"QUANTUM SHOT" #488 Link -- Article by M. Christian of "Meine Kleine Fabrik" and Avi Abrams
A Man’s Home: Unusual Castles …and One Very Special Village
Arguably born the day that villagers -- and the people who profited off them -- decided that wood wasn’t strong enough to keep them safe, castles quickly became more than just edifices dedicated to security. Instead of repelling borders, real or imaginary, castles became THE status symbol of status symbols. Monuments to bravado, they were stone and mortal proclamations to the age-old idea that "mine is bigger than yours."
Pierrefonds - picture-postcard example of a castle
If you want an picture-postcard example of a castle, you don’t have to go anywhere but the Château de Pierrefonds in France. Although it may have started out as a structure designed to keep some folks out and others safely in, it was later partially sugar frosted by none other than Napoleon the 3rd, who was shooting for a true nobility status symbol: a iced cake that no one but the very rich and very privileged could eat.
Pierrefonds is still a beautiful place, even if its fortifications were overly gilded –- or maybe because of it. It’s no wonder it's used to this day when central casting gets a call for a classic castle.
When fairy tale jumps from a landscape and hits you between the eyes
If you want a real Disney, fairy-tale, and totally insane castle, you have to visit the residence of one totally insane German king, namely Ludwig II of Bavaria. Look up gaudy in the dictionary and there’s a picture of his castle: Neuschwanstein ("The New Swan Rock").
Neuschwanstein Castle, gracing ten million over-saturated postcards and jigsaw puzzles, (image credits unknown)
Glitzed and filigreed, Neuschwanstein is like Ludwig’s twisted brain turned inside out and realized in stone and brick. It is also sublime and splendid, over-the-top and strangely fragile - all at the same time. We are going to devote a special article to it, truly a place not of this world.
Monstrous chandelier? Check. Room made to look like a cavern? It’s there. Entire rooms dedicated to Wagner (with whom Ludwig was obsessed)? Absolutely. It’s all there, larger and more ornate than any life … unless, of course, you were the King of Bavaria.
One of my favorite castles, though, wasn’t the dream of a king realized in stone and mortar. Spurned at the altar back in his native Latvia, Edward Leedskalnin took his disappointment, and a case of tuberculosis, to Florida in 1923. There, in the land of oranges and sunshine, Leedskalnin began to build his very own castle, one he worked on until his death in 1951 (more info)
It’s still there and definitely worth seeing. It might not have the polish of Pierrefonds or the glimmer of Neuschwanstein, but Rock Gate Park, as he called it, is still a striking sight: monstrous slabs of coral skillfully balanced and beautifully positioned, all of them assembled without reinforcement or mortar. He spent over 28 years building the Coral Castle, refusing to allow anyone to view while he worked.
(The Throne Room, supposed to depict the Moon and the planets - photo by Claudia Domenig)
Leedskalnin’s construction genius is legendary. No one quite understands how he built his castle and then moved it ten miles away in 1936. Some people think he used a kind of perpetual motion machine or mystical methods to move his several-ton blocks. Whatever the means, his Coral Castle, is still a magnificent achievement -– the sublime result of his own two hands, his incredible inventiveness, and a tragically broken heart.
Portmeirion: a surreal village in Gwynedd, Wales
Stepping away from literal castles, but staying within the theme of very special men and the homes they created, one of the most beautiful is one you might not know the name of but one you’d recognize immediately. All I need to write is "You are Number 6."
Located in Wales, Portmeirion was created by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis in 1925 (though some of it wasn’t finished until 1975). Although Sir Williams-Ellis wasn’t a king, he was obviously knighted, and certainly had help with his remarkable residence. Portmeirion deserves to stand with Ludwig’s vision of Germanic paradise and Leedskalnin’s eccentric coral castle because of its unique, and spectacularly beautiful, vision.
Williams-Ellis was so dedicated to preserving the tranquil elegance of Portmeirion that the filming location of Patrick McGoohan’s "The Prisoner" wasn’t revealed until the final episode of the series. Even with the careful hiding of the village’s identity, anyone who knew anything about architecture would have recognized the Williams-Ellis’s pearl-white cottages and the legendary green dome where, in "The Prisoner", the village’s rotating Number 2s had their office.
