you visit this truly historical castleated town
Here is a tip for DURABLE HOUSES: *use BRICKS to build them, NOT "cheap empty wall wooden" style. Even half-timbered houses LAST CENTURIES compared to cheap american garbage.
Burg Eltz is amazing. It is built on a rather small rock outcrop. The limited space required the owners to build higher than usual. It got legally split in 3 parts due to inheritance and the 3 resulting branches of the family continued to live on the castle side by side peacefully for centuries. The landscape of the Neckar river valley near Burg Eltz is extremely beautiful.
It's the Moselle, not the Neckar. The most remarkable fact about Eltz is that it has been the property of one single family through 1200 years of history. An ancestor of the contemporary owners built it.
#1 Neuschwanstein is the LEAST HISTORIC castle on the list, because it was built in mid-19th century and includes MODERN STUFF like "steel beams" and "an elevator" (or at least mad King Ludwig wanted that stuff). It is one of the reasons why Germany could unify in 1871, because Ludwig II. of Bavaria was BROKE and the Prussians gave him some money to "make him agree to unification".
a schweriner here and our castle really doesnt have a bad angle as you mentioned but since its almost always worked on you can oftentimes see scaffoldings that do create bad angles its just 5 min from my home and its always beautiful even the teenagers favorite spot to drink is just 300m next to that castle and has a perfect view at it so even they enjoy the beauty of it
@8:05 Because Muricans know nothing about history, they immediately compare/relate to Murican (pop) culture, like movies even cartoons. So you probably never heard of Heidelberg Castle, but it rang a bell. You probably meant Heisenberg, from Breaking Bad tv-series..
Bit confusing how they are all called "castles" in the anglo saxon world. In germany some are "Burgen" which are the more military/defensive structures, others are "Schlösser" which are the more posh, representative kind of buildings..
The German reformer Martin Luther hid in the Wartburg and translated the New Testament into German so that everyone could read the Bible. Before that, the Bible only existed in Latin. He only needed eleven weeks, that was 1521/1522.
Howdy Ian, on that particular Löwenburg, Castle being redundant in German, much of the ageing is artificial, you ought to react to Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe as a whole. It is located within the Bergpark Kassel which has been recognized as a part of UNESCO heritage. The proper Castle lies further down hill towards the outskirts of Bad Wilhelmshöhe a "Stadtteil" of the greater city Kassel in the norther sector of Hessen en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergpark_Wilhelmshöhe
The Löwenburg at 4:00 isn't a real medieval castle. It was build in 1793 by Landgraf Wilhelm IX just for fun, because he had too much money. It was already built with these damaged look, but got even more destroyed during WW2.
The translations of the names are so often incredible lazy and boring. For example "Löwensburg Castle", why not call it Lions Castle, way cooler, and that is what Löwensburg translates to. Or "Drachenburg Castle" ffs that actually means Dragon Castle. With a bit of effort in looking into some of the names you can actually get a lot more flavor out of this kind of stuff. Why are these videos always so lazy and boring? "Oh here is a top 10 of Germany's 20.000 castles" should rather be like "Go to Germany, turn around and you likely see one of them and they're all kinda cool".
We actually married in a castle in the Netherlands called Heeswijk in Heeswijk-Dinther. They allowed us to marry in their chapel, have lunch on the castle grounds, portraits in the gardens and then dinner and the party in the catacombs. We even had a swordfight in the middle of the night in our suit and wedding dress.
As to the topic of castles renovated and redecorated as hotels - it depends :) You can stay in 16-19 century palaces with realy elegant and elaborate rooms - baroque-ish design with a dose of fin-de-siecle gold vibe :) but you can also check those medieval fortresses 12-15 centuries which offer fans of medieval reconstructions more primitive, stark, stern design and decor with stone and wood and iron. Lots of iron - like iron lamps and swords over the mantle and such. :) You know this Game of Thrones vibe :) I've been to both kinds and I love both kinds of hotels.
As a German, I don't even know half of these castles and palaces. Sometimes we all forget, no matter where we live, how beautiful our homeland is. 🫶👏👏👏
You're a car enthusiast, Ian. So, I guess, when you come visit Germany and such Stuttgart might be the number one place you want to go? Mercedes and Porsche. Lichtenstein Castle is half an hour by car away, so is the Black Forest.
Castles actually were plastered and whitewashed in the middle ages and - who knows - maybe some even painted. We are just used to see them in ruins or at least the blank stone. That's why you have to imagine how they looked like with well done walls. So actually, restoring them to where they don't look old any more, would be the closest to the original look. By the way there is a difference between the german "Burg", which is kind of a medieval military showoff castle, and the german "Schloss", which is more like a newer late medieval or rennaissance palace with the typically more opulent decorations and mostly a much better conservation status. The english language doesn't know that difference, so everything is just called castle. In reality stuff like Neuschwanstein (the Disney castle) may be beautiful, but it has nothing to do with real medieval castles. The middle ages ended around 1500 AD. Neuschwanstein was built 1869-1891, when in America even the gunslingers of the wild west were over. It was just a compensation of Ludwig II. because of the prussians controlling his kingdom, so he built himself an illusionary world where he could live like a real medieval king with absolute power - in his mind. Because of his many building projects he got bankrupt, was incapacitated and committed suicide (little bit unclear) before the castle was finished. Till his death nobody was allowed to enter Neuschwanstein, it was exclusively for him. That somehow reminds me of all the crazy kings in Game of Thrones xD This being said I want to mention, that most preserved castles were updated many times over the centuries even after the middle ages. That alone destroyed a lot of the original parts. Others were destroyed in wars or burnt down and were rebuilt at different times later. Sometimes you can just guess how exact they did it. Unfortunately there are just few originally preserved medieval castles out there, so researching ruins means oftenly getting closer to history as with fancy palaces.
