VISITING THE MAJESTIC CASTELLO SCALIGERO OF SIRMIONE

    23RD OCTOBER 2024    ~ The most prominent landmark of Sirmione would be Castello Scaligero - the Scaliger Castle. The entrance ticket cost €6 [about RM28].

This was a classic example of a real castle with a moat. The castle was built on the water of Lake Garda.

Some interesting facts about the castle:

• It was built in the middle of 15th century.
• It was named after the family who built it: Veronese Della Scalla
• The castle once served as a fortress for Verona.
• It is believed that the castle is haunted. 😀

Visitors were allowed to walk around the structure and even climb up the tower up to one high point. I took the risk to walk up the stairs [despite the knee problem that I had] and I must say it was something I did not regret doing. However, I only went up halfway for the fear of hurting my knees more later. Today was still the first day of the road tour to explore Italy.

We were not lucky as the weather was gloomy on that day. The scenery must have been much better if there was a bright sun in the sky.

The castle had survived the cruel weather and maybe natural disasters too, but is still standing strong after many centuries. Imagine all the hard labour that was required to build the castle with the technology not as advanced as today.

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CASA LOMA - THE HOUSE ON A HILL (PART 2)

This luxurious resident was built by Sir Henry Mill Pellat but then the castle was abandoned due to economic depression after World War l. It is now a museum but one good thing about this place, visitors are allowed to roam around almost every nook and corner. We went up the attic to see the view from the tower. We went through some sort of a secret tunnel which took us to the other part of the house which was across the road. It reminded me of the mystery novels written by Enid Blyton that I grew up with.

there's a cannon in the bedroom

up in the attic

the secret tunnel and the stable

 

the front part facing the garden

 

 

The person building this castle must be filthy rich. If you have a lot of money, lots and lots of it, will you do the same thing? As for me, why not?

THE AWESOME SMITHSONIAN CASTLE

front view

When I was browsing through the pictures in the folder on my PC, then only I realized that there was something from my trip to Washington D.C. that I forgot to publish. Let me now present to you the amazing SMITHSONIAN CASTLE (a.k.a Smithsonian Institution Building), one ancient structure that appeared in the midst of other modern buildings surrounding it. To me, it looked like Disneyland from far away.

It was not actually a castle even though it was originally designed as such. This huge building was the administrative building for the Smithsonian Museums and it was opened to the public. There was some items on exhibit that I saw on the ground floor. However, I arrived there quite late and the place was about to be closed in approximately 20 minutes. Hence I spent more time outside admiring the beautiful architecture, wondering if I was in one of the fairy tales.

There were also two other museums attached to the building but they were already closed by the time I discovered them.

rear view

Like a fairy tale, just by observing this spectacular castle had made me feel I would live happily ever after.