If you’ve missed the 1st part, you can read it here.

On our 2nd day in Munich we had to get up early – we were heading 130kms south-west of Munich, to see the 19th-century palace of Ludwig II of Bavaria, Neuschwanstein (lit. New Swan Stone Palace), which attracts 1.3 million tourists per year. The castle, originally called Neu Hohenschwangau, was opened to public in 1886, after Ludwig’s death, and is today owned by the state of Bavaria. It’s been proclaimed the most photographed building in Germany, and we couldn’t but help contribute to this.

And this is how we reached the destination: we took the train from München Hauptbahnhof to Füssen (cca 2hrs), and from there the bus took us to Hohenschwangau – from there you can reach the castle either a) by bus (like most of people), b) on foot (for those with very good physical condition) or c) by horse carriage (for those with thick wallet the romantic ones). We ended up taking the bus that took us to a point from where we’d have some 10 minutes walk to the castle.

And this is the first impression of the Neuschwanstein castle:

What a bad luck we had. The castle is currently being renovated. Too bad for those of us who were hoping to take some really great photos. Well… that’s what we got. Here are some more photos of the castle from close:

Taking photos inside the castle is not permitted, so I’m afraid I can not show you the interior. But I can tell you one thing: I’d happily exchange my apartment for this place! While it’s much smaller in the interior than it looks, the castle is incredible, luxurious, the interior details are amazing and the rooms look more than cozy – not to mention the kitchen (I felt like a Lilliputian there inside, that’s all I’ll say).  What a pity that king Ludwig II couldn’t enjoy all this – his life ended mysteriously in 1886, with the Neuschwanstein being just near completion.

At the end of our visit of the castle we were able to photograph from an open window – the view can probably tell you why everyone was crowding around that window with their photo cameras (me included):

In the search for a photo of the whole castle, we walked to Marienbrücke, a nearby bridge that was -you guessed it right- crowdy. Despite the renovation thing.

If you’d like to see how does the castle look when it’s not being renovated, Wikipedia has a nice photo of it. And to learn more about it and about Ludwig II of Bavaria, I warmly recommend reading this page.

By the time of taking the final photo of the castle, we’ve been already exhausted. After purchasing the most expensive bottle of water in my life at the castle’s bar (don’t ask), we mounted on a horse carriage returning to the valley because a) it was half-price, b) our legs wouldn’t hold us anymore and c) we’d never been on a horse carriage before. The horses looked very strong, I couldn’t help myself feeling bad for them though, I imagined carrying 13 people was a bit exaggerate even for the two of them.

Back to Hohenschwangau, we treated ourselves to a great lunch. I ordered a very local dish, Käsespätzle, a kind of noodle and dumpling cross in shape of little worms, swimming in a variety of cheeses topped with butter-fried onion. Do I need to add it must have been on of the heaviest things I’d ever eaten? But man, it was super tasty! And for the conclusion of this great day, a slice of melting-in-your-mouth Apfelstrudel… Could one wish for more?

Upon our return to Munich we were already thinking of the following day. There was still so much left to see, however our time in Bavarian capital was slowly approaching the end. But we could definitely not leave without visiting  one of the main centers of pilgrimage for motor lovers…

… continues!