So, i decided to go and visit Edinburgh Castle - what Castles have been to?

[TheGamingNewsGuy]

So due to having some free time this week due to my Uni Induction not starting to next week, i decided - why not go to one of the most famous and well known attractions in Edinburgh - that being Edinburgh Castle.

Personally i terms of my thoughts on Edinburgh Castle - I really enjoyed it. It is always interesting to learn about British History. I went to the War Time Museum wars that Scotland was involved in as well as what the soldiers wore and what they used. Of course when you get to the top of Edinburgh Castle - the view is simply excellent and I managed to take a few photos though it was very windy (i was worried about my phone dropping). I would say in terms of my favourite bit - I would say it probalby is the Great Hall - the sheer size and scale of it and seeing how long Claymores are made me realise just how difficult it would be to carry it and use it whilst in combat. Personally i really enjoyed my time there and i would recommend it if you are in Edinburgh though it is a bit on the expensive side.

I am curious to know if anyone else has been to Castles and if so - what are your thoughts on them. If you have been to Edinburgh Castle - I would be curious to know what your opinions are on it?

 

[andymcc]

I've been to Edinburgh Castle-- it's nice.

 

[Pirate Bae]

I visited the bouncy castle at my friend's birthday party when I was 8, does that count?

 

[deadmonkeyuk]

Edinburgh Castle is worth a visit, but I much preferred Stirling Castle.

 

[super-famicom]

I've visited many castles in Japan!

Nijou Castle in Kyoto was great to see.

I think Matsumoto Castle is my favorite, though.

 

[Unaha-Closp]

I'm Scottish and my family had a car growing up so yeah I've been to visit castles lol Not as an adult - but childhood trips out - absolutely.

 

[Fatoy]

I used to spend summers in Carcassonne, which has a pretty killer castle / old city:

 

[UnluckyKate]

I've visited many castles in Japan!

Nijou Castle in Kyoto was great to see.

I think Matsumoto Castle is my favorite, though.

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Wait, are you me, did you stole these picture from my facebook lol ?

 

[Wrexis]

Edinburgh is amazing. 10/10 would go again. I think I've gone three times.
Sterling Castle up the road is really good too.
Caernarfon Castle is more run down, but feels like shit went down there.
Kilkenny Castle is smaller, but one of the bigger ones in Ireland.
Ross Castle in Killarney Ireland is more of a ruin, but has an epic walk to it through a lovely park.
Blarney Castle is probably the most famous one I've been to - Blarney Stone etc.

There's a ton of Norman era castles in both Ireland and the UK. Too many to name tbh.

Finally, Kylemore Abbey - yes, not a castle. But feels like it.

 

[super-famicom]

Wait, are you me, did you stole these picture from my facebook lol ?

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I just did an image search, lol. But I actually did take very similar pictures of these castles myself.

 

[TheGamingNewsGuy]

Edinburgh is amazing. 10/10 would go again. I think I've gone three times.
Sterling Castle up the road is really good too.
Caernarfon Castle is more run down, but feels like shit went down there.
Kilkenny Castle is smaller, but one of the bigger ones in Ireland.

There's a ton of Norman era castles in both Ireland and the UK. Too many to name tbh.

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It's conveys a fascinating piece of British History in my opinion

 

[lunarworks]

I've been to a few imitation castles in North America, but the only real one I've been to is Himeji Castle in Japan.

 

[jph139]

Saw a few when I was traveling in the UK (Cardiff, Edinburgh), but only actually went inside the Tower of London. Pretty nice. I get the feeling if you like in the UK you've got a castle on every street corner.

Outside of there, I visited Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City - very impressive sight, up on top of a hill in the middle of the park. From there is gets kind of murky... like, does a kasbah count as a castle? Mesoamerican palaces? That little castle thing in Central Park?

 

[Paroni]

Out of medieval castles of Finland the Häme Castle is my favorite. I haven't been there in years, but went there on several school trips as a kid and loved it every time.

 

[Patriiick]

My sister got married in Lincoln last year so we spent a fair bit of time around the castle. It's only about 30 miles away from me so I've been plenty of times.

 

[painey]

Being English I have been to more castles than I'll ever remember. Windsor Castle was nice, if a little touristy. My favourite is easily Bodiam Castle, just because of the sick moat and it's where I learned a lot about war, like the windows being small enough to shoot arrows from, but not into, and how all the staircases are designed in a way that the defenders would be able to come downstairs with swinging room for their right (sword) hand, whereas the attackers would be left vulnerable by advancing up shield hand first.

 

[Deleted member 26591]

I bloody love a good castle. As a kid I found them fascinating and now I love to go and try to immerse myself and imagine what they were like in their heyday.

Mont Orgueil castle in Jersey is a pretty good one to visit.

Skipton is nice as well

Norwich castle is basically just the keep now, but they're currently restoring it back to its original form which would make it worth a visit.

My favourite are Hastings, Framlingham and Rochester though. Proper tumbledown but incredibly evocative.

