Hohenzollern Castle
20 May 2018
We made the firm decision to take a long drive out to Hohenzollern Castle. It was considered as an option last time we were here, but it was so far out of the way that we chose to stop in Konstanz instead. We did have a really good time in Konstanz and I don’t regret that decision at all. This time though we decided to make the effort and go out to see the castle. It was a tough call considering this would essentially be the entire day, but we were going to give it a try. The highway from the Black Forest to the castle had us moving pretty fast... until we hit the detour. Winding through small towns and around farmland, we eventually came to the castle with plenty of time and daylight to see it!
The parking area was most of the way up the hill, but the remainder was done on foot. It was steep. Very steep. The hill seemed to be mocking us for being out of shape. It was a rough climb to the ticket booth, then another climb further to the castle itself. Shuttle? Nah, that’s for wimps! We’re going to huff and puff and wheeze our way to the top like the troopers we are! (We really should have taken the shuttle!)
We passed through the outer gate of the castle and walked the spiraling ramp upwards to the main gate, the castle towering high before us and the stone guards watching over the entrance. Hohenzollern was once the seat of the Prussian king, and the heirs who currently own the castle are declared as the Prince and Princess of Prussia. While the nation of Prussia itself was dissolved at the formation of Germany, there is a boundary marker just before the main gate of the castle declaring your entry to Prussian territory. The history in this castle is just phenomenal!
Once through the gate we came to the courtyard. This is Germany and the courtyard has a little beer garden, of course. We skipped that this time and went straight to the center courtyard, looking like tourists in Manhattan as we leaned back to look at the skyscraping towers. Could you imagine this back in the day?
We went in to see the interior of the museum part of the castle, and I’ll have to describe it all here with just words because pictures were unfortunately not allowed. The floors were polished original wood, and so we had to slide these slippers on over our shoes. We went through the halls, amazingly decorated with paintings and tapestries and old furniture. Portraits of the ruling family through the years lined the wall over the giant fireplace. The floors were elegant, the walls were elegant, the doorways were elegant... this place was posh. After seeing so many ruins, it is pretty impressive to see the fancy interiors of these larger palaces. Essentially, that’s what they are. There are castles built as fortified defenses – such as the three of Eguisheim that we saw last trip – and there are castles built as palaces – such as the famous Neuschwanstein. Hohenzollern is a palace castle for sure, and despite its prominence on the mountaintop and those imposing towers and walls, this place was built for kingly luxury. You can look through these large rooms and imagine the tables pushed to the walls, an exceptionally formal ball being held in the room. It’s pretty for sure, but the acoustics seem like they would be perfect as well. We toured the king’s room, read about his life and final days here, and passed back through the hallways. In all, it was a short walk through, but one definitely worth seeing.
We went through the chapel, walked the battlements along the walls, and tucked into the turrets on the corners. The view was just stunning, we could see mountains and valleys stretch for miles around. We sat along the wall, looking out to the distance, the statues of the three former kings looking out from behind us. In the near distance I found the Zeller Horn, another mountain peak that was said to have the best view of the castle. We strolled back through the courtyard and into a tower where they had traditional tin miniatures. There was so much to see!
As we stood back in the courtyard looking up at the interior of the towers, we wanted to see the castle as a whole from a distance. We went back through the gates, down that steep slope, and drove out to find the trail that would take us to the top of the Zeller Horn!
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