Utrecht, Netherlands: Castle De Haar

Back in early spring of last year, D and I took a trip through various parts of Belgium and the Netherlands with another couple. We did a handful of beer tours/tastings (more on those to come), wandered around some gorgeous Dutch towns (Utrecht & Tilburg, to be exact), and experienced one of Europe's best-kept castles…Castle De Haar. If you've ever Google searched fairytale castles in Europe, you'll likely come across and aerial view of Castle De Haar, the Netherlands largest and most famous castle. It's…in one word…marvelous. Aside from the outside of Germany's famed Neuschwanstein Castle, I'd say it's the 2nd most impressive castle I've seen through all my European travels.

The castle itself was entirely restored and partially rebuilt in the 19th century, but historical records of a building at this location date all the way back to 1391. Castle De Haar is special because it's one of the only few castle across Europe with the same paramount image of a medieval fortress--towers, canals, ramparts, and drawbridges, just to name a few charming qualities. It's literally the exact image I had in my head of what a true castle would look like, if I were living a few centuries back in time. There were even swans swimming in the ponds. Total fairytale castle if I ever saw one.

The only way to see the inside of the castle is to purchase a guided tour, but we were short on time and, honestly, with as many castle interiors we'd seen over the years, we were fine skipping the tour. The real star of the show is always the castle façade, for me at least. I would also recommend wandering around the gardens surrounding the castle. The smell of blooming flowers was unbelievably strong and made our walk even more pleasant.

If you ever find yourself with an hour to spare around Utrecht, don't hesitate to hunt down this beautiful reminder of Netherlands history!

Castle De Haar- Kasteellaan 1, 3455 RR Haarzuilens

Castle open daily 11am-5pm (guided tour required for entry)

Guided Tour: €14

Entrance to park/gardens: €4

Parking fee: €4

Tours start on the hour with 2 English tours daily. 

English audio tours available as well.

Salzburg, Austria: Part 2

I just spent the morning going through all the photos I have from our Salzburg weekend (all 802 of them!) and I love way too many of them just to share two posts. Old Town is gorgeous and full of such incredible history, but the mountainous landscape surrounding the city is simply breathtaking. The Austrian Alps are truly an item that should be on everyone's bucket list. If you can ski the Alps, that's the ideal way to go, but experiencing the views of such an iconic city juxtaposed against snow capped mountains is a great compromise. I went photo crazy our morning at Salzburg Castle. It was so hard not to! The clouds and fog from the early morning were still lingering along the base of the mountain range when we got to the castle's vista. As the day progressed, the fog dissipated and we got totally different Alpine views. It was unbelievable (I'll share more in my next post). Until then...here are a few more photos of the Old Town leading up to our funicular ride.

 I have to admit, aside from watching the mountain scenery change with the day, one of the coolest things we did while in Salzburg was ride the funicular from Old Town up to Fortress Hohensalzburg (Salzburg Castle). We are big fans of "getting high" and seeing cities from the highest vantage point we can easily get to. I always recommend taking this approach when visiting a new city. Such a great way to get your bearings and be wowed at the same time! You can take the funicular round-trip for 8 euro, or you can combine your ride with a castle tour (what we did) for 11.30 euro. Such a perfect way to spend half a day in Salzburg!

More from Salzburg Castle to come...

Miss any of my Salzburg recaps? Catch up here!

