The first time I saw the Loire Valley, I was chasing fog. It was early—too early for most tourists—but I couldn’t sleep. I’d rolled out of bed in a little village near Blois, wrapped a scarf around my neck, and set off toward the river with coffee still warming my hands. The sky was that […]
Have you ever stood in a place and felt the past tug at your sleeve? That was me, atop the ramparts of Stirling Castle, wind snapping at my coat as I imagined Robert the Bruce rallying his troops below. There’s something deeply visceral about Scottish castles. They don’t just sit silently on the landscape—they command […]
🏰 1. More Than Just Stone Walls There’s something magnetic about standing in front of a centuries-old castle. The thick stone walls, weathered by time. The towers rise against the sky like ancient sentinels. You can almost hear the echoes of clanking armor and the flicker of torchlight against stone. The first time I visited […]
I’ve always had a thing for castles. As a kid, they were the backdrop to every adventure I imagined—knights, dragons, secret rooms, and tapestries that hid escape tunnels. As an adult, that obsession never really went away. I just swapped out plastic swords for train tickets. Over the years, I’ve wandered through foggy fortresses in […]
For centuries, the ideas and, even more so, the ideals symbolized by castles and embodied in them have been a catalyst for captivating imaginations. The very concept of a castle, for many—including me, I must confess—is inextricably linked with power (especially political and military), romance, mystery, and history. Most of us can point to at […]
When I first heard about a castle nestled in the rainforests of tropical North Queensland, I thought someone was pulling my leg. A Spanish-style castle? In Australia? Next to a roaring waterfall? It sounded more like a fantasy scene from a novel than a place you could actually visit. But Paronella Park Castle is very […]
When I was planning my trip to New Zealand, I wasn’t expecting to find a castle. Mountains, yes. Sheep, absolutely. But a full-on, turreted, Gothic-revival mansion? That caught me off guard. Then I stumbled across Larnach Castle, perched high on the Otago Peninsula near Dunedin, and I knew I had to go. This isn’t just […]
Some castles whisper history. This one roars it. Standing atop San Lázaro Hill under the searing Caribbean sun, I found myself staring up at the colossal walls of Castillo San Felipe de Barajas, the greatest military fortress ever built by the Spanish in the Americas. It’s not just a pile of stones—it’s a monument to […]
I’ll be honest: when someone first told me there was a full-on medieval-style castle sitting in the green mountains near Rio de Janeiro, I thought they were joking. Brazil has beaches, jungles, samba, and fútbol—but Gothic stone towers? It didn’t compute. But then I visited Castelo de Itaipava myself, and now I get it. It’s […]
I’ve seen a lot of famous places on my travels, and sometimes they don’t live up to the photos. But then there are spots that completely exceed expectations—Fairmont Le Château Frontenac is one of those. When I first laid eyes on it from the Dufferin Terrace, perched high above the St. Lawrence River, it genuinely […]