Its one of those aspects of architecture that I appretiate most - that medieval fortresses and castles (there are so many of them I've heard that only in Germany there are about 30.000 of them) though so beautiful were build becouse of dangerous times. Without chaos and strive of post-Roman age and early middle-ages we would not got these beauties :) These were build becouse of centuries of post-Roman empire Europe existing as hundreds of small countries there. Everyone trying to conquer their neigbours of course :) As if most of those places were as big as Luxembourg or Lichtenstein.
When you for example compare German castles to Castles on the British Island, you see what is ment with the saying "German Castles are build for Kings, English Castles are Build for War". German Castles are Mostly that fairytale, "Disney" style, they are beautifull, British Castles in Wales, Scotland or England are Fortresses they are tough (also beautifull in there own way) and build to withstand Fights like there where a lot on the british Island!
I had a tour in the Lichtenstein Castle. The reason for it to be on the massive cliff, was for defensive purposes and view. There you could already see MILES away an attacking army, and beeing so high up, it was very difficult to attack / easy to defend.
Coltrane, a small town in Scotland has a castle that is a backpacker hostel. I stayed there 10-14 years ago. It's cheap and you can have the experience of sleeping in a castle. In Spain, where I'm from, we have a National Hotels chain (it's runned by Spain goverment) called Paradores Nacionales that are castles, mansions, old monasteries... There are not so cheap because there are 4-5 star hotels but they are beautiful and usually with lots of Spanish history. You can sleep in the old monestir cell of a famous Spanish monk or on the old jail (it's a mansion converted in a jail and converted now in a hotel) where was detained a faumos Spanish writer or in an old Temple monestir. Cardona castle has it's own haunted bedroom. Neuschwanstein castle is beautiful but I loved the less known castle that is near: Lindehof. It has a paceful garden.
The one you imagine being born in. I watched a documentary on that one. It is owned by one of the, if not the ritchest family of Germany. Apperently they use the throneroom for their boardmeetings. Can you imagine being there seeing the old ritches and glory from the middleages, and seeing maybachs and thick landrovers parcked outside... the power that must project.... incredible!
Hello and thank you for the contribution. Check out pictures of Trifels Castle in the Palatinate Forest. A fortress where King Richard the Lionheart stayed until the ransom was paid.
Wise words at 14:30 !! In the 1800s it was extremely en vogue to have some "medieval" claim. That's why many old castles were bought and "improved" by the super-rich. The industrial revolution had made the nobility powerless and created industrial barons. Neuschwanstein Castle is an extreme example of a mentally ill king wallowing in medieval phantasies while bancrupting his country. King Ludwig II of Bavaria built many such castles using metal beams and other industrial materials. To my German soul, this is almost like using plastic, it's fake and truly Disneyland-like. Just like the Cologne Cathedral for the most part. Most historic castles have been expanded and modernized over many centuries. They had to adapt to military factors. But any "improvement" or new built after 1800 is suspect. Sometimes it makes sense, but sometimes its just... fake!
I don't Like these Kind of lists: at first there are so many castles in Germany, there are litteraly more than macdonalds in the US, more than 20.000. The Most famous Site, the Rhine River Valley isn't Evan mentiont.
It's kind of funny actually, because most of us here in Europe want the upkept old buildings. I live and grew up just outside of Copenhagen, Denmark and we have so many bronze statues, bronze roofs etc. What i wouldn't give to see it in it's original state, which would have been shiny akin to a dark gold colour, now it's oxidated so they are dark green instead which you can't stop from happening. They are all very old and made by famous people aswell so it's not worth it to try and restore it. However for old houses and castles, it's because people live in them. If it's rundown or very weathered let's say, then it's because noone lives there. If it wasn't destroyed of course
I love visiting castles and football stadiums when im in other European cities. I once spent a night outside Castle Bran in Romania.. That's the castle of Vlad the impaler. Aka dracula. I admitt that was kinda spooky.
I work in Cochem and the City with the castle is realy beautiful. The Elz castle is only 20 km away from cochem. In this area there are more nice places to visit. The Genoveva castle Mayen or the most beautiful village Monreal.
Burg Altena and many other castles are youth hostels with very fair pricing. I've never been, but have definitely thought it over. Could be something to check out if you're across the pond sometime!
