Hohensalzburg, in Salzburg, Austria, was built with that idea in mind. It’s an imposing medieval castle whose austerity is offset by the beautiful cathedrals at the base. Speaking of which, I’ve been in more cathedrals than the Pope.
It’s probably too late for a Definition of Castle to have much impact on what we as individuals think of when the word is used, but there it is for the curious.
(There may be even more specific considerations used by experts and/or architects. So if you have a better definition please share.)
Thanks to all who have expanded my awareness of the general subject and for some great links and pictures. 
I’ve been to the last one on the list, Winnekenni Castle. It’s… a lot smaller than you’d expect a castle to be. And I believe we might have gone to Carey Mansion after The Breakers when we did a tour of the Newport RI mansions, but I’m not entirely sure.
I went to Bodiam Castle in 1970 … unfortunately, the moat was bone-dry!!
As went to Chepstow Castle the same year. And Windsor Castle, too, come to think of it.
There are some really cool castles in Ukraine. Unfortunately, I can’t remember their names, and all my photos of them are on another computer :smack:
How could it be? Bodiam was built in a lake.
Pendennis is an awesome castle, with some really interesting history. They’ve got a mockup of a Tudor gun deck, and some WWII popup artillery pieces.
The aerial picture on the wiki site does not show it built in the lake but quite a ways inland.
I’ve been there! I loved seeing those Welsh castles that David Macaulay had written about and drawn. I have no clue where my picture have gone in 15-20 years . . . Guess we need to make another trip. 
Also if Disney based his palace design off an existing one I would think he used Neuschwanstein, it was in Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang.
Macaulay’s Castle was the basis for this PBS documentary which he hosted; includes the animated story of the construction and siege of Aberwyvern, also covers real-life Welsh castles (or, rather, castles in Wales, mainly built by the conquering English) in general.
Among others, including the more authentically medieval (that is, a 15th-Century reconstruction of an earlier ruin) Chateau d’Usse.
Well, it’s a lake-sized moat; hard to imagine it going dry.
Always had a thing for Minas Tirith, from The Lord of the Rings.
http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/14/148979/3832952-3169163721-Minas.jpg
The Calendar Gallery of the medieval illuminated manuscript Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry pictures several contemporary French castles, most of which still exist (the Louvre Palace, in castle-form, does not). Chateau de Saumur, in particular, is one of those “Now that’s a castle!” castles.
Of course, that’s a fortified city, not quite the same thing as a castle (though the fortifications might include a castle, as at Carcasonne).
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton]
How could it be? Bodiam was built in a lake.
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[QUOTE=BrainGlutton]
Well, it’s a lake-sized moat; hard to imagine it going dry.
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The moat was deliberately drained in 1970 to allow archaeologists to excavate it. What’s more, one of the major conclusions that the archaeologists then came to was that it would have been very easy for any attackers to have done likewise, so it may have been mostly for show anyway.
Where do you think I learned about the book?
But finding it on YouTube!? I know what my kids and I are doing this weekend!!!
Thanks BrainGlutton!
I had a poster of Neuschwanstein on my bedroom wall growing up so I was eager to visit when I went to Europe.
Welp, to this jaded backpacker (I’d been hitching around for three months at that point), the setting was definitely a let-down. Viewing it from the town below, it was built on top of a hill but with other hills/mountains/whatever towering over it. It just looked very…reduced. Those overhead photos on all the calendars are using some judicious viewpoints.
My favorite is the Chateau de Tarascon, between Arles and Nimes, 1401-1449.
A couple of years ago my wife and I did what was described as an ABC tour - “Another Bloody Castle”. Spent ten days driving from Cornwall up to Scotland, saw something like 28 castles - from tiny little castles in the middle of small villages, to some large palaces built to impress Queen Elizabeth in case she wandered by (Kenilworth), up to Urquhart castle on Loch Ness. Favorite pictures were of the castles in Wales (including Caernarfon, Beaumaris, and Conwy) - these were serious castles meant to remind the locals just who was in charge here (Edward I, and don’t you forget it). Military forts, not palaces. Imposing as hell. They also were not “slighted” (partially destroyed) in the English Civil War like many of the castles in England:
Caernofon Castle
Beaumaris Castle
Conwy Castle
My favorite castle of all was Doune Castle in Scotland - AKA Castle Anthrax, Swamp Castle, and Camelot. This was where most castle scenes in Monty Python and the Holy Grail were filmed. Great audio tour narrated by Terry Jones, plus the gift shop had coconuts you could borrow for the duration of your visit.
In a couple of weeks I will be visiting Neuschwanstein. I expect to be disappointed on some level, since Neuschwanstein is basically a 19th century palace built in a medieval castle style - not a “real” castle at all. Most of it was designed by a stage designer…
Beaumaris was never slighted because it was never finished; the funding ran out. Too bad, because the design represents the epitome and perfection of Edwardian concentric-castle architecture.
The coconut thing is such a simple, yet genius, idea. I think everyone who visits Doune Castle mentions it.