Portmeirion is truly a beautiful place and completely unspoiled by its television appearance. It remains today just as Williams-Ellis intended it to be: a tranquil village with a tasteful dusting of nostalgia.
The Postman's Palace - another single-handedly built castle
Ferdinand Cheval has imagined his "Ideal Palace" and simply went on to built it - after all, why not? He spent 33 years with this project (located in the village of Hauterives in the picturesque Drôme region of Southern France) - but the results are nothing less than stunning:
Initially considered "the village idiot", he was suddenly hailed as a genius and a celebrity in France, upon completion of this intricate affair. But is it the "Ideal Palace"? Everyone seems to have a different opinion. More info and images are on this page.
Whether it's the gussied-up fortresses like Pierrefonds, the gilded dreams of a mad king like Neuschwanstein, the eccentric genius of Leedskalnin and his Coral Castle, or the whimsical grace of Williams-Ellis’s Portmeirion and Ferdinand Cheval's Palace, a man’s home can really be his castle.
More Fantastic Castles, to Visit and to Think About (Wistfully)
Eltz Castle, Germany: another fairy-tale location, this time completely surrounded (and in certain degree concealed) by the forest:
Germany (just like Switzerland and Austria) has many enchanting castles, big and small -
Castle-like mansion in Arnsberg and a large Buerresheim Castle, photos by frizztext
The stretch of Rhein between Cologne and Mainz has the especially high concentration of great fortresses, presiding over the quaint riverside villages:
Eastern Europe abounds in awesome castles. This is for example, Castle in Moszna, Poland:
Check out the sinister door handle from the Dracula's Bran Castle on the bottom right. Towers emerging from the mist in the photo below: this is Bragança, a walled town in northern Portugal. Very evocative image on the bottom left is Le Chateau de Nyon in Nyon, Switzerland:
(originals unknown)
The Chittorgarh Fort in India. This pool was often the only source of water during the numerous sieges by Mughal Emperors:
Overlooking the Echaz Valley and the storybook village below, often shrouded in fog, Lichtenstein Castle comes close to being the perfect castle in Europe.
Oh yes, still unclaimed by some luxury developer, nor touched by multi-million renovation... hiding in a valley in a tangled forest: Castello di Zena: (here is a Google Earth location, but don't set your hopes too high - this is a guarded private property)
A mystery. Falling to pieces. Splendor in the grass.
A View That Launched 10,000 Epic Fantasy Books
Another feature of fortified high places is the splendid view they often afford. We'd like to open up a sort of competition: The Best View From a Castle, but the winner already easily comes to mind - and it's the Neuschwanstein's Castle, again. The panorama of the towering Alps and a nestled gem of the lake, Alpsee, is enough to make you sigh and close your eyes... dreaming.
The ultimate castle, that was ever designed to grace the face of the Earth
King Ludwig, again. The planned Falkenstein - truly THE Lost Castle. The one that he was all set to build - but for the financial (and mental) meltdown he suffered.
Christian Jank's first High Gothic design for Falkenstein, 1883. (image via)
This is a start of our new series on castles... Send us tips about which castles to include in the next issue.
Neuschwanstein was reconstructed on a ruined castle in the 19th century. I suppose the original one looked much less dramatic. Burg Eltz, however, is the real thing. Constructed in the middle ages, never fell, despite being under siege serveral times, and still owned by the family who build it. There's even a "siege castle" on the opposite side of the valley! The siege castle is in ruins while the castle besieged is still standing...
Hi there, fab article!! Ever heard of "la scarzuola" the surreal and utopistic town created by architect Tomaso Buzzi. It's location is in Italy, in Umbria region.
More info about the history of this fascinating place almost unknown even to 90% of italians... http://www.bellaumbria.net/Montegabbione/citta_buzziana_eng.htm
And here are some shots from flickr http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=scarzuola&w=all&s=int
NurseExec - we've seen some of the castles in Germany, including Neuschwanstein. Switzerland castles, for example, around the Thun Lake, impressed us the most.