They say the last one, Neuschwanstein, is a must visit. They tell that to all tourists, so when you actually visit it there will be thousands of tourists in line waiting to get in. I guess it's kinda pretty. But there are over 20'000 other castles in Germany. I'm sure you'll find an interesting one somewhere else. I live in Saxony and there are at least 3 castles within biking range from my home. There are like a dozen more within daytrip range. We have castles absolutely everywhere.
Neuschwanstein is easily the most famous castle. But it's also a touristtrap at this point. There might be castles out there that give you a better visting experience.
The number of castles in Germany varies between 25,000 and 35,000 since often there is no differentiating between a castle, a fortress, and a palace: Some buildings are for representation, other are military installations, some are a mix of both. Plus, there are monasteries that look like castles. I have a map under my community tab of my channel with all this buildings in Germany, Belgium, France. These three countries are plastered with medieval buildings. Oh, roughly, one third are ruins, one third are restaurants/hotels/museums, and one third - tadahhh - are inhabited by noble families. Neuschwanstan: It's not even old, damnit! It was opened in the late 1800s! It was never really used by King Ludwig, and it had electricity right from the start. A massive tourist trap, don't go there, it's not worth it. Also, last year, an American tourist killed two other Americans there ... But actually, Walt Disney visited Neuschwanstein several times and made it the blueprint for his Sleeping beauty castle. If you wish to visit a REAL castle, go see Eltz. I've been there myself.
Both castles with the mountains that you liked Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau are on opposite hills about 1km apart. It was built by father and son
It's certainly not 1km, the route for pedestrians was around 3km last time I was there.
@@janchovanec8624 i wasn't talking about any route. I just meant like a straight line and how close they were. And even if we are talking about a route I definitely didn't walk for 3km when I was there.
It is more like 3-4 km distance on foot. 2km direct air distance.
Eltz Castle has been in the family for 800 years and there is a short report about it in English from DW.
Yepp, the current Baron is a surprisingly down to Earth guy in all his interviews. They don't live there constantly but they keep the castle in very good repair.
The Wartburg Castle is the place where Martin Luther translated the bible. A fact that should have been mentioned.
#1 is a natural. It ALWAYS is on place #1 because of Disney. 😅
There sure are lots more castles, some of them only fragments are standing. Nonetheless, those might be even more impressive.
Been there a few years ago
Yes and also in 1817 the Wartburgfest which is an important historical event in the process of founding the first German state
And since the recurring theme of this channel, inspired the communists to name a manufacturer of 2 stroke sedans after it.
It's a bot voice video, what do you expect...
Neuschwanstein is not a Castle, its a built in the 19th century as a private Fantasy Building of Prince Ludwig of Bavaria.
Germany is a beautiful country full of fabulous people. I can’t wait to go back. 😊
Was a beautiful country. Learn Arabic before your next visit, you can use it better than German or English.
@@Standgedicht Lüfte mal dein Oberstübchen durch, Michel!
We have some great castles in Australia .
Sand castles .
Like ancient America had many fortresses - Super Fortresses 😜
😂😂😂😂😂❤❤❤❤❤ from Germany 🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪
In Heidelberg were the headquarters of the US Army in Europe from 1952 to 2012. I think that might be part of the reason, why the castle and the city are both fairly well known in the US for such a "small" city. Also, the pictures in the video don't really do it justice. The castle is above the historic old town next to the river Neckar with the old bridge. Looks way more impressive than in the video.
I know you are a car guy first but in East Germany there is Jagdschloss Augustusburg in Saxony. Last year they had their 50th anniversary of motorcycle meetings. It always happens in January!! Even with the Iron wall (curtain)up bikers from around the world met there. I was there as a child and a teenager, my great grandmother lived there. Look up their stories. The most dedicated and hardcore bikers go there during winter months, just amazing 😮 love your videos
UK castle's are cool too. My home city is Edinburgh, its castle was built on a dormant volcano
Unfortunately, a famous German castle was not mentioned in the video: Braunfels Castle in the town of the same name called Braunfels. As a Texan, you might be interested to know that settlers from Braunfels founded the town of New Braunfels in Texas.
I‘ve left a link to it in a comment above… it’s the less comical "brother" of Neuschwanstein, only an hour drive away from Frankfurt/Main.
BTw, nearby, in Weilburg you can canoe on the Lahn river through a tunnel, crossing a castle’s mountain, something that gets quite memorable too…
Greetz from a Hessian :)
I live 15 minutes away from Braunfels and it never accured to me that this place is the reason for New Braunfels.
Learning something everyday
There is an interesting thing about the word castle in German. We are using two different words for two different styles of castles: “Schloss” and “Burg”. While “Burg” is used for a castle in a sense of a military fortress, “Schloss” is more like a prestigious palace. But there’re so many types of castles that the transition is fluent. Sometimes they were rebuilt or restructured and became the opposite. The early ones were intended to be a safe place for a noble and his peasants. But while the home of the nobles had to be more and more impressive and prestigious military needs increased. After a while they split up the concepts of a luxury home and a military fortress and a new word appeared: “Festung”, literally fortress. And at this point a “Burg” was something like an old concept. “Schloss” is used until today.
