Pico Island, Portugal
Museu do Vinho
Surrounded by scenic views and ancient dragon forests, this Portuguese museum is dedicated to the love of wine.
After floating on water for 460 years, the fairytale Egeskov Castle remains Europe’s best-preserved Renaissance water castle.
The palace that rests peacefully on the water today was constructed in 1554 by Frands Brockenhuus. Utmost caution was taken when landowners built large structures, as it was a time of tumultuous unrest with the Reformation and the Counts’ Feud. Ultimately, the peaceful placement on the water was strategically chosen for defense purposes as the only access to the castle was across a drawbridge.
The small lake is no more than 5 meters at its deepest depth. To create the structure, the foundation was fortified with oaken piles. According to legend, an enormous quantity of wood was needed to create this effect, so much in fact that “it took an oak forest to do it”.
Over the years the castle has been passed into different hands and seen numerous updates. In the 1880s restorations included raising the roofs and adding the gatehouse that greets visitors. It also saw an addition of a dairy farm, power station and railroad track to Kværndrup.
The park attached to Egeskov Castle has been opened to the public for generations and has remained fairly unchanged. An addition of a Veteran Car Museum was opened in the old palace barn and has since extended into other farm buildings. The park, museum, and even the halls of the floating castle are all open for tourists to explore and envision what the halls and gardens could have looked like back in the 1500s.Know more? Share with us!
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