I'm somewhat surprised noone mentioned the famous Alhambra in Granada yet.
Pic,
Wiki. Speaking of Spain, how about
El Escorial.
Also yet to be mentioned are some fine castles in Austria like the famous Schloss Belvedere (
North,
South),
Burg Hochosterwitz,
Festung Hohenwerfen,
Festung Hohensalzburg, Schloss Schönbrunn (
shot from the Gloriette,
the Gloriette with park) or the
Wiener Hofburg, which contains several "smaller" castles or manor houses like the
Amalienburg or the
Neue Burg.
The
Palazzo Reale in Italy just north of Naples.
Eszterházy Castle in Hungary.
Spis Castle (Spišský Hrad) in Slovakia (
Oberburg,
from the valley).
Schloss Sanssouci in Potsdam, Germany.
Shot from the vineyard,
in the courtyard,
one of the adjoining buildings.
Japan:
Himeji-jō (Himeji Castle), also called Shirasagi (The White Heron), in Southern Japan.
Ōsaka Castle right in the middle of Ōsaka City.
Nagoya castle, which sadly is only a partial reconstruction of the original, much larger construction which included the Hommaru Palace and a temple. It was destroyed by US bomb raids in WWII.
Kumamoto-jō (Kumamoto Castle), also called "The Black Castle" (
Pic1,
Pic2,
Pic3).
And I'd like to add a little something about Italy. As Italy has some great buildings, palaces, places but not that many great castles, it seems like Italy is getting somewhat left behind here, which is really "unright".
Once you've stood on Capitol Hill in Rome, you feel so insignificant, it's hard to put in words. When you come from the south (from the river and the Marcellus Theater) using the Via del Teatro Marcello, you can already see Il Monumento from behind. The Via del Teatro Marcello leads directly to the
Piazza Venezia. When you are standing on the spot from which this photo was taken, the
Monumento Vittorio Emanuele II is right behind you, with the historic
Forum Romanum behind it which ends right at the Kolosseum. To your right is the almost 2,000 year old
Forum of Trajan (the emperor under whom Rome had its biggest "expansion/expanse") and to your left are the
Aracoeli-steps and the Cordonata-steps. The Aracoeli-steps lead to the church Sanctae Mariae de Aracoeli (which is more than 2,000 years old and once was the Temple of Juno were an oracle predicted to Augustus the coming of Christ) and the
Cordonata (redesigned and renovated by Michelangelo in the 16th century, guarded by two Egyptian lions made from black granito that are said to have already been there almost 2,000 years ago) leads to the Piazza del Campidoglio, which consists of the plaza/square itself with the famous statue of Marcus Aurelius, the
Palazzo Senatorio Capitol Roma, the
Palazzo Nuovo and the
Palazzo dei Conservatori.
Being there makes you feel very, very small, believe me.