These are awesome! Amazing what people used to be able to do with simple tools. Take a look at the Chateau de Chenonceau at www.chenonceau.com. It literaly straddles the Loire river in France. Also has an interesting history. It was owned also entirely by women throughout it's existence. Cheers.
The castle and white church tower emerging from the mist in the photo just below that of Moszna castle in Poland is not from a castle in Eastern Europe, but from 14th Century the castle and walled city of Bragança, a town in northern Portugal, in Western Europe.
And the Pena Palace in Sintra, near Lisbon, Portugal, as mentioned by the previous Anonymous, is indeed quite crazy and beautiful. No wonder: one of the architects was the german Baron of Eschweige, who was also one of the designers of Neuchwanstein Castle...
Pena Palace was rebuilt in the 19th Century over the ancient ruins of an old monastery by the german-born Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg, the prince consort of Portugal.
It's well worth a visit, but do noto forget to visit «the real thing» in Portugal: the medieval towns of Óbidos (similar to Carcasonne, in France), Marvão, the small 12th Century village and castle of Sortelha, the Roman and Moorish town of Mértola, or the big Templar Castle of Tomar. Inside it, fully restored, is the center of Templar Europe in the 14th Century: the enourmous round fortified church, with quite strange inscriptions and icons, where it is said the Holy Grail was once kept.
The "Unknown" bottom left castle (the one up the small street with the blue and red flag) is Le Chateau de Nyon in Nyon, Switzerland (right near Geneva).
I've been up that street, and from the castle's terrace you can see a beautiful panorama of the alps, Lake Geneva, and the city itself.
Voltaire used to live right beside it, incidentally.
Traquair House, in Scotland, is quite picturesque. I also find it interesting because it is still in the family, and the family still lives there. I don't know if it qualifies as a proper castle or not, but it looks like one, particularly from the rear. Traquair also offers gorgeous, if pricey, bed and breakfast accomodations. www.traquair.co.uk Stirling is another lovely castle in Scotland, with a spectacular view of the town below.
I adore the Coral Castle (and apparently so did Billy Idol--"Sweet Sixteen" is about it). I would like to point out, though, that he quarried much of the coral from right behind where he built the wonderful place. I visited on a road trip to the Keys a few years back, and you can see the big hole behind the castle.
It may not be as gilded or gorgeous as the other castles mentioned, but it was a lovely place to visit, and I highly recommend it if you're nearby!
How about a mention of Alcazar de Segovia, in Spain? http://www.blogdeturismo.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/alcazar_segovia.jpg It's believed to be the inspiration for Walt Disney's Cinderella Castle!
I used to live in Prague, so we traveled to countless castles across Europe (the best years of my childhood!). Neuschwanstein is simply amazing! My parents live near there and go visit regularly, i guess because they get bored??? Schloss Linderhof is another amazing castle, built by the same king i believe. I'm looking forward to my next visit to Europe so i can go back and revisit my childhood. Everyone should go see the castles of Europe if given the chance.
Take a look at the Chateau de Chenonceau at www.chenonceau.com. It literaly straddles the Loire river in France.
Chenonceau actually straddles the Cher, a major tributary of the Loire. The fact that it spans the river may have spared it -- French revolutionaries resisted sacking it partly because it was a river crossing and thus valuable to them. It's a gorgeous castle with a fascinating (and slightly soap opera) history, and definitely should be included. The grand ballroom over the river is something to be seen. And so is the room of Louise of Lorraine, who turned the castle into a convent as she mourned her husband, King Henri III. The room is decorated in symbols of mourning and of her faith.
If the Coral Castle is included, a rather more modern (and considerably more bizarre) "castle" could go on the list: the House on the Rock. This strange residence started out as an artistic retreat for the architect, who began construction by hand, hauling materials up a natural stone pillar in Wisconsin. Eventually it mutated into a very surreal tourist attraction. I suppose in a way it was his own Neuschwanstein.
Fantastic Post! Thank you DRB-Team for the great time I always have on your site, it just so amazing what you are collecting and presenting us 365/year!
Great post. Spain has many beautiful spots and there are endless palaces and castles and monasteries in picturesque locations. Try the Alcazar in Segovia or the Alhambra in Granada or the sights in Cuenca.
