When you think of a fairy tale, odds are that the setting in your head is oddly similar to Germany. Soaring turrets, hazy woods, stone bridges that almost come out of fairy-tale, this is the land that gave the Brothers Grimm and their eternal tales. Castles are not only pictures in books on children.
The Magic of Neuschwanstein
Neuschwanstein cannot be left out of a list of fairy tale castles. This castle is located high above the Bavarian countryside and is also referred to as the final dreamscape. It was constructed by King Ludwig II during the 19 th century and was not created as a fortress but rather a fantasy, a flight of reality.
Its white towers and blue spires are like something that was created by imagination, and not surprisingly it served as the model of the Sleeping Beauty castle of Disney. But more personal than its postcard perfection, Neuschwanstein is. King Ludwig was the so-called fairy tale king, odd and withdrawn, and the castle was his means of building a fairy-tale world where politics and war would not interfere.
As you enter its rich interiors, with murals based on the operas of Wagner and ceilings painted with fantastical scenes, you feel that the castle was, more than anything, a castle of dreams.
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Hohenzollern: A Fortress Above the Clouds
In case Neuschwanstein is whimsical, Hohenzollern Castle is majestic. It sits on a hilltop in Baden-Wurttemberg in an incredibly dramatic way that reminds me of a medieval legend. This very strategy is amazing, because the castle appears out of the fog, and its towers pierce the skyline.
Rebuilt several times throughout the centuries Hohenzollern has become the symbol of strength and pride of the dynasty that provided Germany with emperors. As you walk its ramparts you have rolling forests and villages well into the distance, as though the world itself were unrolling at the feet of the castle.
Burg Eltz: A Castle Hidden in the Woods
Some castles are elevated and conspicuous but Burg Eltz wants to remain a secret. Hiding amid the hills above the Moselle River, with thick forests all around, it seems like a discovery of a storybook illustration. Burg Eltz belonged to the same family over 850 years and it was never ruined during wars as most castles are.
The timber-framed towers and the stone walls seem as though time had never worn them away and as one enters these towers the effect is as though one has gone back in time.
The original furnishings in the bedrooms, kitchens, and halls date back centuries ago and provide an extreme rarity of an idea of how life in the middle of a stronghold in the middle ages could have been.
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Heidelberg Castle: Romantic Ruins
Fairy tale castles do not always stand the test of time. Others, such as the Heidelberg Castle, are most charmsome just due to what time has stolen. It is located above the Neckar River and has red sandstone ruins which have partly collapsed, replaced by ivy and exposed to the sky. But it is this very rottenness, and, in truth, that has attracted poets, painters, and travellers, over centuries.
Why Germany's Castles Matter
There is more than sightseeing in these castles. They are points of reference in culture, memory and imagination. Both narrate a story: of kings who dreamt, families who persevered and generations who constructed and recreated. They also make us remember that power is weak and beauty is strong and lasting.
To the traveler they promise something uncommon: the opportunity to enter the world of the fairy-tales and observe towers and bridges which children all over the world have dreamed about without even knowing that these objects existed.
You can visit the halls of Neuschwanstein, the ramparts of Hohenzollern or lose yourself in the silent forest behind Burg Eltz and you carry more than photos with you, you carry the feeling that you have touched a fragment of myth.
The Fairy Tale Awaits
Germany did not have castles in the frozen past. They are animated by festivals, concerts and tours and are as much of the present as the past. And maybe that is the most magical thing of all: they are real, available, and they need to be stepped over again and have their halls resonant to the footsteps. Therefore, in case you had a dream of entering a fairy tale, in Germany you have nothing to fantasize about.
There are the castles standing on their hills and masked in their valleys, there are the castles, ready to receive you into their tales.
