Linderhof and Neuschwanstein Castles

Linderhof Castle

We had another nice breakfast at the King’s Hotel in Munich around 7 am then walked the short distance to meet the bus taking us to Linderhof and Neuschwanstein Castles. After getting disoriented a time or two, we found the location of the meeting with the Mentor Reisen tour group for the day trip to the castles in the Bavarian Alps. We explained to the tour guides about having to take this tour on Friday since we were unable to take the train to Salzburg as planned because of the rail strike. The guide, Christine, welcomed us aboard and gave us the documents we would need for entry to the two castles. The coach was about half full, and we departed shortly after 9 am for the nearly two-hour drive to Linderhoff Castle.   

Neuschwanstein Castle

During the two hour bus ride, Christine told us some of the history of the Wittelsbach family, including Ludwig I and Ludwig II who ruled Bavaria from 1323 - 1777. Ludwig I (1786-1868) was the popular Bavarian king, whose marriage to Queen Theresa is celebrated at each year at Oktoberfest. His grandson, Ludwig II (aka Mad King Ludwig) built both Castle Linderhof and Neuschwanstein Castle in the late 1800s. Castle Linderhof was the only castle that was completed during Ludwig II’s lifetime. 

Hohenschwangau Castle

Ludwig II was infatuated with medieval castles and the opulence of Louis XIV. He grew up being cared for by nannies and tutors and seldom interacted with his parents or other children except at official events. He disliked being around people and wanted to spend most of his time in the seclusion of the Schwangau area of Bavaria. He spent a lot of time as a child at Hohenschwangau Castle and had Lindhoff Castle built as a home. This modest castle was built on the site of his father’s (Maximilian I) hunting cabin, which he had relocated a short distance away. 

Cindy & Jodie at Neuschwanstein

Later he started work on Neuschwanstein Castle, which was to be his masterpiece. Ludwig supervised all aspects of the construction of Neuschwanstein, wanting it to be a small version of the Palace of Versailles infused with aspects of Wagner operas. Many of the rooms contain gold gilded fixtures, fine imported porcelain, ivory and detailed scenes from Wagner. While the two castles had a large staff, Ludwig seldom interacted with the staff. He had a small dining table in his private quarters that could be lowered to the kitchen where servants would place the meal and raise it up to the king. After the meal, the table would be lowered to the kitchen. Even though he disliked guests and never planned to host anyone at the castles, Neuschwanstein had meeting rooms and guest chambers.

Steve & Mary at Neuschwanstein

He was briefly engaged to Duchess Sophie Charlotte but could not go through with the marriage. Ludwig was judged to be unfit for service due to insanity and was placed under guard in another Wittelsburg place even though he had never been evaluated by a psychiatrist. Afterwards, he was visited by a mental health professional, Bernard von Gudden. On one occasion, Ludwig and von Gudden took a walk around a nearby lake but failed to return. Their bodies were found in the lake, and their deaths were determined to be from drowning. The official report suggested that Ludwig had drowned the doctor then himself even though the lake was very shallow.

Fairy tale murals on a house in Oberammergau

After leaving Linderhof, the bus drove through the town of Oberammergau, where the passion play is held every ten years. The town was so ravaged by the Black Plague that nearly every household had lost family members. The residents of the town prayed for an end to the deaths and promised to hold a passion play in thanks. It is reputed that there were no further plague victims after the prayer, and the village has held the event every ten years since. Nearly a half million visitors are drawn to Oberammergau to see the six hour play every year ending with a zero. We noticed that many of the homes in the village had murals on the outside depicting Grimm’s fairy tales or other stories. Most of these murals were over 100 years old.

Carriage to Neuschwanstein

When we arrived at Neuschwanstein, we bought currywursts at a nearby stand. Afterwards we walked up the mountain for a little over a mile to the castle for our 3:15 tour time. It rained lightly, which started to melt the over foot of snow on the ground. At places the cold ground made the rain turn to ice. Christine told us that this year has had more snow than any year since 2010. Coincidentally, 2010 was the last time we were at Neuschwanstein, when Emily was in college in Germany The air temperature was in the mid-30s, which did not feel bad. We stopped at several points with was a good view of the castle for a photo. We arrived at the castle entrance in plenty of time for our tour.

Steve & Mary at Neuschwanstein

Like the guide at Linderhoff, our guide at Neuschwanstein was very good. She spoke excellent English, although we detected a good bit of Scottish in the voice. We confirmed with her that she did spend a good bit of time in Scotland. As we recalled, the décor at Neuschwanstein was over the top, especially for a castle that was never used, or even completed. However, photos of the interior of the two castles are not permitted.

We completed the tour a little before 4 pm then (of course) exited through the gift shop and walked down the mountain for just over a mile. Because of the rain and the warming temperatures (about 34 F), the snow continued to melt on the road down the mountain. Occasional horse-drawn carriages passed on the road along with a small pickup truck scooping the horse droppings from the road. We were down the mountain in less than 30 minutes and were pleased to be on the warm bus for the over two hour ride back to Munich.

Neuschwanstein at dusk

As we passed through the villages along the way to the autobahn, we noticed that very few homes along the way had Christmas decorations visible . Businesses catering to tourists tended to have Christmas lights hung outside. As the bus neared Munich, there was a good bit of traffic, not surprising for a Friday evening in a city the size of Munich. We were happy that we were not driving in the cold rain. Because it was early December at this northern latitude, it was completely dark by 5 pm. We were back at the King’s Hotel in Munich before 7 pm and went to our rooms to get rid of our damp outerwear. 

Mary wanted to relax in the room, but Jodie, Cindy and I went to the hotel bar. We received a 10 euro voucher for electing to not have housekeeping service our room. Cindy had an amaretto, I had raspberry schnapps and Jodie had hot tea. The bartender brought us complementary glühwein that was delicious along with a jar of peanuts. The hotel front desk clerk and the bartender joined us for our little picnic and conversation. Both she and he were very pleasant and chatted with us for a long time since we were the only ones in the lobby that evening. Our group went to our rooms around 9:30 and planned to meet for breakfast at 7:30 in the morning.