Neuschwanstein: A Fairytale Castle

King Ludwig II of Bavaria has built some of the most beautiful castles in the world during his lifetime. In one of my previous posts, I wrote about Linderhof castle which was the only one Kind Ludwig II lived to see completed. Though the castle is not complete, Neushwanstein stands out as the best of all the castles the king made. 

Neuschwanstein Castle

Clearly it looks as though it is taken from a fairy tale. In fact, the Disneyland's sleeping beauty castle is a result of this inspirational structure. I went here during the summer of 2013 and was probably the best time to visit. Surrounded by German and Austrian Alps with Alpsee and Schwansee in the backdrop, you would give a second thought to even blinking your eyes for it will steal the momentary view. 

I went with a group called International-Friends Munich which was a group of about 2,000 people (now 15,000) from all different countries around the world. We started off from Munich central station at about 9 in the morning and before noon we reached the town of Fussen from where Neuschwanstein is just 3 km away. The train ride is beautiful but crowded at the time and we had to stand inside the second class coach during the entire journey. There is a dedicated bus service from Fussen every 15-20 minutes which is enough to explore a bit around this town which has amazing pizzas and ice cream shops. Till that time I was still a vegetarian person and not an admirer of Bavarian food which was mostly meat. 

The bus drops you at the foothill of the alps in a village called Hohenschwangau from where you have to climb uphill either by foot or there are horse wagons. Hohenschwangau castle is the primary attraction of this village which used to be the childhood residence of the King. 

Hohenschwangau castle as viewed from Neuschwanstein Castle with Alpsee in the backdrop.

The way by foot is hardly exhausting, in fact it is pleasant to walk around the lush green trees. Once you reach near the castle, beer gardens, souvenir shops and gelato ice cream shops welcome you. The castle does not look beautiful from up close here. There is a bridge behind this castle where you can view the castle and believe me, I would have preferred not to enter the bridge looking at the number of people who occupied it. It is not one of those steel bridges which you see in cities but a weaker one and every inch of it was occupied by humans who were hungry for extended view of the castle and the landscape around it. Even I became that hungry being who refused to leave the bridge easily because it is a rare opportunity to be able to see something this pleasing to your eyes.

View of Schwansee from Neushwanstein Castle

View of Alpsee from the bridge

From the other end of the bridge, one can hike to the top of the mountain from where you can come down using a cable car. Given that we did not come with a purpose to hike, we chose to take the easier way to go back. I was not interested to see the inside of the castle during this trip. So I have left that for sometime in future when I visit here again. 

Alpsee

After coming down from the Neuschwanstein hill, we went to relax at Alpsee where some people did swimming, others played with frisbee disc and people like us relaxed in the warm sun talking to each other about various things. Apart from this castle, this small village serves as an ideal spot to hike around in the nearby hills or do paragliding. 

Neuschwanstein is a must go for people who visit Bavaria. It is hardly 2 hours from Munich and one of the best weekend getaways for people living nearby.

Linderhof Castle: A paradise in Bavaria

Summers in Europe are one of a kind. Especially when you are in Bavaria. The lush green fields and mountains take your breath away. The pleasant air on your skin and the beautiful landscape gives an impression of being in a paradise.

Village Ettal on the way to Linderhof

A very special thing about Bavaria is its Castles made by King Ludwig II. He built three of them: Neuschwanstein, Herrenchiemsee and Linderhof. I have been able to visit two of them till now Neuschwanstein and Linderhof. A first glance at these castles will bewitch your mind as these are probably one of the most beautiful castles I have ever seen.

During one of the weekends on my exchange program to the Technical University of Munich, I had an opportunity to travel to Linderhof castle with a service packet tutor program which is mainly meant for international students to help them see nearby places. The group consisted of roughly 12 people. We met at the central station around morning and took off on a train towards Mittenwald. The weather was perfect and the spring was at its best in Bavaria. There could have been no better time to be outside in this place which otherwise had been gloomy and rainy during the initial part of the summer. Huge amounts of rain caused landslides at various places along the railway and we had to change to a bus and a train again. So the journey which generally takes about 2 hours took nearly 4 hours. Since the weather was good, we did not mind that.

Spring in Bavaria

Ettal Abbey on the way to Linderhof in the village Ettal

Besides due to these changing schedules, we stopped at various beautiful locations such as the village Ettal. This small village has a wonderful monastery and an amazing landscape. People pass through this village as a part of bike rides and hikes, the trails of which one can see from the main street. So this place is ideal for weekend bike rides and hiking. 

No doubt, the bus ride from Ettal to Linderhof has a great view. Linderhof palace was the center of attraction in the area. Various tourist shops sold souvenirs, ice creams and there was  a beer garden as well (which is probably quite common in Germany: anywhere you go, there will be a beer garden.) The palace is surrounded by mountains on all sides and its white color stands out between the green landscape. 

Linderhof Castle

Kind Ludwig II made this palace sort of as his weekend getaway. This is one of his three castles and the only one to be complete. He used to come here for couple of days in a week or two and spent his time all alone in the midst of the pleasant atmosphere. The inside of the palace is beautifully decorated and he has, in modern terminologies, a music room, bed room, dining room, audience room: almost everything here. He preferred not to see his servants during his stay there. And yet, he had to have food which had to be served by them. A solution to this: He dined in the first level and his servants used to serve him from the ground floor. The dining table was kept on a platform which could be shifted from the ground to the first level using ropes. There are loads of mirrors and paintings in this small castle. In short, King Ludwig II must have had an awesome time here. He constructed an artificial cave as well where he used to have his "party" by inviting female dancers over (at least that is what the guide explained.)