 

[Enthus]

When I visited Scotland as a kid my mom had us go to at least 6 castles, including Edinburgh. Some ruined ones too. I'd appreciate that trip a lot more if I went now.

 

[gosublime]

One of my mates from school lived in a Castle next to my home town so I have a) played snooker b) drunk whiskey and c) thrown up, all in that order in a castle so yep, definitely visited one.

The area I'm from in Scotland (Border between England) basically every town pretty much has a castle so it's not a big deal really. For example my town has two within 10 minutes walk.

 

[Glasgow Mega-Snake]

Having grown up in Germany... yeah I went to a shitton of castles. Actually as a kind I was pretty obsessed with them, the way others are into dinosaurs

Here are some cool ones:

Burg Eltz

Burg Rheinstein

Feste Oberhaus, Passau

 

[Cjdamon042]

It's something I want to do more. I love a good castle.

Edinburgh Castle is worth a visit, but I much preferred Stirling Castle.

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Same here. Though I live in Edinburgh so I guess the novelty wears off, but it is pretty to look at when in town.

 

[Izzard]

I work 60 seconds away from Windsor Castle so see that every day. Been in a few times, for tour, garter day, and the Christmas play they do.
Most castles I've been to are in the UK, but I've visited a few in Europe too.

 

[mhayes86]

I've seen a few in the distance while traveling through Europe a few years ago, but the ones I've actually visited were:

1) Larnarch Castle in Dunedin, New Zealand

2) Neuschwanstein in Schwangau, Germany (inspiration for Disneyland's castle)

3) Hohenschwangau in Schwangau, Germany (literally next to Neuschwanstein)

I think they're neat, and especially loved Neuschwanstein since it's up in the mountain and looks absolutely beautiful from a distance, as well as the landscape around and below when you're at the castle.

 

[Thorrgal]

I mean yes, probably dozens of them. One of my friend owned one even. In Catalonia were I'm from there's around 1000 and in Spain more than 10.000.

My favorite would be Mount Saint Michel in Normandy, which is more than a castle obviously but it has a castle in part of the complex.

Haven't been to Scotland unfortunately, but I really want ro go there. Whenever I visit a new european country I make sure to visit whatever castles are there lol

 

[Wrexis]

Is Neuschwanstein the castle that inspired the Disney castle? Or am I thinking of another one. Beautiful.

 

[Rhomega]

I believe I've been to Heidelberg Castle in Germany.

 

[NCR Ranger]

A couple when I visited England over a decade ago. Dover Castle was cool, but there was one that was more or less a ruin, I think it was Rochester Castle, and one that was pretty much just a fortified manor house, whose name escapes me. As far as I am concerned if you ain't a big imposing fortress you ain't a castle. Of course, that is personal preference if I was ranking my favorite castles so don't read too much into it.

Dover was my favorite so far, because we went off season and on a somewhat poor weather day, so we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves. It also has stuff that spans medieval England to WWII.

 

[Croc Man]

British so yeah loads, especially if you include the ones they call castles but are more palaces (I believe same linguistic origins).

Most recent was Corfe castle ruins which I loved, as much as I like complete castles I never tire or exploring ruins.

Edinburgh castle was great, I went to the military tattoo there with the castle as a backdrop, it was very cold.

Castle of the Moors in Portugal is another favourite but mostly because the fog came down while I was there so rather than the amazing view you could see nothing beyond the walls, some GoT shit.

 

[IggyChooChoo]

The Mehrangarh Fort in the Rajasthani city of Jodhpur, India is quite impressive.

And the interiors are amazing, too.

 

[Anim]

I've been to several, in Poland and Slovakia.

The most impressive one I've seen is definitely the Malbork Castle, built by Teutonic Knights in the 13th century. It's a whole gothic castle complex, mostly completely preserved.

Then there's the Royal Castle in Cracow, once the seat of Polish kings. It's a mishmash of styles, as it's been added to over the centuries.

I've also been to the Ogrodzieniec Castle, which unfortunately is in ruins right now, but it's still quite impressive nonetheless. Here's my photo of it:

Another cool one is the Bobolice Castle, which is quite close to the Ogrodzieniec one. It's quite small, but looks pretty nice.

 

[JimNastics]

A couple when I visited England over a decade ago. Dover Castle was cool, but there was one that was more or less a ruin, I think it was Rochester Castle, and one that was pretty much just a fortified manor house, whose name escapes me. As far as I am concerned if you ain't a big imposing fortress you ain't a castle. Of course, that is personal preference if I was ranking my favorite castles so don't read too much into it.

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Dover Castle is great and chock full of history, arguably the most important defensive fort in the country through history due to its location. It's my favourite I've been to down here in the south of England.

 

[Shemhazai]

Being English I've been to a few since they're everywhere. Made me realise I really don't give a shit about castles. Or stately homes. It's all just kind of dull.

 

[Ojli]

Last one I went to was this chonky boi: Glimmingehus in southern Sweden
Basically just a really big house with two meter thick walls

 

[Plinkerton]

Loving all these pictures of castles...

