Confessions of a Castleholic: Q&A With Me

I don’t know about you but I love a good Q&A. Those short, bite-sized interviews are always my favorite pieces to read in magazines or on blogs. So I thought it would be a great idea to have one right here on Confessions of a Castleholic with the questions coming straight from you guys. Why? Because four years ago today, I published the very first post on this blog chronicling my visit to Schloss Wernigerode so it's time to celebrate a little. Big thanks to everyone who shared their questions on Twitter, Facebook or via E-Mail. So without further ado, here are my answers to seven fun questions…


Do you see yourself living in a palace?
Frankly, no. I think I have read too much about how inconvenient life in a castle is and how difficult it is to keep them up to have that wish. I rather stick to visiting so I can fully enjoy them. 

Which castle would you like to own? And why?
If I had to pick one, I would probably go full Baroque splendour. However inconvenient in real life, it would go best with my dream of floating down a staircase and twirling around in a stunning gown in a candlelit ballroom. Sticking with the castles I have actually been to, I think I would take Schloss Weissenstein as it also combines with my favourite style of garden: An English landscape park including a free roaming herd of deer.

Is there a castle you have been to that you absolutely hated and couldn't wait to leave?
Not hated but generally I'm not really into fortresses and ruined castles, so I don't visit them a lot to begin with. Generally though I find that my enjoyment of a place has a lot to do with the kind of tour that is offered with the lesser known and smaller castles usually having the much better ones. 

Is there a hidden gem between all the castles you have visited you weren't aware of before you saw them?
Kind of: I visited Spain last year and went to several different cities. I knew from the very beginning that I wanted to go to Granada to see the Alhambra cause I had heard and seen so much about it. A few days later, I also went to Seville. Though I didn't know very much about it in advance, I naturally also went to see the Real Alcázar and was stunningly surprised. Possibly a controversial opinion but I actually enjoyed the Alcázar de Sevilla more than the Alhambra.

If you had the time and money, which castles would you visit next?
I would be on a plane to St. Petersburg tomorrow (or maybe wait a few weeks until it's a bit warmer outside)! Tsarskoye Selo/Pushkin must be one of the most stunning places on earth. And of course the Hermitage including the Winter Palace in St. Petersberg itself. The Romanovs knew how to do splendour!

Which tv or film castle (though no Disney castles) is your favourite?
It's probably a bit unfair to all the other castles and palaces featured in movies or TV series but I must go with Catherine Palace in BBC's War and Peace even though I think only the Tsar's ball was filmed there. They also used a lot of Rundāle Palace in Latvia for that show, it's a little known but stunning place.

What story about monarchy or royal that you wish they made a movie/tv series about it?
Though generally little known, I think the story of Grand Duchesses Marie-Adélaïde and Charlotte of Luxembourg and how the two world wars brought one of them down and the other seen as a hero of her people would be a very interesting one.

Photos: Castleholic / Wikimedia Commons 

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