When I think that we have visited all castles in the radius of about 3 hours drive already, I manage to find another one that we haven't seen yet. Today I will take you to Lichtenstein Castle that we visited last Sunday. I'm excited to share it with you as it's one of the most fairy-tale like castles that I have ever seen.
The Lichtenstein castle is located in the Swabian Jura of Southern Germany. My husband was surprised to hear that we will go to this castle as he thought it was in Liechtenstein which we visited many times already. Well, the name is indeed confusing.
The castle is towering high above the Echaz valley and we enjoyed some spectacular views of the Swabian Jura mountains. One of the most popular castles in Germany called Neuschwanstein Castle was inspired by Lichtenstein.
It took us about 2 hours to get there. We were again driving through scenic German landscape which reminded me a bit of Slovakia. Only the roads were better 馃檪
The parking is located 300 meters from the castle and costs only 2 EUR. There is a restaurant with traditional German meals as well as the only bathrooms in the complex, so bear this in mind before you go to the castle. You can easily spend here all day as there are other activities, such as ropes course and hiking trails too.
The castle is protected by the wooden sculpture of The Knight of Lichtenstein at the beginning of our short walk.
We could see the complex in front of us while we were walking towards it. My husband said that it looked like a castle from Playmobil. Who knows, maybe there is a set inspired by this castle.
When you arrive at the complex you cannot see the castle yet. You will start the tour in front of The Eugene tower and The Baronial Building. The entire complex is protected by defensive walls, but you cannot walk around them as there are steep cliffs on the opposite side of the complex.
The Eugene Tower used to be the horse stable in the past. It is difficult to imagine it as it looks like a protection tower to me.
The Baronial Building is built on the right side of The Eugene Tower as well as on the left side next to the entrance.
You can choose if you'd like to visit the museum in the castle or if you would like to only walk around the castle complex. The entrance fee for the castle is 12 EUR per person and for the castle complex only it is 4 EUR per person. It is only possible to visit the castle with a guide. The guided tour is in German, but even if you don't understand the language it is worth to book the tour as the interior of the castle is stunning. We were not allowed to take photos inside, so I won't be able to take you with me, but there are some photos on their official website to give you an idea. Castle Website
You will receive an information leaflet at the ticket office which is available in English as well.
Let's pay the tickets and go inside!
On both sides of the courtyard are baronial buildings which were constructed in the 19th and the 20th centuries.
The buildings are lined with flowers and lush bushes which reminded me of Mediterranean towns in summer. In the back there is The Castle Park that we will visit later.
We only had a few minutes before our tour started, and therefore we walked past the baronial buildings rather quickly, so that we would get to the castle on time.
And here we are!
The castle as we see it today is the result of various constructions built since the 12th century. The first fortress that was standing here dates back to 1100. The fortress was destroyed and rebuilt as Knight's castle in the 14th century. It had a defensive role and resisted all enemy attacks until it was left in decay.
The only part left of the castle was its foundation walls. In 1802 The King Friedrich of W眉rttemberg built a Baronial hunting lodge on top of the foundation walls.
In 1840 Count Wilhelm of W眉rttemberg (King's cousin) bought and demolished the hunting lodge and built his dream castle based on the Wilhelm HaTheuff鈥檚 novel called Lichtenstein. The castle was damaged during World War II. and repaired right after the war. There were various renovations until 1999 which completed the romantic neo-Gothic castle as we see it today. History
Today the castle is still owned by the Dukes of Urach, descendants of the Count Wilhelm of W眉rttemberg. The museum is located on 2 floors and includes 6 rooms. The guided tour took about 30 minutes and led us through those rooms where we could see original artifacts, beautiful paintings and stunning murals. And those views! I was disappointed when I was reminded that it's not allowed to take photos, but you have to go there and see for yourself 馃檪
The only way to the castle is through this bridge. Luckily, we are not scared of heights as the bridge connecting the courtyard and the castle is above a steep cliff.
From the bridge we got different perspective of the baronial buildings...
The courtyard is very small and we could clearly see the difference between the old part of the castle which had a defensive function (those large stones at the bottom) and the residential area with thinner walls and decadent fa莽ade.
The white tower is called The Wilhem's Tower, but I'm not sure if it's named after the writer of the novel based on which the castle is designed or after the owner who built the castle. I would say that it will be the latter one.
The small door will lead us to the residential area which now hosts a museum. Some parts of the castle remain close to the public as they are used by the family.
There is a small cannon placed in the courtyard which symbolizes its former defensive function.
The view from small openings in thick defensive walls...
Last view before going inside...
The tour was nice and our guide told us a few funny anecdotes about the castle and its owners. We went through The Armory, The Chapel, The Drinking Room, The Ancestral Hall, The Knight Hall and
The Bedroom.
I loved the drinking room which looked like an old German pub. The most interesting object there was a large champagne glass which needed 3 people to help the person who was drinking. It was 1.93 meters long, so it was the life size glass of the Count Wilhelm. He was a giant for his time.
After the tour we went to check out the rest of the complex and we started with The August Tower (in the back) which is also known as The Cannon Tower.
My husband loved this part as it showed various artillery pieces. His only complain was that we couldn't go inside..
But I could take a photo from behind the bars 馃檪
Then we moved to The Mary's Tower. I have no idea why all of them are called towers as they don't resemble towers at all.
It was used as the castle's chapel...
And now to the views of the Echaz valley with countless red roof houses and the mountains of the Swabian Jura..
It looks like we should be able to see the castle from the valley, but we couldn't find it when we were driving there. We were also shocked to see the change in altitude as it didn't seem so high when we were driving.
Can you see the open windows in the castle? This is where The Ancestral hall is.
The best views were from the highest point in the complex (on the right).
Me and my shadow 馃檪
There were some benches in the complex, but most of them were in the sun, so people preferred to sit under the trees on the grass...
The castle park is not spectacular, but I can understand that it's not big as it's a family castle.
The last glimpse of the castle before heading back to the car...
The advantage of not so touristic places is that there are not that many people around, and this is exactly how we like it. Of course there were some people, but it was not too bad. It was quiet and pleasant, just a bit too hot, but we can't have it all 馃檪
After the tour we drove to a town nearby for dinner hoping that we would get home by 8 PM. When we arrived we decided to explore the town after dinner and came home after 10 PM! We were exhausted, but happy and this is what counts.
I hope you have enjoyed another day with us.
Thank you for reading!
Cheers,
Martina
