A wannabe princess and her fairytale castle

by The Flamingo

I don’t know about you female readers out there, but I was a very typical “girly girl” growing up (as typical as it gets in an ex communist country). I loved dresses (still do), I hated jeans and the color blue, I played with dolls ‘till I was 13, I drew ladies in formal attire from the old ages all day long, watched historical anime, read all the Dumas collection, obsessed over Diana Spencer and Grace Kelly and of course dreamed of being a princess someday.

Imagine my stupefaction when I found out at 14 that my paternal grandmother was  descended from a small royal family from a region in the north of the country and she had proof as well. Well that copy of the document ended up on my wall in my room, as well as my family’s coat of arms and I stared at them every night before bed, thanking God that 0.00000000000001% of my blood was blue. That’s when I started loving the color blue. 

So in my head, I declared myself a princess…and kept that small info there and all to myself. Over time it raised the self esteem of the struggling teenage girl, because in my immature mind it was proof somehow that I was worthy. So I guess it helped during my most sensitive years.

As a woman, I grew out of all my “princessy” habits. I’m not obsessed with royals, I wear jeans, read other types of books (although the historical genre still appeals to me) and I speak to mere mortals. But whenever I go traveling and visit a castle, I reconnect with that small princessy part of me. A castle will do that to a girl…let’s be honest here. How many of you have dreamed at least once in your life to live in a castle or a palace? 

So here is the list of my favorite fairytale castles and palaces around the world and why they are worth a visit:

1. Peles Castle (Sinaia, Romania)

This castle is my first choice, not because I’m very patriotic, but because it represents everything I love from a visual standpoint: wood paneling, cosy wallpapers and tapestry, murano crystals, Klimt paintings, Cordoba leather and Asian designs. The castle, with its Germanic Neo-Renaissance architecture, located in the idyllic scenery of the mountains has a majestic feel to it, without being enormous or too glamorous. I recommend visiting the Peles Castle in winter, when it’s full of snow and the forest surrounding it looks right out of a fairytale book…our very own Romanian Neuschwanstein. Don’t take my word for it – just google it online, you’ll see what I mean. Official website.

2. Palace of Versailles (Versailles, France)

On the other end of cosy and low key is the Versailles. And because I appreciate the grandeur and decadence in some cases, as well as simplicity in others, this palace is the second on my list. I bet a lot of girls have dreamed at least once to be in Marie Antoinette’s shoes for a day (well not the day of her beheading anyway). I for one can shamelessly admit to not having a “proletarian bone” in my body so I imagined being her more than once. Well, my imagination worked overtime while strolling through this magnificent example of Baroque architecture and art with its grand chambers and exquisite French furniture, its Hall of Mirrors and never ending geometrical gardens. Official website.

3. Matsumoto Castle (Matsumoto, Japan)

Japan is my second favorite travel destination after France, so it’s only natural that I find Japanese architecture enchanting. Japan has lots of beautiful castles, but this is the first and only one I ever visited (so far). For a westerner it’s a really amazing and unique experience to behold the oldest existing castle in Japan, with its dark exterior and original wooden paneling. Matsumoto is like a fairytale, black and white swans flow carelessly through the water surrounding it, a garden full of sakura (cherry) trees in its immediate vicinity completes the perfect picture. The only thing that’s missing is a princess wearing red lipstick and a beautiful flowery kimono…but we can arrange that. I can settle for a geisha as well. Official website.

4. Real Alcazar (Seville, Spain)

This is the most recent castle I visited (apart from all the Swiss medieval and rather smallish castles) and it’s still very vivid in my mind. One of my favorite types of architecture is the Moorish one, with the intricate wall designs, interior gardens and fountains, beautiful azulejos  and orange trees. The Moorish style is unique for Andalusia, the southern part of Spain, and you can’t find it anywhere else in the world (except for Morocco, where some of the style is present, but in a much “tamer” version). The Real Alcazar is a symbol of the cooperation between the Christians, Muslims and Jews and represents the three styles all together. So something really unique and worth seeing in this lifetime. Official website.