I was surprised not to see Heidelberg, which is gorgeous.
Another fascinating one is Slain's Castle, in the northeast of Scotland. Bram Stoker stayed there and it is apparently the inspiration for Dracula's Castle. It's not so pretty to look at, but the precipitous and isolated location make it a dramatic and eery example.
I visited about 20 castles during some eight years in Europe.... none in this article, and usually small unrenovated ones, free to visit on a serviceman's pay. But Heidelberg is one that would deserve to be in the next article. And I visited that one several times.... 'Walled cities' might be a good topic for another series.
Dracula's Bran castle????the bran never been dracula's castle actualy is in Brasov-Transylvania,and Tepes was the ruler of Wallachia,he only born in Sighisoara in Transylvania and returned only when asked the hungarian king's support(btw.Transylvania was hungarian kingdom those times,Tepes was romanian ruler and the Bran castle was a post at the border where the merchants paid when they passed the borders),i live in Transylvania,to 44 km where Dracula born
Great pictures and some good ideas for travels too - there's something magical about wandering around the towers and tunnels of an old fortress. I would add Crac de Chevaliers in Syria; an old crusader castle, and without doubt the best preserved one that I have ever seen. In parts it's in such good condition it's almost as if the crusaders were still living there! Thanks for sharing.
I had the priviledge of visiting both castle in Bavaria depicted in your photo. To the right of Neuschwanstein is Hohenschwangau, which belong to Ludwig's father. It is a small lovely gem and well worth seeing.
Oh wow! I come here every post and I never say anything but I've sent your link to a dozen people ... I am sorry I always lurk so silently and nevr speak up - you rock and all your posts are awesome! This art is incredible! Congrats on acquiring such amazing work under your banner :-) How wonderful for you and for us readers!
And here comes the two best jewels of the original http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJefVspR88M&feature=related and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_esCf2GSTI&feature=related , I just love the dance.
The "Heart Attack Grill" was about a block away from me when I lived in Phoenix. I remember the food being ok and the customers being unsightly (talk about OBESE). There was always some minor controversy about the way they had their "nurses" dress as well...
At least now I know where comes the inspiration for the BM in the manga Bio-meat Nectar. just look at the bottom of this page http://www.onemanga.com/BioMeat_-_Nectar/35/21/ :)
Actually, the baby platypi are called puggles - it's the term for monotreme babies, not just echidnas. :) These guys are great, you've got to be careful with their delicate skin, but they really love to be held!
Great article, but I just wanted to point out that knitting and crochet, while both done with yarn, are different crafts. Knitters do not create crocheted objects and vice versa (well, some of them do, but you know what I mean). Of your pictures, the Cthulhu penguin, the eyeballs, the gollum hat, and Bender are definitely crochet. The rest are either knitted or a combination of the two.
Of all the photos, 13 of them depict crochet, not knit. And the funny thing is, the ski masks are dissed as crochet but are knit! I'm a big fan of strange crochet.
I have got to get back to that Dalek I was trying to knit. I think the bottom part looked better than the one shown here; I just have to figure out a better top dome for it. I came up with a great way of doing the neck grill, too....
To non-needleworkers, a good rule of thumb is to look for material that looks like its made up of a bunch of tightly-packed Vs. That's stockinette stitch, your basic knit stitch. (Knit when working on the right side, purl when working on the wrong side.) There are other stitches, like garter stitch, which looks like rows of little interlocking arches -- or like cheap fake chainmail, which is often garter stitch, spray-painted silver. (Convincing only at a great distance. Most of the knights in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" wore garter stitch fake-mail, because it's cheap.) But most knitting revolves around stockinette stitch, like the stuff shown above, so for these examples, that test will give you a good idea of which ones are knit and which ones are crocheted.
Man, I *love* that squid at the top of the page. Absolutely gorgeous. The nudibranch is stunning as well.
It's too bad the gal with the Dr Who patterns was forced by the BBC to take them offline. She had this awesome Ood that would've looked great next to the Chthulu knits.