Swans in an lake in the palace garden

The fountain in front of Linderhof Palace

A beautiful garden surrounds the palace and provides a natural recreation for everyone here. It is not just the palace that takes the credit for its splendid construction, but the location that the king chose makes all the difference. This is quite the feature of King Ludwig's castles: Neuschwanstein and Linderhof. If you are anywhere near Bavaria any summer, do squeeze your time to visit this castle.

The Holy city of Haridwar, India

North India has been under the attack of an intense heat wave in the past few days. In such a weather, a person living in the capital city of Delhi would run away due to power cuts and unpleasant nights as well. With these things around, me and my family decided to have a short trip to the holy city of Haridwar.

Millions of people visit this city everyday where the magnificent river Ganges flows from the Himalayas. Haridwar, a gate to this river for the great northern plains of India. The city is located at the foothills of Himalayas and provides a serene atmosphere, much to the satisfaction of people like me who come from the hustle and bustle of a metropolitan city like Delhi.

We arrived early in the morning taking an overnight train. The train station is like one of the country ones. The air was much cleaner and pleasant compared to Delhi which has been ranked as the most polluted city in the world. No doubt! We took a room in one of the hotels in Gujarati streets where we had amazing jalebis and fafadas for breakfast. My parents had decided to take a dip in the holy river Ganga while I took a bath in my hotel itself because it is impossible for me to bath in a place where people wash away the ashes of their late ones or where people throw milk, oil and various other food products in a river which has alarming levels of pollution. And besides, the water in the hotel room was coming from the holy river itself so I was bathing in the river anyway. I actually would not mind taking a dip in those waters because it is very clean in general. It is just the people who perform rituals or puke in the water (Yes! I saw a few in 2 days where people puke right in front of you in the water.). But yes, since it is flowing water at very high speeds, it is self cleaned at that spot though polluted as it goes along. My mother told me a story that it is said that river Ganga takes one child per year. I was quite surprised at the estimated number to be just one. The way people bath, river Ganga could easily take quite a few lives in a month itself. It was not until recently that protection measures have been taken for the safety of people bathing in the ghat. 

People bathing in the Ganges

Har ki Podi, the place to take the holy dip

The day was quite hot crossing 40 degree Celsius. So we took a shelter in our room after looking through the market which is full of traditional hindu clothes, sweaters for people going high up to the hills, diyas for rituals and many other things.

One of the shops in Haridwar market selling rosary beads, bangles and other religious ornaments.

When you go to Haridwar, one of the most beautiful things is the evening procession or the Ganga aarti. Thousands of people gather on the banks of the river to worship and to thank goddess Ganga for providing livelihood to so many people, providing water and recreation in this beautiful land. Few pandits dressed in white dhotis perform the initial ceremony which  consists of chanting shlokas and performing rituals such as providing milk, flowers etc.. to goddess Ganga . Towards the end of this procession, one of the pandits requests everyone near the banks to keep their feet away from the river waters so they could begin the aarti which otherwise is considered disrespectful (though I saw so many people still bathing in the river in-spite of this request). It was ironic that the pandit requested everyone in the crowd to not pollute the river and the procession he just performed with others involved throwing milk etc in this holy water. I have nothing against this ritual as I have been growing up between these rituals and I feel they not just give a psychological satisfaction but represents that we are providing food to the river. The river is considered to have life. It flows throughout the day for god know how many years and has been a lifeline of millions of Indians who live beside these waters. But I also feel that the same milk or the food that people throw away in the name of rituals could be provided to poor people who don't even have the money to have one decent meal in a day. 

Pandits performing holy ritual on the banks of river Ganga.

As soon as these pandits are done with their initial procession, the main aarti begins and it is one of the most spectacular events I have ever seen. Big diyas from almost every temple lit up and everyone is engaged in praying (well many of them clicking photos and taking videos) before the holy river. One forgets about anything negative about this place and the mind is lost in the sounds of bells, the pleasant air, the light from the diyas reflecting from the flowing waters of Ganga. It is a perfect place for meditation and minds are healed as it does not think about anything else. You forget about all your stress and the mind is lost in a very serene place in the world.

Ganga aarti

In between these proceedings, the security staff near the river collect donations from people in the name of this aarti which they claim goes into running a free hospital in Haridwar for poor people. I do not know how much of the money is actually spent on it but it is indeed a very good deed if this claim turns out to be true. Yet near the ghat, one can see number of beggars asking for food or money. What I did not like about this group of beggars is the way they behaved with an old women around the morning when I was passing through that area. The beggars themselves mocked her, tried to shoo her away. The woman was screaming to let her pass through and how mean he was, but these group of pandits and beggars laughed at her. Why would I ever give money or food to such a group of hooligans and uncivilized men?

There are many flaws in the religious system of India. But at the same time, this religion provides livelihood to so many people across this country. Also, all these things are unique to this world, to this culture and to this nation. It is very rare in the world to worship the river or a mountain or a sea. But this is done in India. No science can still explain how these things came into existence or how we came into existence. But we should be thankful to these natural resources which make our lives. To keep them safe is our duty as a citizen of this world. Let us all take a pledge to protect what is in our hands and to respect what nature has given us.