Fairy Tale Road - Observation #2

So besides quaint little German houses, what else does a good German Fairy Tale have? Of course, some sort of castle. Sleeping Beauty had her castle, Rapunzel was locked in the tower of her castle, and of course, there is always the marriage of the poor but beautiful heroine to the charming prince (a.k.a Cinderella and Snow White) who is whisked off to her new home, the local castle.

Yes, the Fairy Tale Road makes good use of this element. And although there is a castle almost in every small village or town in central Germany, I must confess that the marketing gurus who conceived of the Fairy Tale Road may have taken some liberties when stating that this or that one is THE CASTLE that a certain Grimms’ fairy tale was based on. Still, what would a fairy tale be without this essential component?

So, as we trekked through fairy tale land, the following castles were “loosely” connected to one of these childhood tales.

The castle in Trendelberg that inspired the story of Rapunzel…note the tower on the left with no doors.



Steinau Castle: Steinau was the home of the Brothers’ Grimm for the first 12 years or so of their lives. This prominent castle was just a few steps away from their childhood home.





The “Sleeping Beauty” Castle in Sababurg; this castle is the one that the fairy tale is supposedly based upon. Sidenote: we actually spent the night in the “castle turned hotel”….







The Castle in Marburg, city where the Brothers’ Grimm served as professors for a period of time.