Someone stated that knit and crochet are two seperate crafts with little crossover - this is incorrect. In some countries (Japan as an example) making fabric from yarn, with two sticks or one, is generally considered the same craft. Many many projects require both techniques. Even in the US, you would be hard pressed to find a knitter without a crochet hook in his/her bag. All experienced knitters know how to crochet, even if they limit it to edgings and cast ons. A person could limit themselves to just one half of the craft, but why cut off one hand? And just to be a little snarky - those commenters who think ALL was crochet, learn to read stitches before you open your gob. <3sox
think there was a bbc documentary on this. called to mars by abomb. they had footage from a small scale model test. it does work.
interesting because it takes the worry of weight out of the equation. instead of saving weight you build massive ocean liner level stuff because it no longer matters much.
it was canceled because the fall out is unacceptable amoung the other risks...
You'd think this project would immediately be called off instead of going as long as it did just by the fact that you'd severely pollute the atmosphere.
With a clean fusion bomb fallout wouldn't be a problem but yeah with dirty nukes, Quote: "Freeman Dyson, group leader on the project, estimated back in the '60s that with conventional nuclear weapons, that each launch would cause on average between 0.1 and 1 fatal cancers from the fallout."
Anonymous, as far as I know a H bomb is only "clean" because its fallout is small in relation to its destructive power. You still produce more than enough fallout simply because a fission bomb is needed as a detonator for the fusion. There is no clean nuclear weapon. The term "dirty nuke" can either refer to a fission bomb with relatively high fallout due to low efficiency or to a conventional chemical explosive with radioactive material around it. The latter thing does not cause a nuclear explosion, but scatters radioactive debris around. It is in no way suitable to power a spaceship.
You have to remember the TIME this was invented in.... people seriously thought this planet was going to be obliterated by nuclear war in the 1950s-60s.
And if there is a killer asteroid or extraterrestrial threat of any kind, it would be a last-ditch, everyone left behind is dead anyway, "When Worlds Collide" type of project.
The interwebs have been absolutely abuzz with talk about this project. I've seen it in a few documentaries and more than a few posts. I did love that TED talk tho.
We still need to solve the 'ol problem of traveling distances that would take tens of thousands of years however...
Project Orion and NERVA should be group projects for graduate Nuclear Engineering students. There should be ways to vastly improve performance and lover costs on both of theose systems.
Launch from Earth? Of course not. However, as anyone who has ever read SF knows, space ships are most easily built in space.
The cuts in time to Mars and beyond will prevent a lot of radiation problems.
Oh yes, exploding atomic bombs in space will pollute it. How could I overlook something like that. Darn!
Remember, the Sun is a natural nuclear fusion explosion that's been going on for about 4.5 billion years. Aside from that, all matter emits some miniscule amounts of radiation. Getting a sun tan is in fact a radiation dosage. And burning coal puts a lot of uranium in the air, since it's a trace element in coal. So an Orion ship's radiation should be kept in perspective.
Building it in space removes most of the risk to earth. And Orion or a Nerva type nuclear rocket (much different) open the whole solar system to human exploration. Instead of trips lasting years one can get around between planets in weeks.
Eventually we're going to have to accept that politically.
I've been a fan of Orion for decades. It's one of those Big Engineering concepts many engineers (and I am an engineer) are fascinated with. Adding to the attraction, the only thing keeping it from working is an international treaty.
Project Pluto isn't nearly as big, but has the advantage of being dead simple overall. One person working on it described the vehicle as being "...about as complicated as a bucket of rocks."
A ramjet is a very simple heat engine: cold air in, hot air out. For Pluto, the heat source was a nuclear reactor made from advanced ceramics, glowing bright yellow.
The sonic boom from this thing making a low pass would collapse most buildings. The radiation it emitted would sterilize the ground under its path. (Maybe a slight exaggeration there.)
They ground tested a developmental version of the engine, and seriously discussed building a test vehicle. That would have been dumped in the ocean after the flight. The realization that if they lost control of the thing it could fly over an inhabited area killed the idea.
Still, you have to wonder if maybe we could use it to explore the atmosphere of Venus, or one of the gas giants...
It's not a bad idea once you get off-planet. Someday, one of the export products spent up the space elevator will be nuclear bombs to propel enormous interplanetary vehicles.
