Neuschwanstein Castle

This morning we visited this fairytale castle, the building of which was started in 1869 by Bavarian King Ludwig II. The lavish decoration is in medieval style and refers to the works of Richard Wagner - Ludwig was his patron.  He spent all his own money and borrowed extensively to build this and 2 other castles.  His extravagance was used by his ministers to declare him insane and take him into custody and depose him in 1886, he and his doctor were found dead the following day.  The building of the rest of castle was then abandoned.  Standing close by is Hohenschwangau Castle which was owned by Ludwig’s father Maximilian ll and the beautiful Alpsee Lake.
Apparently there are 165 steps up inside the castle for the tour and 181 steps down!  It’s a 30 minute uphill walk to the castle from the lake - we got plenty of steps in today.
In the afternoon we went to the pretty town of Fussen and had a good look around the castle courtyard with it’s tromp l’oeil painted walls and the church of St Mang (also known as St Magnus of Fussen).
More castles tomorrow!