5. Schönbrunn Palace (Wien, Austria)

This Austrian palace is, as Versailles, also a Baroque masterpiece, but built in a more austere fashion typical for the German people…or at least so it appears on the outside. On the inside it’s also very glamorous, but cozy. What I liked the most were the pieces of art in the palace, the beautifully painted ceilings and walls. You will find a lot of representatives of the Venetian school of art. Schönbrunn is also best known for its fairytale gardens, which in summer are full of flowers and ducks and in winter covered in snow. You can picture yourself here as Sisi, riding the one horse open sleigh through the snow, dressed in white furs and with the hands stuffed in a muff (of course artificial fur, perhaps carrying a very much alive polar fox on your lap). Official website.

6. Pena Palace (Sintra, Portugal)

Sintra is the place to visit, if you love small palaces, castles, chateaus, manors, villas and the likes. I liked Pena the most because of its Romantic architecture, which is quite extraordinary, and for the warm vivid colors, which again is very uncommon for European architecture. I loved the round forms of the castle with the cupolas and shades of red, yellow and purple, as well as its placement on top of a hill. The interior is not as beautiful as the outside, but it really is worth a visit. The gardens are enormous and somewhat wild, very refreshing to the very symmetrical and organized European gardens. Official website.

7. Quinta da Regaleira (Sintra, Portugal)

I find this particular Portuguese Gothic castle to be the epitome of “fairytaleness” along with the Peles Castle. If the castle with pinnacles, gargoyles and towers doesn’t bring back the story of Beauty and the Beast, then maybe the intricate gardens full of labyrinths, wells, stairs, luxuriant vegetation, ponds and caves will surely take you there. You can spend a whole day in the gardens and not find your way back. This is the perfect scenery for my favorite fairytale and I feel really blessed that I got to discover it. Official website.

8. Palazzo Pitti (Florence, Italy)

Pitti is a typical Renaissance Italian palace, in the heart of Florence, owned by the Medici family. The interiors are decadent, full of baroque designs and paintings by Italian masters like Raphael and Titian. What is special about this palace in comparison with other grand palaces in Italy?! Well, nothing in particular, aside for its beautiful gardens on top of the hill with a beautiful unique grotto, and for the amazing fact that the Medici lived here. This family was another interest of mine while growing up, among other Italian noble families. 

9. Prince’s Palace of Monaco (Monaco)

This is a unique palace, an assembly of styles, a medieval fortification at its core but a Renascent palazzo on the surface. It’s the residence of the very famous and old Grimaldi family. The apartments are beautiful, but more so are the surroundings…Monte Carlo and the Mediterranean Sea. So as far as location goes this palace should be the first on my list, because I would take the coast over the mountains any day. Official website.

10. Kensington Palace (London, UK)

The red brick construction is one of the residences of the British Royal Family. It was transformed and upgraded over time from a Jacobean mansion to a Baroque palace. Out of all the Baroque architecture I’ve ever seen, this might be the most simple and sober, very fit for the English. The reason it’s on my list must be because of the very British and well kept gardens with many squirrels,  swans, geese and ducks, as well as the whole Kensington district of townhouses, which is in fact my favorite area in London. So the palace and gardens are just an upgrade to the whole very proper and elegant, very British Kensington. Official website.

11. Bran Castle (Bran, Romania)

I end my list with a medieval castle, although I’m not a very big fan of that part of history or architecture, this construction is something special. Many of you think of the legend of Vlad the Impaler, when you hear about Bran Castle, or vampires, werewolves or Halloween…Well it can’t be any further from the truth. Although the castle seems very fairytale-like in a scary fashion, Dracula didn’t live there, it’s just another medieval castle in the mountains like many others. The reason it’s so special to me is that I summered in its vicinity my whole childhood and because my mother was named after the last princess that lived there. I visited it more times than I can count, I know every nook, every secret staircase, every scratch on every chair and I whispered a lot of secret dreams over the edge of the fountain in the interior garden. So, this is my very special fairytale castle, number 11 and the last on my list. Official website.

Of course there are a lot more castles I loved, most of them in Italy, Germany and also Switzerland. But there is an even longer list of castles waiting to be visited, most of them in France. I will tell you all about my passion for the old ages in another article, without any princesses or castles in it. Until then…shall we all have cake? 

The featured photo is from Burg Hohenzollern, Germany.

Photos from Flamingo‘s archive, Unsplash, Pixabay.