The weather was awesome last weekend, so we went on one of our favourite pastimes: castle hunting! Here is Prandegg castle, one of the biggest ruins in Upper Austria.
What I like about it: it's a ruin, but you still get a good feeling of how it once used to be. The chapel, gate house, tower, brewery and the walls of the palas (residential building) are still standing. The view from the tower is spectacular!
Prandegg castle ruin stretches on top of a hill with an approximate length of 140m, and 2435sq m. It was built around 1200 by the Prantner family. Throughout history, the castle changed hands quite a few times. Today, it is owned by the dukes of Saxe-Coburg Gotha (which is Queen Victoria's husband's - Albert- family!) .
We enjoyed scrambling about these old stones! Some door arches and bay windows are well preserved. If you look closely in the first picture above, you can see my daughter balancing in a window frame .... There are several underground rooms that are dark and damp (with possible holes in the ground). One does need to be careful, there. This lovely little oven (top middle) is a reconstruction. It's a "Kalkbrennoven" - a lime kiln.
Standing right next to the brewery.
We had an awesome time there! Definitely a ruin I like to return to.
©Sofi Laporte