That's a phrase on the Neuschwanstein Castle from Rick Steve's travel guide and it pretty much captures the place. We saw this castle and neighboring Hohenschangua on a day trip from Munich to Fussen (a two-hour train ride).
Prinz Otto Ludwig Friedrich Wilhelm (King Ludwig II or Mad King Ludwig) was a little odd even by standards of royal families who were often characterized by eccentricities! Hohenschwangau was a "summer vacation" castle for Ludwig's father (the main residence was a large castle in Munich), and as a child Ludwig spent most of his time here. And when he became King, he didn't really rule much, but was more of a puppet king after the creation of the Bavarian Parliament. Instead, he spent most of efforts building his "dream" castle - Neuschwanstein - just across a gorge from Hohenschwangau. Neuschwanstein was never completed and, for perspective, really isn't all that old by European castle standards (built from 1869 to 1886 and about as old as the Eiffel Tower).
Eventually Ludwig was declared legally "mad" and therefore unfit to rule and removed as King. Actually, Ludwig had run out of money on his lavish castle projects and the prospect of your King being sued in courts as a deadbeat debtor seemed a little awkward. So his cabinet arranged for a quick psychological exam, found him "mad" and unfit to rule. Then he was sent off to another castle where he and his doctor drowned in a lake a few days later, in deaths shrouded in mysterious circumstances.
This was actually a summer hunting castle (the main royal residence was in Munich). "Mad" King Ludwig's boyhood home and where he later spent most of his reign watching the construction of the Neuschwanstein castle across a gorge. This castle is actually still owned by the royal family, not the Bavarian state.
On the trail from Hohenschwangau to Neuschwanstein
Neuschwanstein
This castle, which was never actually completed, is said to to be the model for Disney's castle motif. During WWII it was used by the Nazi's to store all the valuable artwork they had looted.
Views from the castles
