Dave & Meredith's Travel Blog

After Venice and northern Italy, we traveled with our friend Petra to Munich and stayed a few days there before flying home. It was a great place to mellow out and wind the trip down. We did get out and see a few things though. We drove down to Castle Linderhof one day. The castle was the favorite castle of Ludwig II. It’s as well known for its grounds as it is for the buildings.

Above: Castle Linderhof with the fountain and pool in front.

Ludwig was a little bit crazy (or maybe just lonely) and he built a man-made cave under the top of the hill behind the castle. It was heated, had a heated lake, and had a small boat where his servants would row him around. The grotto is set up like a theater and Ludwig liked to have shows performed for him. There are no seats except a box seat for him.

Above: the boat on the grotto’s lake. It looks like an amusement park but seems sad once you know the full story.

A shot of the countryside near the castle.

Ludwig also started construction of the famous Neuschwanstein castle during his life but never saw it to completion. We were running late so we only had time for a drive-by instead of going up to the castle. Also, there are supposedly almost 200 steps leading up to it and that was a no-go for us at the time.

Above: the fairy-tale castle Neuschwanstein.

The drive we took from Castle Linderhof back up to Munich was incredibly beautiful.

Above: some scenery from that drive.

That night was our last so when we got back to Munich, Petra took us out to dinner at a restaurant on a lake with excellent food.

Above: Meredith with Petra after dinner.

And that’s it for Munich, folks!

– Dave