We’re off on a long bus ride to see some fancy castles that King Ludwig II built for his homes.
King Ludwig became the king of Bavaria in 1864 when he was 18 years old (that’s pretty young to be a king). He was sometimes called the “fairy tale” king because he didn’t accept the reality that Bavaria was no longer its own independent country after war against Prussia and the Franco-Prussian war, becoming part of the new German Empire. Instead of attending to government activities he decided to create big, fancy palaces, like the ones we saw, and spending time with the composer Richard Wagner.
The first palace we visited was Neuschwanstein Castle. It was built way up on a rugged hill above a Bavarian village. We are very impressed that they were able to build such a massive castle up so high on a cliff.
Ludwig copied different styles of palaces he’d seen that he admired with lots of gold accents and a running theme of swans everywhere in the decorating and carvings. He even had a massive ceramic swan sculpture made for display.
The sad part was that even though this was his dream castle, Ludwig died under suspicious circumstances at 40 years old before the castle was finished (it still remains unfinished) and had only stayed there for about 90 days.
Then we toured the castle and gardens of Linderhof Palace. This castle is the smallest of the castles King Ludwig built but the only one that he saw completed. He actually living in this one for about six years.
Ludwig admired the French King Louis XIV, a king from a couple hundred years earlier. So for Linderhof Palace he copied the style of the Palace of Versailles that King Louis had built in France, except it’s kind of a miniature because it’s much smaller.
He even copied the gardens, with the elaborate fountains and ponds looking just like the French palace but also in miniature size. The inside of the palace (that we weren’t allowed to take pictures in) is overwhelming with so much gold trimmings and mirrors everywhere we think it’s gaudy. The gardens and fountains seem like much more fun to check out.
Well Behaved Kids Travel 