A Visit to a Fairytale Castle

One of the great things about my job is that I not only get paid to travel the world, I also get to meet up with my family! My little brother Matt recently moved to Munich with his girlfriend Miriam, and when I saw a flight to Munich on my roster, I knew we would have to do something fun!

Inspired by my friend Taylor’s trip to Neuschwanstein Castle back in the summer (check out her blog here: www.volarelearningtofly.wordpress.com) I decided a day trip to the mountains was on the cards.

IMG_7254

It was a pretty gloomy day, and after an early start and just under 2 hours of driving, we arrived in the village of Hohenschwangau, where the castle is perched on top of the hill.

As the inside is only accessible via guided tour, we paid for our tickets and had around an hour to kill before the 1/2 hour tour. That could only mean one thing – Kaffee und Kuchen! (German for coffee & cake – usually served in the afternoon, but we decided to break tradition!).

IMG_7261

View Post

Budapest

After cycling around 400km in 6 days, we deserved a little break in the beautiful city of Budapest.

This was our first time visiting the city, however my brother Harry has some Hungarian friends and one of them was handily available to play tour guide and drive us around in her car!

Our first stop was Heroes’ Square. A very impressive square with monuments of the Seven Chieftains of the Magyars and lots of other important national leaders.

DSCN6869DSCN6880

Viki, our tour guide for the day, then dropped us off at a gorgeous castle. We had a walk around the grounds and admired all of the beautiful architecture.DSCN6882

DSCN6884DSCN6886DSCN6891DSCN6896 DSCN6904

We then stopped off at St Stephen’s Basilica and decided to climb to the top to see the amazing views over the city. It must have been a popular day to get married as we saw 4 or 5 brides in the space of a couple of hours!

DSCN6914 DSCN6919 DSCN6929 DSCN6931

After stopping for some traditional Hungarian lunch we drove up to the Buda side (Budapest is in two parts – Buda and Pest, split by the river) to see the Citadella.

The Citadella is a kind of fortress which was built in 1851. The view from the top spans the city as well as the Danube and its 8 bridges.DSCN6946 DSCN6949 DSCN6957 DSCN6960

We then drove to the Fisherman’s Bastion, which was actually like a town inside a castle!

There was a church there as well and we saw another 3 brides getting married!DSCN6963 DSCN6969 DSCN6979

It looked like we’d stepped into a beautiful fairytale castle!DSCN6981DSCN6989

In the evening we’d been recommended a river cruise. The boat sails along the river after sunset so you get to see all of the glistening lights and enjoy dinner and a drink at the same time. DSCN6994 DSCN6998 DSCN7013What a beautiful sight to end our holiday!

Thanks again to mum and dad for taking me with you and putting up with all my complaining about sore legs after every day of cycling! 😉

 

P.s. If you want more regular day-to-day updates of what’s happening in my life, follow me on Instagram and Twitter @rachelwwilson!