European tour of castles.

[alva]

Took awhile before zé penny dropped.

[Zkribbler]

Neuschwanstein the castle built by Mad King Ludwig of Baveria. It's the castle which inspired Disney to build Sleeping Beauty's Castle.

In California: Hearst's Castle.
In Hawaii: The Iolani Palace.

[Gangerolf]

Forgot to mention Cesky Krumlov in South Bohemia, probably one of the nicest towns in Europe.
The castle is smallish, but it's beautiful and there's a pit with real live bears beneath it. The bears had diarreah when I was there. Messy.

[Heresson]

OK. Perhaps the castle of my hometown does not belong here...

[Heresson]

But I think Wawel, the royal castle in Krakow, is nice: not from outside, though; it has nice courtyard

[Heresson]

nice insides, like the chapel of Sigismunds in the cathedral

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Spiffor
#1 - Versailles

The rest is irrelevant.

Thxbye

That's a palace, not a castle. A castle is a military defensive site. Can you imagine anyone trying to use Versailles as a fort?

[Heresson]

and here's the royal castle of Warsaw

[Heresson]

Just one more. It's a castle I like very much, it's also a work of Teutonic Knights, like Malbork/Marienburg, it's called Kwidzyn (Marienwerder?)

[Spiffor]

The Palace of Blois is pretty interesting. It has 4 layers of it. The oldest part of the castle dates back to the 13th century, and then there was later medieval, renaissance and neoclassic parts that were added layer upon layer.

I also remeber they still have some weapons and armours from the 13th century there. A pretty good sight (besides, it's close to many pretty renaissance palaces)

[duke o' york]

Originally posted by Gangerolf
Forgot to mention Cesky Krumlov in South Bohemia, probably one of the nicest towns in Europe.
The castle is smallish, but it's beautiful and there's a pit with real live bears beneath it. The bears had diarreah when I was there. Messy.

I've been there, and the only bears they had living under it were the local tourist shop owners, who were charging phenomenal prices for pretty average crap, that you could have taken with a half-decent camera.

[Pekka]

IF you want to g ot foihhgting castle, them ou go to fighting castle.

IOF you want to go to ssissie castle, them you go to oje. Alll I can say is, that you hgo to fighthign castle and thta'st REAL castle! Everytinh ele is disney world!!!!

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by MOBIUS


Leeds Castle is totally overrated!

I disagree- but then we should also be making a distinction between Royal palaces and chateaux and military and defensive strongholds such as the Tower of London and Dover Castle.


Versailles would tumble down with a few well-aimed cannonades.


Bodiam is pretty and compact, and transitional :

Bodiam Castle is situated beside the River Rother in East Sussex. The castle was built in the late 14th century by a veteran of King Edward III's wars with France, originally as a coastal defence. In 1385, Sir Edward Dalyngrygge was given permission to fortify his house against invasion from France, but then decided to build a new stone castle a short distance away from the house.

http://www.theheritagetrail.co.uk/castles/bodiam%20castle.htm

[molly bloom]

Corfe Castle withstood a Parliamentarian siege, and suffered much for it:

By 1643 the Parliamentarians occupied most of Dorset, the castle survived a six-week siege. Sir John Bankes died in 1644 and the castle endured a number of half-baked blockades. Later in 1645 a second siege was started by Colonel Bingham, Governor of Poole, and courtesy of an insider the Roundheads took over in February 1646. Defended for the Royalists during the Civil War by the redoubtable Lady Bankes, the castle fell to treachery from within and was heavily slighted afterwards by the Parliamentarians. However, many fine features survive, including the gloriette, which features some of the best early Gothic architecture in England.

The Castle was systematically destroyed by the Parliamentary forces, but the fact that some remains is surely testimony to strength of construction.

http://www.isleofpurbeck.com/corfe.html

http://www.castlexplorer.co.uk/england/corfe/corfe_photos.php#main

[Thorgal]

Well, if you want castles here you will find SOME stuff...

http://www.castillosnet.org/index.shtml (3400+ castles)