This is the castle that I idealize when I think of witches and halloween.
As we approached the town of Wernigerode, we could see the castle sitting atop its hill, looming over the city, very beautiful, and a little spooky. Entering the city, we parked in a big parking lot designated for castle travelers. Common to parking lots of Germany, we had to pay a fee. When we went up to the machine to pay to get a parking pass, an older couple drove up to us and gave us their ticket! They had purchased a day pass, and were already leaving, so it was still good and it saved us some money! It was very sweet, and we were very thankful. Later, we paid it forward by giving that pass to somebody else, so they could also enjoy the castle free of parking charge.
We thought we would walk up to the castle, it would have been a nice 30 minutes of exercise, but then we saw this little red train pull up, taking people up to the castle. It cost us 4 EUR a person as a one way trip (6 for there and back), so we took advantage of it as a cool little experience.The little train took us to the gates of the castle.
At the gate, you could choose the quick or the long way up to the actual castle (5 vs.10 minutes, respectively) and since we had time to explore and wanted to see more, we took the 10 minute walk. It was just a spiraling road around the castle, which let us see some of the helpers’ buildings that surrounded the castle.
Walking the spiraling road, it was amazing and gorgeous to see all the towering arches and towers of the castle. It was just amazing. We also got passed by an ambulance going to the very front door of the castle. We later heard the ambulance medics saying that they’ve never gotten to drive so close before. Usually they have to park at the gate and walk up a-ways. We never found out why they were there.
Tickets cost us around 6 EUR/person as students, so adults were probably around 8 EUR, but it is worth it, regardless. Inside the castle, there were two tours to go on, both of which were included in your ticket. It seems like many castles right now at least, do self guided tours as a measure against COVID-19, which we actually kind of prefer. It lets you go at your own pace.
Upon entering, you could pick which tour to start with, and then do the other later. We naturally started with tour #1, which started on the lower floor of the castle church. It had amazingly beautiful geometric tiles and stone walls. From there, we walked around the interior of the castle in a circle, and saw its many many rooms. All the rooms had different things to see, from swords to armor to old antique furniture and books, but what stuck out the most to us was the gorgeous and ornate wood carvings. There was so much detail put into every piece of wood, and the way that detail was put into the ceilings too was simply aweing. It really could leave a person speechless. With our first tour eventually complete, we started our second tour.
The second tour went the same direction as the first, but now we were on the second floor of the castle complex. We climbed a spiraling stone staircase to the upper floor of the church, and went off to explore the next set of rooms. Eventually, we found ourselves in my personal favorite room of them all, the grand dining room. The dining room was HUGE. It was like 3 stories tall, with arched ceilings, which were made of dark wood and were carved. All the walls of the room were painted with giant paintings depicting some of the history of the castle. The walls that didn’t have paintings were due to damage, and so they were never repainted.
The next room we went into had some smaller historical details to tell about the dining room, and it was there we saw a black and white photo, which showed the dining room through the door we had just walked through, with one of the later owners in the image. It was like an exact match! Everything you could see in the photo could be seen in the room, with small differences here and there. It was just amazing, how much of this room was original. We later found out, the dining room was one of the few rooms that was not drastically changed or damaged through the course of history, thank goodness, because it was amazing.
We also found a room showing some taxonomy, as they had a life-sized pig hanging over a fire pit,which was kind of creepy. In this same room was a suit of armor, sitting on a horse. I liked this because I’ve always wondered how riders could manage to sit on a horse while decked out in full armor, now I know! Of course, as you can expect, there were various pieces of art throughout the castle as well.
The inner courtyard was also very pretty. Surrounded by the intricate details of the castles, we could have sat there for hours. There is now a small cafe in the courtyard, so if you wanted to enjoy a coffee, you could probably have the chance to enjoy the view for an hour or two.
As Lucas puts it, this might be his most favorite castle that we’ve seen yet. He says that a lot now, but lately they have seemed to really be impressive, and I have to agree, this castle was great. After visiting the castle, we killed some time wandering the town. It was similar to Celle and Triberg in that the buildings had more of that old-time feel to them. Definitely a town we wouldn’t mind exploring some more! So, with that, we left the great castle and went on our way to the next adventure.
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