Extreme Castle Hunters

04/09/2025

Tropsztyn Castle, Czchów, on the way to Nowy Sącz 🇵🇱

A cute freshly renovated castle - with beautiful views over Dunajec river and great coffee + impressive selection of ice cream in the roof top cafe!
🙃

01/01/2024

New Year’s Eve view on Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau, DE (yes, we know that they are actually palaces 😇)

Happy New Year to all fellow castle hunters!

30/09/2023

Frydland Castle, 🇨🇿

29/09/2023

Oybin, DE 🇩🇪 ruins of a fortified Gothic monastery towering on a steep rock formation. Absolutely worth going up the hill - the structure is much bigger and more impressive than it seems to be seen from the village.

14/09/2023

DUNAJEC CASTLE in Niedzica, PL 🇵🇱



🏰

30/03/2023

FORTIFIED CITY OF CARCASSONNE -THE CLASSIC

Carcassonne is a must-see for every castle lover - even though some orthodox ones would say that “it’s actually a reconstruction” 🙂
This impressive citadel, famous for its 3km long double defensive walls with 52 towers and a barbican, was founded during the Gallo-Roman period and preserved its military function till the Treaty of Pirenees (1659), which incorporated Carcassonne to France.
It is said to be the first stronghold to have used hoardings - temporary wooden platforms, facilitating defense pduring a siege.
After that the fortress lost its military function and its glory. It was fully demilitarised under Napoleon and kept falling apart so badly that in 1849 the government voted for a complete demolition of the ruins. The local population together with the writer and archaeologist Prosper Merimee managed to wave the decision, which resulted in Eugene Viollet-Le-Duc being commissioned with restoration of the citadel, starting 1853.
Already then the renovation was pretty controversial as Viollet-le-Duc used some building materials typical for the north of France. Nevertheless, it was an amazing conservatory achievement which still lets us enjoy this exceptional place.

03/04/2022

CASTELLO DI SANT ANGELO, ROME, ITALY

The classic we wrote aboute some time ago - here some fresh pics at a spring sunset :)

04/12/2021

HRAD LOKET, CZ 🇨🇿

Charles IV, Goethe, James Bond and pygmy goats 🐐

Loket is one of the most picturesquely located castles in Central Europe. The cute little town of Loket, where some scenes for "Casino Royal" were shot, is situated on a rocky hill and surrounded by the deep valley of the river Ohry (also called Eger). Ohry takes a dramatic sharp turn just below the castle, reminding of a bent elbow in shape - that is where the name of the town, Loket, comes from.

The origins of the castle date back to the 12th century. Despite its truly fairly tale flair, the stronghold mostly served as a prison - in the old times e.g. for Charles IV, later for more common prisoners. Today it houses an “interactive” torture chamber (whatever it means, we resisted the temptation :)), but also several more pleasant exhibitions, like porcelain.

The castle hill is so steep that it is impossible to mown it - luckily several charming goats live there and take care of the grass :)

The castle is usually visited in combination with Karlovy Vary - which maybe doesn’t have a castle, but is unbelievably pretty.
Goethe was a great fun and visited the region repeatedly there’s a memory plate on almost every second building! :))

07/10/2021

KILCHURN CASTLE, Scotland

We actually show only our own photos, but... look at this one!

‘Inception’

Sometimes there’s a moment in time where you just need to take in everything around you. This was one of those moments.

28/08/2021

BURG STOLPEN, Saxony, DE🇩🇪
The prison of Countess of Cosel and the place where the name "basalt" originates from.

The castle is located on a basalt rock towering over a small, cute town of Stolpen. It is the formation to which the German scholar Agricola referred to, when he coined the term "basalt" as the name for volcanic rocks.

The first defensive construction was erected on the site probably around 1100 and documented in 1222. Owned by the Bishop of Meißen for nearly 350 years, the castle passed to the Electorate of Saxony and was expanded in Renaissance style. In 1675 it was further expanded as a fortress. While visiting you can easily recognise basalt columns as building material and how the rocky hill was integrated into the building.

Stolpen is famous mostly for its longest inhabitant: Anna Constantia von Brockdorff, Countess of Cosel, mistress of August II , whose far going political ambitions caused her her freedom. She spent 49 years in Stolpen and was buried there. In the tower, which was her main home, there is a very interesting exhibition devoted to her.

The castle is very much wort seeing, more that we expected

17/08/2021

Best wishes from this year's extreme castle hunt in Czech Republic. We're on the move again! Expect more castles soon!!!

05/08/2021

KSIĄŻ CASTLE next to Wałbrzych, Lower Silesia, PL 🇵🇱

This is not the first time Książ has been hunted by us :) Here some pics showing the castle from the less known garden perspective. Enjoy!