burg hohenzollern

the very last stop on our christmas markets road trip was not a christmas market, but a spectacular castle! hohenzollern blew us away! and i liked it even more than neuschwanstein. we were very nearly the only people there and it was a brilliant sunny day and the castle was so majestic! we explored the grounds, ate german food in the castle restaurant, went on a tour of the interior, and then hiked up to a viewpoint.

check this place out!!

  

click through for more pictures…!

    
^^ i couldn’t get over all the turrets and towers (clearly). and then the stunning details like these doors! ^^
 
^^ two chapels on the grounds: one catholic, one protestant. ^^

^^ we had to wait an hour for our tour to start, so we had a delicious german meal at the castle restaurant. it was really wonderful! ^^

^^ these pictures i lifted from a google search, because we weren’t allowed to take photographs inside. i absolutely looooved the inside of the castle. so vivid in colour and detailed in gorgeous gothic style! we learned really interesting things about prussian royalty and got to wear these awesome bootie slippers that kept the floor clean. ^^
 
^^ tricky lighting for a photo, but such a glorious sight!

after a quick stop back at the basel christmas market to see it lit up at night (it was perfectly magical, but i left my camera in the car), we flew back to london and got to our flat about 1am.

i’m really thankful for a husband that will go to nearly a dozen christmas markets with me and patiently endure all my excitement :) it has been a really fun year for us learning how to travel together. we make a pretty fantastic pair. we are really fortunate to be able to explore so much of this amazingly diverse earth that we love.