In our region are many castles. It’s about 20 minutes to the castles of Manderscheid (Manderscheider Burgen), 15 minutes to Castle Bruch (Burg Bruch), 50 minutes to Cochem Castle (Reichsburg Cochem) and something about 1 hour to Eltz Castle (Burg Eltz). The last ones were in the video. There’re also ruins of more castles around.
And I was born about 100 km (62 miles) away at the river Rhine, a region with hundreds of castles like Altenwied Castle (Burg Altenwied), Altwied Castle (Burg Altwied), Neuwied Castle (Schloss Neuwied), Castle Linz (Burg Linz), Sayn Castle (Burg Sayn), Hammerstein Castle (Burg Hammerstein) or the famous Marksburg. Also the Drachenfels (literally Dragon’s Rock) with the Drachenburg Castle (Schloss Drachenburg) from the video is nearby.
For me it’s an absolutely normal view to see cars around castles, just the normal way to get there. And many castles are an interesting spot to go to. Many of them have restaurants, hotels, museums or public resting areas within beautiful parks. And there are also castle like monasteries around, like the Himmerord Abbey (Kloster Himmerod) or Maria Laach Abbey (Abtei Maria Laach).
Thank you so much for all this information. I’m learning German so this is incredibly helpful. I love etymology in any language, but Germany’s is fascinating.
Its really amazing, the beautiful structures Europeans were able to build in such difficult to reach locations such a long time ago
I think the trick was in their transgenerational thinking, every lord building further on their mighty noble family and a mighty building to keep also future generations safe and mighty.
The list is kind of a mixture. Some are castles, some are palaces, some are something in between. Drachenburg at 6:00 was built by a rich man in the late 19th century, so it's more like a millionaire's estate of its time. Neuschwanstein falls into the Romantic era with Ludwig bringing Bavaria close to bankruptcy because of his fairy tale wishes. Hohenzollern one of the mightiest royal branches in Europe, family of the last German Emperors. Probably only topped by the Austrian Habsburger (look for Austrian castles/palaces, they are top notch, too). Nevertheless there are plenty of castles and palaces in Germany. Just take a look at a map of the Holy Roman Empire at any date and you will see, how divided the whole German area was into seperate prinicipalities and almost every duke, king, whatever wanted to have his own palace. Then one for their wives. And if the realm was divided into seperate branches between the children, everyone got their palace and so on :D
And the same goes for castles. Especially the rivers. Following the Rhine you'll see one every few kilometers. Most of the time you'll see another castle standing on the top tower of one of them.
There was a big US-Garrison in Heidelberg back in time, this might be why you have heard of it. I encountered something similar when i was in the states, talking with people about where i am from. I was surprised how many knew Ansbach but its logic, there are two garrisons nearby 😅.
Welcome to Germany 🍻
Greetings from Hamburg/Germany! Just returned from a trip to Bavaria, visiting the Kaltenberg Knight's Tournament, the city of Landsberg/Lech, and Füssen with Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau. While Neuschwanstein Castle is "magical", I'll always prefer Hohenschwangau Castle because it's way more "alive" and much more beautiful.
that is why I always say I live in very young city - first written record from 1302, city rights in 1312 (If I was US citizen, it will be like - our railstation is old as fck - it is built in 1867-1872 = 152yo)
you get like always from me, greetings from Slovakia
Neuschwanstein was essentially a vanity project, as castles of that kind were quite outdated. The trend had shifted towards palaces with vast gardens to symbolize wealth, as "modern" weaponry had rendered fortress-style castles virtually obsolete.
I stayed hundreds of nights and days in a castle. Castles are so common here that my family actually rented one as a holiday home for 30 years. (and we are not rich) ok it was not big, but it was a real one, from the 1600s, with towers, a moat (with water!) and a bridge. it was a bit in disrepair, thats why the rent was very cheap and 3 generations of us visited as often as possible (we also shared the costs between the extended family members. I loved it as a child, but we had to let it go when the renovation costs were too high and the owner had to sell it to somebody with millions to fix it.
it looked Exactly like the 1st white one you showed, except much smaller, about 1/3rd the size edit, just saw more footage , make that 1/8th the size.
we went there on school holidays and often just the weekends. you could play in the forests and on the water, but the land around was public grounds, open to anyone, basically a park.
we kids, told many a ghost story on those stays, to scare our little sisters, and it had plenty of nooks and crannies to explore, 4 cellars and at least 5 attics... but other than that it was just a normal, yet very big house, but old fashioned, without modern comforts. we still had to use coal and wood to heat it, and the bathroom situation was never developed beyond the 1950s.
it was incredible fun. as a child I didn't know how lucky we were.
Burg Altena was THE FIRST Youth Hostel World Wide.
It wasn't a castle, but I slept in a house from 1451 once. It was kinda scary honestly xD
That's cool that even the Castle in Schwerin is in the Video, it's 35km away from me.
That is what is left of a greater Germany in former times...
