At the beginning of every year I plan, or rather plan to plan. But unofficially I dream of escape, and having cut my literary teeth on fairytales and fantasies, it’s fairytale settings like these I long to visit, or even make my home in. Say, a cozy English cottage or a charming 300 room French castle. One of these places, MacLachlan Castle in Scotland, is my family’s ancestral home. And it’s for sale! But it’s a wee bit beyond this laddie’s budget (a wee million £). So it’s back to writing I go. Oh, who am I kidding? I live to tell stories… It’s where all the best adventures happen!
(Click on any picture to enlarge it, or to start slide show)
Bran Castle, Romania
All-wooden home, Russia
Alsace, France
Alcazar Castle, Segovia, Spain
Banyan tree temple (photo by Laura McPhee)
Bibury, England
Bled, Slovenia
Apennine Colossus, Florence, Italy
Bojnice Castle, Slovakia
Bradford-on-Avon, England
Chateau de Chillon, Switzerland
Český Krumlov, Czech Republic
Santa Maddalena, Italy
Cologne, Germany (photo by Kilian Schönberger)
Cinque Terre, Italy
Colmar, Alsace, France
Hidden castle
I dare you to spend the night here!
Corvin Castle, Romania
Cotswolds, England
Dartmoor Forest, England
Eltz Castle Germany
Dubrovnik, Croatia
Gasadalur, Faroe Islands
Italian village
Himeji Castle, Japan
Gosau, Austria
Hohenzollern Castle, Germany
Mont Saint-Michel, Normandy, France
Lichtenstein Castle, Black Forest, Germany
MacLachlan Castle, Scotland
Pelourinho, Brazil
Old Mill, Black Forest, Germany
Reine, Norway
Predjama Castle, Slovenia
Neuschwanstein Castle, Munich, Germany
Pena National Palace, Sintra, Portugal
Rothenburg, Germany
Xingyi Castle, Guizhou, China
Treehouse, Chaumont-sur-Loire, France
Unknown house, Italy
Zug, Switzerland (photo by John Woodworth)
Provence, France
Russian-Armenian house (photo by David Rich)
Tbilisi, Georgia
Village De Penne, France
Zermatt, Switzerland
Village
Unidentified castle, Italy
“The way to read a fairy tale is to throw yourself in.”
~W.H. Auden
“Every dreamer knows that it is entirely possible to be homesick for a place you’ve never been to, perhaps more homesick than for familiar ground.”
~Judith Thurman
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” ~Marcel Proust
“Into the woods, each time you go,
there’s more to learn of what you know…
Into the woods, then out of the woods–
and happy ever after!”
~Stephen Sondheim
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About mitchteemley
Writer, Filmmaker, Humorist, Thinker-about-stuffer
Reblogged this on Blue Dragon Journal.
Okay – I’m off to check my savings account – I want to go to all of those places.
Send me your agenda when you book it. I’ll meet you for mead in the Great Hall of [insert castle of choice here].
Some beautiful places you collected here.
Beautiful! Thanks for sharing. I will be spending a month in Heidelberg, Germany this summer and hope to visit as many castles as possible!
How cool is that?!
You made me homesick … the Eltz Castle (Burg Eltz) is only 45 minutes from my mom and dad’s place, where I grew up.
Beeindruckend! (My translator says that’s “wow” in German.)
Impressive!
Amazing collection! Can’t wait to see what awaits us “in that bright land where we’ll never grow old”!
Amen, Max.
Beautiful, fairytale castles, and dreamer in me is awake again 🙂
Maybe we can all pitch in and buy your family castle 🙂
Ach, let’s do it!
Enchanting.
Beautiful places 😍
We have a castle where I live. I used to work in the kitchen. It’s famous for being haunted, a bit comical, because it is probably the least haunted place in town. I would know, I am a big chicken, and working nights, I often had to run down to the basement in the dark. If there was a self respecting ghost anywhere in that place, it would have gotten me already. 🙂
They’ve probably read some of your more ranty posts and don’t want to mess with you. ;>)
LOL! 🙂
So many magical places. I have been to some of them but there are so many gems to still be explored. What a wonderful collection, Mitch.
Thanks, Erika.
You are welcome, Mitch 😊
Great read. I’ve rediscovered my connection to childhood magic as of late and it got me thinking that human life has three stages, “seeing life through the eyes of a child”, then “seeing life through the eyes of an adult” then the third, “seeing life as an adult through the eyes of a child” A life built on magic thought, is a magic life. 🙂 Thanks for this.
Yes! Parenthood tends to usher that latter stage.
So many reminders of all the time I entered houses and castles and hollowed trees in my favorite Grimm’s fairy tales.
And yet somehow you survived. ;>)
My imagination was omnipotent.
Incredible post with stunning photos of such mystical places! Indeed, when I toured 2000 miles around Ireland, I came to understand it was truly the land of fairy tales as well. Enchanting places.
Must. Get. To. Ireland. Someday!
Oh Yes! Do that!!!! It’s magical!
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Thanks so much, Mitch!
Adventure awaits! It’s good to be reminded there’s a big world to explore beyond all the bummer headlines.
It is indeed, E.
I’ve been to both Colmar and Mont Saint Michel and they are very different but both well worth a visit. In Colmar is the Isenheim Altarpiece by Grunewald–beautiful and moving paintings of Christ’s life, preserved through wars and now on display in a convent turned art museum. All just a high-speed day trip from Paris! And Mont Saint Michel is awe-inspiring for so many reasons-not to mention all it took just to build it!!!
I’m jealous, Kathy!
I didn’t get to visit these sorts of places until the last few years, so now and especially as an art teacher, I think I appreciate them more than I would have earlier in my life. I visit places like Mont Saint Michel or Colmar and pinch myself to believe I’m really there and thank God for such a wonderful blessing!
It was fun to see that you included Colmar. Most people have never heard of it, and it’s a charming town with old buildings with crazy decorations and a short but pretty canal. And the altarpiece is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece! I posted its Christmas picture and ones from the Resurrection last year on my blog.
I’ll take one of those cozy cottages, please! Imagine living several months each year in one of those idyllic, fairy-tale villages–a lovely daydream!
That place in Florence, actually looks very beautiful and incredible. I wonder who the architect of it was.
Afraid I don’t know, Caden.
What a great collection….meet you in the turret room of castle…..
Deal.
Such beautiful pictures and places!
Beautiful. I have a fascination for castles too.