It's not a bad idea once you get off-planet. Someday, one of the export products spent up the space elevator will be nuclear bombs to propel enormous interplanetary vehicles..
The idea that Orion is inherently unclean is untrue. The reason a bomb can be dirty is the stuff that gets sucked into an explosion (including bomb casings) and then spread around. That is why normal ground-level detonations (where dust and soil gets sucked in) produce vastly more fallout than airborne ones.
In the late 50s, the calculation was 1 to 10 premature deaths per ground launch of Orion. That isn't 10 specific people die - but that 10 people would statistically die earlier than they otherwise would have.
I personally do not think that risk is unacceptable. Many thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions, of people die prematurely every single year because of industrial pollution from cars, factories, industry etc. Likewise hundreds of thousands of peoples are killed or injured in road accidents, every single year. While these are tragic, nobody says the risk is unacceptable and we better give up cars/industry/technology and return to living in caves.
Anyway, another point is the risk can be further reduced today. A modern Orion would use a ground-based pusher plate to reduce fallout, and would use better/lighter bombs so less casings to be sucked in too.
The two remaining problems are EMP (electro magentic pulse), legal and political. The EMP problem can be solved by a sea launch say near the South pole. The legal issue is that it is illegal to take nuclear weapons in space or explode them - but this could be resolved by renegotiating international treaties if there was political will. The political problem is the biggest problem - many people, often regardless of how little they know about nuclear technology and nuclear science, are against anything nuclear, because it sounds bad to them or believing too much bad late night scifi.
The reason we need Orion is its the only way we can get a substantial presence in space. One Orion is equivalent to hundreds, even thousands, of conventional rocks. If we don't start using energy and resources from space (the first step of which is a large presence beyond the Earth), we are going to wreck this planet before too long.
1. materials don't BECOME radioactive do they? the dust and stuff from a ground explosion doesn't contribute to the "dirtyness" of the bomb does it?
2. why on earth would you LAUNCH with nukes? just use conventional rockets to get the thing into orbit (or just build it there) and then you can nuke away in space.
That 01-1-10 deaths figure would presumably have been calculated on the LNT (linear no threshold) theory of radiation damage. While that is still politically accepted the hormesis theory that at a low level radiation is actually beneficial has the evidence going for it.
Did a speech in 80's including this method as alternative to STS. Also included matter/antimatter propulsion. Only problem I foresee is NASA's history of accidents! That would be huge..
what a waste. why they didn't use more sensible inertial drive. its most idiotic to blast behind spaceship when there are lots of other ways to do it. the main goodness of inertial drive is that it can be used in closed system, there is no need for interaction with outside-spaceship environment.
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46 Comments:
Finally I know where that picture I've got as desktop background was taken (Chittorgarh Fort).
Check out Rubel Farms Castle in Glendora, CA
Neuschwanstein was reconstructed on a ruined castle in the 19th century.
I suppose the original one looked much less dramatic.
Burg Eltz, however, is the real thing.
Constructed in the middle ages, never fell, despite being under siege serveral times, and still owned by the family who build it.
There's even a "siege castle" on the opposite side of the valley!
The siege castle is in ruins while the castle besieged is still standing...
What a fantastic post--I'd love to go visit each and every one of these castles....maybe someday. Have you been to these?
http://www.lovelandcastle.com/
Loveland OH
Hi there, fab article!!
Ever heard of "la scarzuola" the surreal and utopistic town created by architect Tomaso Buzzi. It's location is in Italy, in Umbria region.
More info about the history of this fascinating place almost unknown even to 90% of italians...
http://www.bellaumbria.net/Montegabbione/citta_buzziana_eng.htm
And here are some shots from flickr
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=scarzuola&w=all&s=int
It's truly another world!!
NurseExec - we've seen some of the castles in Germany, including Neuschwanstein. Switzerland castles, for example, around the Thun Lake, impressed us the most.
Great suggestions, everyone! Keep them coming.
Another crazy castle is the Pena Palace in Sintra Portugal
I have a poster of Neuschwanstein on my wall at the very moment...tho I believe the angle of the picture is different than yours posted here.
This one is taken from up the mountain looking back down at the castle into the lake, most likely during early or very late winter.