In the second world war lots of historical buildings were destroyed....😢
I had groan up in one and I can tell you it's fun!! Ok Neu Schwanstein castle looks cool and it is cool! But you have to understand that there are only 15 full build rooms in it, because after the daeth of king Ludwig they don't build it further!! To describe it like this: completely overcrowded and not enough to see inside! That's why I recommend visiting Linderhof Castle, also built by King Ludwig. It's smaller but fully developed! What you see there is just wow!! Above all, Linderhof Castle is not as well known as the other King Ludwig castles!!
I'm missing the longest Castle of the world, which is the castle of Burghausen
In Heidelberg was Long time a lot of US soldiers therefore you have probably heard of it.
Do you know that Germany has more Castles than McDonalds outlets in the US !!??
Since before Roman age the builders knew many fancy tools made from wood and iron and ropes, they knew many types of constrution cranes. thats how those very tall structures were build. We sometimes forget that we dont need electric machines to build exeptional constructions :) I think the mechanical and phisical ideas behind wooden tools with ropes were the same as behind medieval siege machines.
"Stating that Germany has a total of 25,000 castles. Germany has population of about 83.2 million, so that's about one castle for every 3,300 people. Some articles also speak of 20,000, but either way, that's way higher than. the number of McDonald's locations in the entire US, which as of this year is 13,520."
Just leaving this here.
And yes i slept in a castle a few times, once in a round corner tower and with a "Schlossgespenst" (a castle ghost which was totally real), and although it's technically not a castle but a Napoleonic era fortification our student bar was in one of the bastion towers.
You should also look into King Ludwig II of Bavaria, his story is really wild and there are conspiracy theories and even secret societies surrounding them to this day.
25,000 castles in Germany alone?! 😂 The Czech Republic is the country with the highest density of castles in the world (maybe with the exception of Wales - but that's not independent country) and it has "only" 924 castles including castle ruins or castles, forts and fortresses that have been converted into chateaus and if you include objects built as the original chateaus you get to about 2,000 buildings and ruins in total. Germany is 4.5 times bigger than the Czech Republic, so it should have at least 4,158 castles and including chateaus about 9,000 buildings in total to have at least the same density of castles as the Czech Republic. 25,000 is either total nonsense or they have declared every private hacienda as a castle... 😉😁
@@toruvalejo6152That 20’000 number comes from a private association (Deutsche Burgenvereinigung) that has been trying to catalog all ‘castles’ in Germany. They published that 20’000 number a couple of years ago, adding they had not finished their work yet (which might be the origin of the 25’000 number as an estimate).
In German they use the terms ‘Burgen, Schlösser und Herrenhäuser’ which can be translated as castles, palaces and manor houses. This probably can be defined as all residences of the nobility. Castles (or Burgen in German) can generally be defined as fortified residences of members of the nobility, whereas palaces and manor houses dispense with the fortification aspect. There are also a relatively small number of medieval fortresses that belonged to associations like the Knights Templar, a military order or fortified monasteries, which would not fall into the category of private residences.
Finally, this 20’000 number includes all ruins, with sometimes as little as remains of foundations, as well as documented historical ‘castles’ even if no remains are visible any more.
@toruvalejo6152 There are about 20 castles, palaces and ruins within a 20km radius of me here*. Lake Constance Radolfzell
@@toruvalejo6152 Belgium is also up there when it comes to castle density
The majority of them are not castles they are country houses. A castle has to have a laird and significant defences and fortifications to be a castle. Not exactly hard to invade when you can walk right up to the front door. They're pretty much fancy country houses.
A lot of people go to Neuschwanstein but miss Hohenschwangau.
They're right next to each other but Hohenschwangau is less famous (They're located like 500 meters apart).
Hohenschwangau is way prettier inside than Neuschwanstein.
We do have a LOT of castles ;D
Just for perspective... I'm living in a small countryside town (pop 35k) near the Dutch border and there are at least 10 castles just on the German side in a circle of 30min drive from me.
Thousands? There are between 18.000-25.000 (depending on how you count) castles, palaces and other historic fortifications in Germany (not counting WW1 and WW2 ones), some are ruins, others are privately held and some you can visit, and some you can rent.
In Germany are more than 25000 Castles , 😊
Castles or Castles AND Chateaus AND manors? 😉
there are more castles in germany then mc donalds in the US
You may be thinking of the Heidelberg printing press!
Thanks for the mention of Slovakia! We have Spišský hrad and Smolenice
11:33 Liechtenstein castle is in Liechtenstein, which is its own country.
Heidelberg ♥️
My hometown 🥳
did you know, that in Germany there are more castles, than there are McDonalds in the USA?
Castle Hülchrath near Düsseldorf is nice
I always have my problems with Neu-Schwanstein shown as a castle together with real old castles like the Warthburg ect.
Neu-Schwanstein is just a play castle that was built by a looney Bavarian king in the late 1800s. Like kids build a Playmobil castle today. Just that he thought he can do whatever he wants, and the population has to pay for it. And when it was ready, he drowned hinself in the lake you see below the castle. Not the worst solution, IMHO.
