Who Am I?

Hey, and thanks for stopping by.

I'm Petra and as you can tell, I love everything castle!

I grew up in Bavaria, Germany, with a whole bunch of famous castles nearby. We spent summers visiting castles like Neuschwanstein and Linderhof. Every time we went, I discovered something new. My parents also took us further for summer holidays, to Austria, Italy, and Spain. As a result, we visited many castles all over. Many of them offered falconry displays, specialty foods, and medieval costume shows. As a kid, it wasn't so much the castle that impressed me, but the stuff we got to do there.

Maybe it was after visiting Neuschwanstein a few times that my castle fantasy was kicked into high gear. Later on, it was movies like Ever After, First Knight, and Braveheart. And nowadays, TV series like Outlander and Game of Thrones that kept putting castles into my life...

Growing up without Castles

My family left Germany and immigrated to Canada in 1994. It was a huge change in culture. We moved close to the Rocky Mountains, with tons of outdoor activities, but NO castles. I tried very hard to keep up my castle obsession - and it was super tough. This was all before we even had Internet at home and I literally had to scan the local library for books on castles. I would travel home to Germany a handful of times. But between visiting family and friends, not much time was left for exploring castles.

To bridge the dry spell, I created elaborate cardboard maps Loire Valley Castles and Castles of the Rhine valley. Yes, this was before Wikipedia and with actual cardboard, paper, and sewing pins. I am sure my friends and family sometimes wondered about that. But when we got the Internet, I couldn't wait to research every castle I could find. With the arrival of Google Maps and Google Earth, I was in heaven. I could finally digitize my maps and "fly" to any castle I wanted.

Chasing Castles...Again

My heart always belonged to castles and history (other than to my husband and my cats in that order). Partly because of that, my husband and I made the move back to Europe in 2017. This time, we settled in France, home to some of the most famous, romantic, and impressive castles in the world. The Loire Valley is one region with an incredibly high amount of castles per square mile. Some of them, like Chambord, Amboise, or Chennonceau have become well-known household names.

Our journey here has just begun and this is a real passion project for me. I want to visit as many castles as I can. I'm excited to share my interest with all of you. I would love to make castles accessible to those who might not be able to visit in person right now. There is also so much more to castles than just the (stone) building. Like incredible history, mystery, intrigue, scandal, greedy excess, tragic stories, dangerous discoveries, and of course unbelievable splendor.

Castle Inspiration

Hopefully this blog inspires you in some way. Create your own castle bucket list. Dream about traveling and exploring. Maybe you even decide to visit some of the castles for yourself. And be sure to sign up for our free newsletter, so you never miss a castle adventure. Castles and Stuff (CaS) members get all sorts of great free perks and of course first dibs on the new castle videos.

I would also love to hear from you. Share one of your own castle visits on this blog, or if you want me to feature your castle in an article. I am always up for the adventure! You can reach me here.