It is on my wall to remind me what a man's castle is supposed to look like. Didn't know the historical perspective, sorry poor bugger...lol.
These are awesome! Amazing what people used to be able to do with simple tools. Take a look at the Chateau de Chenonceau at www.chenonceau.com. It literaly straddles the Loire river in France. Also has an interesting history. It was owned also entirely by women throughout it's existence. Cheers.
The castle and white church tower emerging from the mist in the photo just below that of Moszna castle in Poland is not from a castle in Eastern Europe, but from 14th Century the castle and walled city of Bragança, a town in northern Portugal, in Western Europe.
And the Pena Palace in Sintra, near Lisbon, Portugal, as mentioned by the previous Anonymous, is indeed quite crazy and beautiful. No wonder: one of the architects was the german Baron of Eschweige, who was also one of the designers of Neuchwanstein Castle...
Pena Palace was rebuilt in the 19th Century over the ancient ruins of an old monastery by the german-born Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg, the prince consort of Portugal.
It's well worth a visit, but do noto forget to visit «the real thing» in Portugal: the medieval towns of Óbidos (similar to Carcasonne, in France), Marvão, the small 12th Century village and castle of Sortelha, the Roman and Moorish town of Mértola, or the big Templar Castle of Tomar. Inside it, fully restored, is the center of Templar Europe in the 14th Century: the enourmous round fortified church, with quite strange inscriptions and icons, where it is said the Holy Grail was once kept.
Wow! Absolutely Stunning!
Jiff
www.privacy-center.be.tc
The "Unknown" bottom left castle (the one up the small street with the blue and red flag) is Le Chateau de Nyon in Nyon, Switzerland (right near Geneva).
I've been up that street, and from the castle's terrace you can see a beautiful panorama of the alps, Lake Geneva, and the city itself.
Voltaire used to live right beside it, incidentally.
yea, just saw carcassonne on rick steves today :P it looked pretty cool!
boldt castle on heart island, new york.
Krak des Chevaliers in Syria should definetly be on the list!
chateau de chillon in montreux, switzerland. small but beautiful location. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pearbiter/566128230/sizes/l/
Can you say disgustingly oversaturated?
Have you checked out Boldt Castle on Heart Island on the St. Laurence (sp) river near Alexandria Bay, New York?
I want to go! *sigh
I'm surprised you didn't mention Castel del Monte. Talk about haunting.
"It has neither a moat nor a drawbridge and may in fact never have been intended as a defensive fortress."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castel_del_Monte_(Apulia)
Casa Loma in Toronto is a fasinating castle to explore for Americans who can't make it over the pond.
Traquair House, in Scotland, is quite picturesque. I also find it interesting because it is still in the family, and the family still lives there. I don't know if it qualifies as a proper castle or not, but it looks like one, particularly from the rear. Traquair also offers gorgeous, if pricey, bed and breakfast accomodations. www.traquair.co.uk Stirling is another lovely castle in Scotland, with a spectacular view of the town below.
I adore the Coral Castle (and apparently so did Billy Idol--"Sweet Sixteen" is about it). I would like to point out, though, that he quarried much of the coral from right behind where he built the wonderful place. I visited on a road trip to the Keys a few years back, and you can see the big hole behind the castle.
It may not be as gilded or gorgeous as the other castles mentioned, but it was a lovely place to visit, and I highly recommend it if you're nearby!
Beautiful pictures!
Prague Castle in the Czech Republic is gorgeous and fascinating.
This is the Moorish Castle in Sintra, Portugal where i proposed to my now wife!
http://hashassin.deviantart.com/art/Moorish-Castle-47757226
How about a mention of Alcazar de Segovia, in Spain?
http://www.blogdeturismo.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/alcazar_segovia.jpg
It's believed to be the inspiration for Walt Disney's Cinderella Castle!
Some of those castles would be very defensible in case of zombie attacks.
This view from Kumbalgarh reminds me of Myst.
I used to live in Prague, so we traveled to countless castles across Europe (the best years of my childhood!). Neuschwanstein is simply amazing! My parents live near there and go visit regularly, i guess because they get bored??? Schloss Linderhof is another amazing castle, built by the same king i believe. I'm looking forward to my next visit to Europe so i can go back and revisit my childhood. Everyone should go see the castles of Europe if given the chance.