Cool. Last year, on the return back home from my vacation to Austria, we took a little detour and stopped in Southern Germany. There, I saw the Hohenschwangau Castle and the Neuschwanstein Castle in real life. :)
There are more castles in Germany than McDonald's in the US 😆
Greetings from Poland🇵🇱
I am pretty sure you can see Hohenzollern Castle from Lichtenstein Castle with bare eye. They are not far away from each other.
and some fun facts, germany has more castles than the u.s. has mcdonalds > ruclips.net/video/ez3Ui4_LmSY/видео.html
burg eltz is familyproperty for more than 800 jears, so you could say they lived there before colubus found america > ruclips.net/video/3ezoCvDZDkU/видео.html
Better compare tu BURGer King😉👍
Wartburg castle's historical importance wasn't mentioned here... it was here that Martin Luther was given shelter and refuge from catholic persecution and it was here that he defined German grammar and translated the bible which led to the reformation and the 30 years war.
This was also one of the two important steps - the other was Gallileo Gallilei - that allowed the Enlightenment to happen, leading to the creation of "the West". Sadly the concept is under attack by religious ideologies ... from feminism, communism to "carpet kneeling invaders that intend to violently destroy it".
I just visited Neuschwanstein a few weeks ago......in Japan! Near Himeji (mostly known for their impressive original Japanese castle....) is a kinda weird theme park named Taiyo Park, with a 2/3 scale replica of Neuschwanstein....
Never seen the real thing though, even when I have been in that area 😅
The funny thing is that IWrocker thinks that the youngest and least historic castle is the most historic.
Neuschwanstein was nothing more than a romantic dream of a Bavarian king, which almost drove him to financial ruin.
Almost?
Albrechtsburg missing, Plassenburg missing, Rosenberg and Veste Coburg missing... Königsstein missing. These are real military castles, historically correct and really used as military garrisons and in real wars. 🤷♂️
my personal favourite castle is the castle of Bran, Romania. visited in 2005. it has all the comfort you need: electricity, central heating, but also the medieval stoves to heat the rooms. you could still live in it today.
Krickenbeck Castle 🏰 is nice
Stolzenfels Castle 🏰 is nice
25 000 Castles in Germany .
Actually "Castle" ist splited in its meaning, there is "Schloss" and there is "Burg". A Schloss is kind of for representing yourself and receive guests at fancy events, a Burg is more like a defense building to protect yourself inside during conflicts. Of course some times this is combined.
Fun fact: Germany has more castles than the USA has McDonald restaurants. The last count puts the number of castles to more than 16.000 and they are still counting.
The majority aren't castles a castle has to have defensive fortifications to be a castle. They are just called castles but aren't.
In Wartburg Castle Luther wrote his translation of the bibliotheek in german
It is always a sign of the quality of such a video when they neglect to mention this very important "event".
nope not true...the indian pueblos which are build into canyons are breathtaking too
yep, bc of the canyons and that people were able to live that way.
These are a different pair of shoes.
*Well, there are a few castles, which definitely should have been on this list.......Schloss Herrenchiemsee [ Old Palace (Herrenchiemsee Abbey), New Palace ], Schloss Linderhof [ Linderhof Palace ], Schloss Nymphenburg [ Nymphenburg Palace ], Würzburger Residenz [ Würzburg Residence ], Nürnberger Burg [ Nuremberg Castle ], .............*
I stayed for the weekend in Carcassonne castlated town, for a kid it was as close as possible to living in king arthurs castle, I will never forget that weekend,we were invited to stand guard two times during that weekend wearing chainmail and trus and spears, just awesome,if ever you visit southern france I strongly suggest you visit this truly historical castleated town
Here is a tip for DURABLE HOUSES: *use BRICKS to build them, NOT "cheap empty wall wooden" style. Even half-timbered houses LAST CENTURIES compared to cheap american garbage.
Burg Eltz is amazing. It is built on a rather small rock outcrop. The limited space required the owners to build higher than usual. It got legally split in 3 parts due to inheritance and the 3 resulting branches of the family continued to live on the castle side by side peacefully for centuries. The landscape of the Neckar river valley near Burg Eltz is extremely beautiful.
It's the Moselle, not the Neckar.
The most remarkable fact about Eltz is that it has been the property of one single family through 1200 years of history. An ancestor of the contemporary owners built it.
#1 Neuschwanstein is the LEAST HISTORIC castle on the list, because it was built in mid-19th century and includes MODERN STUFF like "steel beams" and "an elevator" (or at least mad King Ludwig wanted that stuff). It is one of the reasons why Germany could unify in 1871, because Ludwig II. of Bavaria was BROKE and the Prussians gave him some money to "make him agree to unification".
a schweriner here and our castle really doesnt have a bad angle as you mentioned but since its almost always worked on you can oftentimes see scaffoldings that do create bad angles
its just 5 min from my home and its always beautiful
even the teenagers favorite spot to drink is just 300m next to that castle and has a perfect view at it so even they enjoy the beauty of it
@8:05 Because Muricans know nothing about history, they immediately compare/relate to Murican (pop) culture, like movies even cartoons. So you probably never heard of Heidelberg Castle, but it rang a bell. You probably meant Heisenberg, from Breaking Bad tv-series..