Rhein In Flammen 2013

First of all, I need to invest in a tripod. Taking great photos of fireworks is pretty impossible without one, I've decided. Secondly, is there anything in the world more fun than watching a beautiful firework show? Before Saturday night, I would have answered no. There's nothing more fun. But pair an epic firework show with a castle view and twinkle light adorned boats sailing down the Rhine River in Germany...and you've got yourself the Rhine in Flammen (Rhine Aflame) experience. 100 times more fun than your average run of the mill fireworks display. Guys, I've been living in Germany for over 2 years now and JUST NOW got my butt to one of these events. I'd heard about the Rhein in Flammen, saw friends' photos from the festival, and even looked it up on the internet once, but never really had the desire to go see it myself. Boy, was that a dumb idea. So glad some divine thought came into my head and made me start researching where to go to get the best Rhine Aflame experience this weekend. Lucky for you, I'm going to share all about it right here.
Every year, 5 stretches of the Rhine River go up in flames. No, you're not in danger if you go, but you will see a river-illuminating firework show that is nothing short of spectacular. Accompanied by wine and folk festivals on the shore, Rhein in Flammen brings in thousands of visitors to the Rhine & Mosel Rivers to witness a tradition that's been carrying on since the 1930's. The best spot to experience the show? On one of the 70+ illuminated boats that parade down the river. From there, you'll be able to watch fireworks coming from all directions as you sail past numerous riverfront towns and castles (that are lit up with Bengal lights) to the festival's ending location. Second best place to be for the show? On the banks of the river with a bottle of wine and a picnic basket. That's exactly where we were for Saturday's Spay to Koblenz Rhine Aflame show. 
At 10:00pm starting from the town of Spay, opening fireworks signaled the start of the boat parade up the Rhine. We decided to set up shop in the town of Lahnstein, a few towns up the river a bit. As the boat parade sailed by various towns along its course, fireworks went off above castles, from harbors, and along the riverside, virtually filling the night sky with blasts of color and fire. It's honestly like nothing I've ever seen before. You experience a bit of sensory overload as you're trying to watch the fireworks explode above a glowing red castle across the river while simultaneously trying to see the fireworks behind you in the harbor...and the boats all lit up sailing down the river. I never knew where to look first (as you can see from the video above)! For an entire 30 minutes, it felt as if we were right in the heart of the firework show. And the the Rhein River...it definitely was in flames! As the boats began to dissipate from our area of the Rhein, they continued on to Koblenz, where the big finale firework display occurred...thus ending our Rhein in Flammen experience for the year. Friends, if you ever find yourself in Germany during the summer months, make sure to plan your trip to include Germany's largest and oldest firework show. I've said it once and I'm sure I'll say it a million more times before I leave this beautiful country, but Germany REALLY knows how to throw a party. Don't miss this one!
[Linking up with Bonnie & Belinda for Travel Tuesday!]

Burg Rheinstein

Now that all of my Paris recaps are over, I can finally start moving forward and showing off all the other fun trips we took last year! Guys, I'm backlogged 9 months now. It's a little overwhelming. And with our huge cruise happening in just 5 days (and 7 other fairly substantial trips the rest of this year), it looks like I'll be recapping trips from our time abroad even after we move back stateside next summer. I can sleep when I'm dead, right? Right. So, next up is a little visit to Burg Rheinstein that I took with two dear friends who came to visit us after we returned from Paris. D and I literally had 4 days in between sending Nancy & Mark (the friends we took to Paris) home and welcoming Leslie & Sean (friends also from our college days) to Germany. Last summer was definitely a summer jam packed with trips and visitors...probably why we enjoyed it so much! Leslie and Sean had just come off of a 2 week yacht trip around various ports in Turkey with their family and decided to stop by Germany on their way home to visit with us. We only had 4 days with them, so I had to make them good! Burg Rheinstein was among some of the castles D and I had yet to explore on the Rhine River...and with it being just an hour away from Wiesbaden, it couldn't have been a more perfect sight to start with!

Burg Rheinstein is a striking medieval fortress built on a rock overlooking the Rhine River in the Loreley Valley. The castle was constructed in 900 A.D. to serve as a customs port for the German Empire, but eventually fell into disrepair under a lease to the Archbishops of Mainz. In 1832, the castle ruins and stone were purchased by Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig, the Royal Prince of Prussia, and was rebuilt by famous castle architect Claudius von Lassaulx. Since 1975, the castle has been privately owned by the Hetcher family who repaired and restored the castle over a period of 19 years to regain its former glory over the Rhine. I have to admit, it's one of the prettiest castles I've visited in this area. Everything had been beautifully restored and the views from the top of the highest castle tower were breathtaking. Although, climbing up the narrow winding stairwell to get up there was a bit frightening. If you've only a few castles to explore while visiting Loreley Valley, this is definitely one to top the "must-see" list!

*linking up with Helene for Travel Tuesdays & Lisette for Just Because Link Up*