Burghausen Castle

Jess, you’ve been back in the states for months now, why has it taken you so long to finish up your European adventure posts (you may be asking)? Well, it’s the darnedest thing. After having been able to live in another world with just myself and my favorite person, far away from the normal stressors of daily life, jumping back into polite society is taking some getting used to and has preoccupied my time. I also think maybe I have been delaying writing about our final European destinations because it will hammer home the fact that the adventure is indeed over, for now anyway. While not living out of a suitcase and being able to somewhat settle is nice, it is an adjustment.

So now, let me tell you a bit about Burghausen. Another magical town in the unexpectedly magical Germany. What a fairy tale. I mean, we visited a castle for goodness sake! And you know I’m a pretty princess at heart.

We left Munich and took the two hour train ride to Burghausen (which sits on the German-Austrian border). We walked from the train station through the newer part of town, stopping for lunch in a small restaurant inside of the civic center. The food was tasty and the waitress very nice. I tried the Flammkuchen which is a sort of German pizza/flat bread, so how could it be bad? Phil had some kind of pork sandwich covered in curry sauce with fries (again, how could it be bad?) that I failed to get the name of. Both were tasty and provided the necessary fuel for the day of walking we had ahead of us.

While at the civic center, we picked up a map and guide of the town and castle. I was very excited to visit the castle. During our time in Albania, we visited a few castle ruins but Burghausen feels like a “real”castle, a castle-y castle. It is intact and exudes that fairy tale quality the pretty princess in me really appreciated.

Burghausen isn’t a tall castle, though it seemed pretty tall to me. It is, however, the longest castle, quite literally. It is the longest castle in the world, in fact. There are seven courtyards to reach the actual main castle that sits on a cliff; on one side it overlooks the Old Town below and the other side is a lake. In the first courtyard, there is a clock tower. Phil and I are people who appreciate a good clock tower. Nearish to the clock tower is a biergarten. Phil and I are people who appreciate a good beer.

After enjoying the beautiful day from the biergarten, we carried on, through more of the castle walls.

From over the castle walls, we had impressive views of old town Burghausen which sits on the Salzach River, as well as views of the lake on the other side.

After walking through the courtyards, we entered the main castle walls. It was SO cool. A castle fit for a princess indeed.

There were a couple of museums housed in the old castle with reasonably priced admission. No castle trip would be complete without going into the actual castle, right? We paid the admission and walked through. They had some interesting old paintings and tapestries,

but the views from atop the castle were well worth the price of admission.

We stayed on that rooftop for a long time. Taking in the views from every angle, reflecting on our grand adventure; our amazing year and a half journey that had brought us to that point. I wanted to hold on tight to that moment so badly. Instead, I observed as it passed. I experienced it in the fleeting nature of moments. The thing is, you can’t hold on; the human experience isn’t tangible.

We took one last look around and headed back down the creaky wooden stairs. Our last stop was the little chapel.

We then made our way down the steep, winding steps at the back of the castle.

We walked along the lakeside path as the castle became smaller in the distance. We talked and walked and made our way back to the train station, after stopping for gelato and picking up a bottle of wine, of course.

We shared our bottle of wine in the hotel that night. Recalling stories from our adventure and preparing for the final stop on our journey. The next day we would leave mainland Europe.

Última Parada: Iceland!