Bit confusing how they are all called "castles" in the anglo saxon world. In germany some are "Burgen" which are the more military/defensive structures, others are "Schlösser" which are the more posh, representative kind of buildings..
There are more castles (25000) in Germany than McDonald's (14000) in the USA!
Fun fact: Germany has more Castles (> 25,000) than the US has McDonalds (< 14,000). :)
Hohenzollern & Neuschwanstein are my fave 2 castles in the world! Simply breathtaking! ♥
The German reformer Martin Luther hid in the Wartburg
and translated the New Testament into German so that everyone could read the Bible.
Before that, the Bible only existed in Latin.
He only needed eleven weeks, that was 1521/1522.
Howdy Ian,
on that particular Löwenburg, Castle being redundant in German, much of the ageing is artificial, you ought to react to Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe as a whole.
It is located within the Bergpark Kassel which has been recognized as a part of UNESCO heritage.
The proper Castle lies further down hill towards the outskirts of Bad Wilhelmshöhe a "Stadtteil" of the greater city Kassel in the norther sector of Hessen
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergpark_Wilhelmshöhe
10.49 - this is absolutely stunning :) Its like fancier version of Hogwart :D
The Löwenburg at 4:00 isn't a real medieval castle. It was build in 1793 by Landgraf Wilhelm IX just for fun, because he had too much money. It was already built with these damaged look, but got even more destroyed during WW2.
The translations of the names are so often incredible lazy and boring. For example "Löwensburg Castle", why not call it Lions Castle, way cooler, and that is what Löwensburg translates to. Or "Drachenburg Castle" ffs that actually means Dragon Castle. With a bit of effort in looking into some of the names you can actually get a lot more flavor out of this kind of stuff. Why are these videos always so lazy and boring? "Oh here is a top 10 of Germany's 20.000 castles" should rather be like "Go to Germany, turn around and you likely see one of them and they're all kinda cool".
We actually married in a castle in the Netherlands called Heeswijk in Heeswijk-Dinther. They allowed us to marry in their chapel, have lunch on the castle grounds, portraits in the gardens and then dinner and the party in the catacombs. We even had a swordfight in the middle of the night in our suit and wedding dress.
As to the topic of castles renovated and redecorated as hotels - it depends :) You can stay in 16-19 century palaces with realy elegant and elaborate rooms - baroque-ish design with a dose of fin-de-siecle gold vibe :) but you can also check those medieval fortresses 12-15 centuries which offer fans of medieval reconstructions more primitive, stark, stern design and decor with stone and wood and iron. Lots of iron - like iron lamps and swords over the mantle and such. :) You know this Game of Thrones vibe :) I've been to both kinds and I love both kinds of hotels.
As a German, I don't even know half of these castles and palaces. Sometimes we all forget, no matter where we live, how beautiful our homeland is. 🫶👏👏👏
You're a car enthusiast, Ian.
So, I guess, when you come visit Germany and such Stuttgart might be the number one place you want to go?
Mercedes and Porsche.
Lichtenstein Castle is half an hour by car away, so is the Black Forest.
Castles actually were plastered and whitewashed in the middle ages and - who knows - maybe some even painted. We are just used to see them in ruins or at least the blank stone. That's why you have to imagine how they looked like with well done walls. So actually, restoring them to where they don't look old any more, would be the closest to the original look.
By the way there is a difference between the german "Burg", which is kind of a medieval military showoff castle, and the german "Schloss", which is more like a newer late medieval or rennaissance palace with the typically more opulent decorations and mostly a much better conservation status. The english language doesn't know that difference, so everything is just called castle. In reality stuff like Neuschwanstein (the Disney castle) may be beautiful, but it has nothing to do with real medieval castles. The middle ages ended around 1500 AD. Neuschwanstein was built 1869-1891, when in America even the gunslingers of the wild west were over.
It was just a compensation of Ludwig II. because of the prussians controlling his kingdom, so he built himself an illusionary world where he could live like a real medieval king with absolute power - in his mind. Because of his many building projects he got bankrupt, was incapacitated and committed suicide (little bit unclear) before the castle was finished. Till his death nobody was allowed to enter Neuschwanstein, it was exclusively for him. That somehow reminds me of all the crazy kings in Game of Thrones xD
This being said I want to mention, that most preserved castles were updated many times over the centuries even after the middle ages. That alone destroyed a lot of the original parts. Others were destroyed in wars or burnt down and were rebuilt at different times later. Sometimes you can just guess how exact they did it. Unfortunately there are just few originally preserved medieval castles out there, so researching ruins means oftenly getting closer to history as with fancy palaces.
Its one of those aspects of architecture that I appretiate most - that medieval fortresses and castles (there are so many of them I've heard that only in Germany there are about 30.000 of them) though so beautiful were build becouse of dangerous times. Without chaos and strive of post-Roman age and early middle-ages we would not got these beauties :) These were build becouse of centuries of post-Roman empire Europe existing as hundreds of small countries there. Everyone trying to conquer their neigbours of course :) As if most of those places were as big as Luxembourg or Lichtenstein.
