Hohenzollern is spectacular to gaze upon from virtually any angle. If you drive around the castle and take the south bound road to Bisingen, you can get other views that many don't take the time to capture.
In doing this I discovered an oddity of the castle that is actually fairly common in many of these old structures: leaning towers and turrets. If you look carefuly at the large turret in the left foreground you can see that the main tower is actually leaning slightly outward. It is possibly an optical illusion, but I doubt it.
The reason for structures to lean is based on the settling and shifting of the rock and soil beneath the building. Any structure can have this happen, but towers are particular;ly susceptible to this due to the immense static load that presses downward on a narrow area.
Left, another shot at the same angle that shows the lean to the main tower. This photo also demonstrates that the castle consumes the entire hill.
Below, an excellent view of the castle from the road leading up to the parking area. From the parking lot you can either hike (it's not very long), or you can hitch a ride on a bus for a small fee. I suggest the walk, since it gives you a chance to pause and reflect as you make the short trek up hill.
Below are three photos of the casemate area below the castle. Just a few years ago archeologists began to discover a labyrinth of passages beneath the fortress. These were a series of casemates and bunkers to allow men to take shelter during artillery bombardments, as well as to store valuable items and armaments.
As workers dug into the rock they cleared out the passages and found a number of vaults and rooms. Moreover, there is more to discover and at this time (2008) there are some passages they have yet to clear to find where they really go, as there are no extant complete plans of the castle showing these passages.
Below left, the initial entrance to go down into the passages. Below right, a passage between rooms and another stairway beyond. Bottom, a view into a passage with an unknown destination.
Lastly, as I've mentioned before, Hohenzollern consumes a conspicuous hill. The photo below was taken west of the castle in 2010, and thus looking east. This image was captured on a plateau just east of Sulz, with Hohenzollern about 28 kms away. I was on my way to another castle, topped the rise and there it was....
