Many years ago, the teenager me found a crumpled Japanese comic book (manga) in a book-rental which caught my interest. The title was unusually long, and as with most Indonesian-translated Japanese manga, the title was in English: My Best Rival is My Best Friend. Long story short, I rented that manga and discovered Neuschwanstein Castle. I remember thinking back then, "Alright, I will go check out that castle one day!"
Fast forward to over a decade later, I finally had the chance to actually visit the New Swan Stone Castle in Bavaria. My husband and I love traveling unrestricted and using different type of transportation in each of our trip. This time, we decided to drive to the small town of Schwangau - where the castle is located - from where we were, another small town but in Austrian Alps.
The night before we depart from our Austrian Alps home base, we did a bit of an in-depth research for our next destination and discovered the intriguing tale of the life and death - and various castle-involving endeavors - of the late King Ludwig II of Bavaria. As it turned out, the impressive Neuschwanstein Castle was his last - and most ambitious - project, a project which later claimed his throne and his life as it seemed. During the time of its construction, this very castle (which attracts millions of visitors each year - 1.5 million visitors per year on average – now) was known as ‘The Gaudy’ castle for its thematic design. It was revolutionary in terms of architectural features and facilities, but in terms of aesthetic it was mostly deemed as tacky. Another thing we found out, King Ludwig II also had another castle within the same vicinity. The older castle, Hohenschwangau. Just like Neuschwanstein, Hohenschwangau was also riddled with swan ornaments everywhere.
So, there we were, in the village of Schwangau in the middle of Bavaria. From a not-so-lenghty research we did before the trip, we found out that the best way to be able to enjoy the castle in peace was by staying in Schlossrestaurant Neuschwanstein which was located right under the castle. The inn is part of the only restaurant on the way towards the castle, and it only has 6 rooms. If you book in this inn, you will get access to drive up all the way to the inn and park your car there, which places you in a spot where you only need to hike for 15 min to reach the castle! If you come from the village, it will take good 35 to 45 min of hike up to the castle.
With its intriguing history, stunning landscape setting, and thorough information given at the Castle tour; it was a very worthy trip and boy was I glad to discover that manga which introduced me to this castle ages ago!
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