When you for example compare German castles to Castles on the British Island, you see what is ment with the saying "German Castles are build for Kings, English Castles are Build for War". German Castles are Mostly that fairytale, "Disney" style, they are beautifull, British Castles in Wales, Scotland or England are Fortresses they are tough (also beautifull in there own way) and build to withstand Fights like there where a lot on the british Island!
Lowenburg castle looks like something from GoT - like Winterfell :)
When you say you wanna travel some day, that is a sign, that will NEVER going to happend. You're lying to yourself.
I had a tour in the Lichtenstein Castle. The reason for it to be on the massive cliff, was for defensive purposes and view.
There you could already see MILES away an attacking army, and beeing so high up, it was very difficult to attack / easy to defend.
Coltrane, a small town in Scotland has a castle that is a backpacker hostel. I stayed there 10-14 years ago. It's cheap and you can have the experience of sleeping in a castle.
In Spain, where I'm from, we have a National Hotels chain (it's runned by Spain goverment) called Paradores Nacionales that are castles, mansions, old monasteries... There are not so cheap because there are 4-5 star hotels but they are beautiful and usually with lots of Spanish history. You can sleep in the old monestir cell of a famous Spanish monk or on the old jail (it's a mansion converted in a jail and converted now in a hotel) where was detained a faumos Spanish writer or in an old Temple monestir. Cardona castle has it's own haunted bedroom.
Neuschwanstein castle is beautiful but I loved the less known castle that is near: Lindehof. It has a paceful garden.
The one you imagine being born in. I watched a documentary on that one. It is owned by one of the, if not the ritchest family of Germany. Apperently they use the throneroom for their boardmeetings. Can you imagine being there seeing the old ritches and glory from the middleages, and seeing maybachs and thick landrovers parcked outside... the power that must project.... incredible!
Hello and thank you for the contribution. Check out pictures of Trifels Castle in the Palatinate Forest. A fortress where King Richard the Lionheart stayed until the ransom was paid.
Wise words at 14:30 !! In the 1800s it was extremely en vogue to have some "medieval" claim. That's why many old castles were bought and "improved" by the super-rich. The industrial revolution had made the nobility powerless and created industrial barons. Neuschwanstein Castle is an extreme example of a mentally ill king wallowing in medieval phantasies while bancrupting his country. King Ludwig II of Bavaria built many such castles using metal beams and other industrial materials. To my German soul, this is almost like using plastic, it's fake and truly Disneyland-like. Just like the Cologne Cathedral for the most part.
Most historic castles have been expanded and modernized over many centuries. They had to adapt to military factors. But any "improvement" or new built after 1800 is suspect. Sometimes it makes sense, but sometimes its just... fake!
Mimimi
I don't Like these Kind of lists: at first there are so many castles in Germany, there are litteraly more than macdonalds in the US, more than 20.000. The Most famous Site, the Rhine River Valley isn't Evan mentiont.
Just build your own castle ...
- buy a hill/mountain (preferrably with a quarry and forest nearby
- design it
- start building
It's kind of funny actually, because most of us here in Europe want the upkept old buildings. I live and grew up just outside of Copenhagen, Denmark and we have so many bronze statues, bronze roofs etc. What i wouldn't give to see it in it's original state, which would have been shiny akin to a dark gold colour, now it's oxidated so they are dark green instead which you can't stop from happening. They are all very old and made by famous people aswell so it's not worth it to try and restore it.
However for old houses and castles, it's because people live in them. If it's rundown or very weathered let's say, then it's because noone lives there. If it wasn't destroyed of course
I love visiting castles and football stadiums when im in other European cities. I once spent a night outside Castle Bran in Romania.. That's the castle of Vlad the impaler. Aka dracula. I admitt that was kinda spooky.
America doesn't have these because America isn't as old as Europe, obviously
Nürburg Castle: Not only does it look awesome, but the location!!! And, it's surrounded by one of the world's greatest and hardest race tracks.
Fun-fact: Neuschwanstein Castle was featured as the castle of Baron Bomburst in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
I work in Cochem and the City with the castle is realy beautiful. The Elz castle is only 20 km away from cochem. In this area there are more nice places to visit. The Genoveva castle Mayen or the most beautiful village Monreal.
Burg Altena and many other castles are youth hostels with very fair pricing. I've never been, but have definitely thought it over.
Could be something to check out if you're across the pond sometime!
They say the last one, Neuschwanstein, is a must visit. They tell that to all tourists, so when you actually visit it there will be thousands of tourists in line waiting to get in. I guess it's kinda pretty. But there are over 20'000 other castles in Germany. I'm sure you'll find an interesting one somewhere else. I live in Saxony and there are at least 3 castles within biking range from my home. There are like a dozen more within daytrip range. We have castles absolutely everywhere.
Tienes que reaccionar a Castillos y Palacios en España...son espectaculares...saludos de una española 🇪🇸
Neuschwanstein is easily the most famous castle. But it's also a touristtrap at this point. There might be castles out there that give you a better visting experience.
The inside is dull and a waste of money.