Once I figured out what the buildings were, I was determined to check it out. I mean, come on, as an American, when will you ever live within a 15 minute walk of a castle? I went there twice this summer (once with my visiting friend and former boss, Sharon, and once with a group of our local friends), and it is really a unique castle and museum. It was only opened to the public very recently. Schloss Hegi was first built in the 1200’s with later additions in the 15th and 18th centuries. This odd clash of time periods makes for a fascinating set of buildings. From what little information I’ve dug up, it seems that the main tower was built first, with the rest of the buildings added on later.

Schloss Hegi

What makes a castle unique? They are a dime a dozen here in Europe, right? Well, this castle is more like an estate house or a very tiny palace. Perhaps in the 12th century it was meant to be a fortification, but the additions from the 15th and 18th century show a more pastoral lifestyle. When the castle was made into a museum, it wasn’t extremely well-thought out. The only way in most areas or floors is the way you came out. Narrow cramped staircases (in some cases ladders!) lead you between floors. If you aren’t careful, you’ll miss a whole section of the castle or a room. There’s dead-ends and locked doors. It sounds completely nuts, but really that’s part of its charm.

Old firewagon

The objects in the museum are completely random as well. On the first floor and in the basement you can find a collection of small cannons, ancient fire-fighting wagons and buckets, and a hearse (the kind which would be drawn by a horse). More fire buckets line the first set of stairs. Interesting tidbit about the buckets: each family in the area had their own. When a fire was discovered, each family would fill their own bucket(s) and come running. Each of the buckets in Schloss Hegi has a different family crest or symbol on it. The buckets are all made of leather, too, and kind of an odd elongated narrow shape.

Fire Buckets

We also encountered a tiny landing full of odds and ends leftover from the kitchen: copper pans, and utensils and a big cast-iron pot. It looked like a mish-mash of things left behind for the past few centuries. There are several large sitting rooms or possibly dining rooms, cozy little bedrooms, and tiny maid’s quarters. There were rooms with no obvious original purpose, each filled with things like armory, antique children’s toys (which, in my eyes were very creepy), and even farming tools. Every room had something new and interesting to look at. Kids will like it, too, but very young ones like ours had to be watched at every second. Still, everyone had fun.

Kiddos share a windowsill in one of the tower rooms.

While possibly not the gem of Winterthur, if you are in the area, Hegi Castle is worth a visit. The caretaker that was there both times I visited was extremely nice and helpful, making sure we didn’t miss any parts of the castle, and even helping us take a group picture in front of it. The first time I visited, he was popping out of random windows as we were leaving the castle, like some sort of bizarre Monty Python character. Hegi Castle (aka Schloss Hegi) is only open March through October, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 2PM to 5PM and Sundays from 10AM to noon, and in the afternoon from 2PM to 5PM. You can find out more about visiting Schloss Hegi here.

More pictures of our adventures in Schloss Hegi can be found here.

Coming from the United States, we tend to share in the idea pushed on us by Disney at an early age that castles are magical, beautiful, complete with Prince Charming and a beautiful Princess. In reality many of these castles have dark and bloody histories full of murder and mayhem. Both Heath and I are history buffs, though, and really love seeing castles and learning about the people who lived in them and the life they led.

In case you were curious, here are all the castles that we’ve been to, sorted by country and vaguely in the order we visited them.

Ireland

• Dunguaire Castle (though technically a Tower House, but labeled a castle)
• Cahir Castle

England

• Scarborough Castle

Scotland

• Stirling Castle

Switzerland

• Château de Chillon
• Château d’Aigle
• Munot (technically a fort, I guess, but aren’t all true castles fortifications?)
• Schloss Laufen
• Schloss Rapperswil
• Schloss Hegi (though, only I have been to that – Heath hasn’t yet)
• Castelgrande

Germany

• Schloss Neuschwanstein
• Schloss Hohenschwangau

Our favorites so far are Château de Chillon and Stirling. We really loved those castles because you were allowed to explore the entire castle, seeing everything from the kitchens to the dungeons. While Château de Chillon’s history isn’t particularly bloody (the only attack on the castle frightened the inhabitants to jump into boats and sail away on the lake), it is an absolutely gorgeous castle. Stirling has been the key factor in numerous battles throughout history and is also fascinating because of all of the different architectural styles.

There are so many more castles that we want to visit around Europe. One of the reasons why we want to stay in Switzerland a bit longer is to do a bit more traveling while our child (and future children) are young. Here’s just a few more we want to discover.

Ireland (this is where we want to retire, after all)

• Bunratty Castle
• Carrickfergus Castle
• Tullynally Castle

England

• Windsor Castle
• Hampton Court
• St. Michael’s Mount
• Leed’s Castle
• Tintagel Castle

Scotland

• Edinburgh Castle (we were outside of it, but didn’t want to tramp through the mess of them setting up for their annual Military tattoo).
• Holyroodhouse (the Queen was in residence for just a few days overlapping our visit to Edinburgh, so we missed it)

Spain

• Alcázar of Segovia

Romania

• Castel Bran (Dracula’s Castle)

France

• Palace of Versailles
• Château de Fenelon
• Château de Hautefort
• Château de Losse

Austria (once we forgive them for the ticket they gave us for not having a special sticker on our rental car)

• Hofburg

Iran (if relations ever improve, I’d love to tour the country)

• Arg-e-Bam

China

• Forbidden City

And when we get back to North America, maybe we should hop on up to Canada and see Le Château Frontenac.

Feel free to comment and add your own suggested castles or your experience with a castle we’ve already visited.