One local to me that I want to shout out is Caerphilly Castle. I actually used to live like two minutes walk from it and would walk the route around the outside almost daily. I don't think I fully appreciated at the time how special it is to have that sort of history directly on your doorstep - I guess not everyone has that and I wish I'd appreciated that more when I lived there.

Caerphilly Castle is more beat down looking than a lot of others in this thread, but I think it gives the place some character and certainly makes it look old.

 

[Shades]

Mars Cheese Castle

 

[SexRanger]

Sure, this is one next to me. Not the biggest one but it's nice place to visit in summer.

 

[Motorcycle Dork]

I've been to several castles in England and abroad. The last time I visited one was the Alanya Kalesi, Turkey

Not impressive visually, but still a cool landmark nevertheless. My friend also visited Edinburgh not too long ago. She said the castles there were dandy but fancied the whisky tours more :P

 

[TheCthultist]

Not really a castle, but I did spend a weekend on Pollepel Island in the Hudson when I was younger. The structure there was made to resemble a castle, but was really just used as an ammunition stockpile and arms depot. The majority of its interior was blasted apart during an accident with the arsenal back in 1920, so its basically just a blown-out husk of what it once was… Still made for a cool bit of exploration and whatnot though.

 

[Dr. Mario]

For Europeans this is not really a question, lol. I even got married in a small castle. Pictures in the library, wine tasting in the cellars, dancing in the ballroom. The castle had only one bedroom up in the spire, so after the guests left, that's where we spent our wedding night. It was pretty neat.

I have a castle about 15 minutes away from me that I regularly go to during summer because it's free if you have the national museum subscription.

It was rebuilt in 1900 so slightly fake, but since nobility lived/lives in it, it technically qualifies.

 

[kharma45]

For Europeans this is not really a question, lol. I even got married in a small castle. Pictures in the library, wine tasting in the cellars, dancing in the ballroom. The castle had only one bedroom up in the spire, so after the guests left, that's where we spent our wedding night. It was pretty neat.

I have a castle about 15 minutes away from me that I regularly go to during summer because it's free if you have the national museum subscription.

It was rebuilt in 1900 so slightly fake, but since nobility lived/lives in it, it technically qualifies.

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we cycled out to it when visiting Utrecht a few years ago - really nice spot

 

[WeAreStarStuff]

American here. Nice, wife and I went to Edinburg castle shortly before Covid started. I've not been to many castles, but my favorite is probably Pena Palace in Portugal; it's gorgeous. I took tons of photos, but don't have any readily available at the moment. Random internet photo:

I also really like the Castelo dos Mouros. It's not very grand, but it was very foggy when we visited, which gave the whole thing an ethereal feel. Photo I took back in 2018:

 

[Tavernade]

I've been to Warwick Castle, Windsor Castle, Osaka Castle, Kumamoto Castle, Kifune Castle, and the Fukuoka Castle Ruins.

I like them all a lot! Castles are just really cool places to explore. I was a little disappointed that a lot of the Japanese ones were reconstructions, but I thought Osaka's museum was really cool inside. Kumamoto Castle has this really great old timey market in front of it, but I think my favorite is Kifune Castle in Beppu. It's pretty small but there are some priests who live there and to get in you first bow before a preserved sacred snake and then you worship a living snake inside. The place inside is bizarre, because it looks like someone's grandparents moved into a temple so there's incredibly impressive art works and old timey weapons and paintings and prints and folding screens and just glass cabinets full of stuff grandparents would collect, and everything inside seems preserved from 100 years ago. Also I don't speak Japanese so I may have inadvertently joined a cult when I was there?

 

[DarthWoo]

No castles, but I've visited a couple dreary Civil War-era forts in the US. Fort Mifflin in PA and Fort Point in CA, specifically.

 

[Anustart]

White.

 

[Gunpei]

Wait, are you me, did you stole these picture from my facebook lol ?

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Lol

 

[PJV3]

Porchester castle near Portsmouth is interesting as the outer wall is Roman.

Portchester Castle By Drone 4K

Portchester Castle is a medieval castle built within a former Roman fort at Portchester to the east of Fareham in the English county of Hampshire. It is loca...

www.youtube.com

 

[BarryFishFinger]

Yep, big fan of a castle. Been to loads. I also live near Dunster Castle which is nice:

I've been to Doune Castle which is where they filmed bits of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, that was fun.

 

[SwampBastard]

White.

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You and me both, buddy.

 

[Dragon Puncher]

Yeah, been to a lot. We have so many here in Scandinavia that it's hard not.

I think my favorite castle on the outside (as in the architectural estetic) is Himeji Castle in Japan. So beautiful and extremely well kept, especially considering it is wood.

Favorite interior gotta be The Alhambra in Spain. It's like it's own huge time capsule and just looks amazing.

 

[Jakenbakin]

Edinburgh Castle is so epic with it raised over the city, it's the most badass castle I've ever seen.

My mom got married at Amberley Castle when I was young.



They were surprisingly okay with all of us 12-16 year old kids climbing all over the walls in a distinctly unsafe manner.