Take a look at the Chateau de Chenonceau at www.chenonceau.com. It literaly straddles the Loire river in France.
Chenonceau actually straddles the Cher, a major tributary of the Loire. The fact that it spans the river may have spared it -- French revolutionaries resisted sacking it partly because it was a river crossing and thus valuable to them. It's a gorgeous castle with a fascinating (and slightly soap opera) history, and definitely should be included. The grand ballroom over the river is something to be seen. And so is the room of Louise of Lorraine, who turned the castle into a convent as she mourned her husband, King Henri III. The room is decorated in symbols of mourning and of her faith.
If the Coral Castle is included, a rather more modern (and considerably more bizarre) "castle" could go on the list: the House on the Rock. This strange residence started out as an artistic retreat for the architect, who began construction by hand, hauling materials up a natural stone pillar in Wisconsin. Eventually it mutated into a very surreal tourist attraction. I suppose in a way it was his own Neuschwanstein.
Fantastic Post!
Thank you DRB-Team for the great time I always have on your site, it just so amazing what you are collecting and presenting us 365/year!
Keep up the amazing work!
Thank you Lukas... encouraging.
Great info, everybody!
If only I had 10 million dollars to spend. Keep taking my dollar and a dream to the grocery store to play the lotto but still no luck. Lol.
Another awesome post and spectacular pictures. Thanks for always finding a way to awe me.
Great post. Spain has many beautiful spots and there are endless palaces and castles and monasteries in picturesque locations. Try the Alcazar in Segovia or the Alhambra in Granada or the sights in Cuenca.
portmierion is NOT a castle it's a whimsical collection of various styles of italian architecture.
Beautiful! I love old castles.
I was surprised not to see Heidelberg, which is gorgeous.
Another fascinating one is Slain's Castle, in the northeast of Scotland. Bram Stoker stayed there and it is apparently the inspiration for Dracula's Castle. It's not so pretty to look at, but the precipitous and isolated location make it a dramatic and eery example.
I visited about 20 castles during some eight years in Europe.... none in this article, and usually small unrenovated ones, free to visit on a serviceman's pay. But Heidelberg is one that would deserve to be in the next article. And I visited that one several times....
'Walled cities' might be a good topic for another series.
The Czech republic has some great castles like Krumlov and Sternberk.
Also Austria the most spectacular castles are definitely the Hohenwerfen and Hohensalzburg.
The great teutonic fortress of Marienberg made of red bricks is definitely worth seeing too.
The view from Neuschwanstein "that launched 10,000 epics" and Maxfield Parrish's most famous painting are definitely more than coincidence.
As an absolute castle-lover living in the middle of Europe, I was pleasantly surprised to see some real gems in your article.
I have added some of your examples to my 'must visit' list for my next vacation, so thanks for inspiring me!
Dracula's Bran castle????the bran never been dracula's castle actualy is in Brasov-Transylvania,and Tepes was the ruler of Wallachia,he only born in Sighisoara in Transylvania and returned only when asked the hungarian king's support(btw.Transylvania was hungarian kingdom those times,Tepes was romanian ruler and the Bran castle was a post at the border where the merchants paid when they passed the borders),i live in Transylvania,to 44 km where Dracula born
Great pictures and some good ideas for travels too - there's something magical about wandering around the towers and tunnels of an old fortress.
I would add Crac de Chevaliers in Syria; an old crusader castle, and without doubt the best preserved one that I have ever seen. In parts it's in such good condition it's almost as if the crusaders were still living there!
Thanks for sharing.
Wasnt Bran castle the castle of the female ''vampire'' ?
Anyway a nice picture is Hohenzollern.
Ekzt castle is actually used by several families.
How about Bishops Castle in Colorado. Admittedly it is not like old Ludwigs castles, but a castle no less.
I had the priviledge of visiting both castle in Bavaria depicted in your photo. To the right of Neuschwanstein is Hohenschwangau, which belong to Ludwig's father. It is a small lovely gem and well worth seeing.
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