Bavaria Magazine 2013 - The Real Bavaria - An original kind of holiday

BAVARIASummer 2013

WIN A

TRADITIONAL

COSTUME!An original kind of holiday

Dreaming spires The fantasy castles of Bavaria’s Sun King

Travelling the Romantic RoadA love-letter to Olde Germany

Major city destinations...and World Heritage Sites

The Real Bavaria

OutsideFrontCoverv1castle.indd 1 26/04/2013 13:00

0 3

Contents04 The Romantic Road

Discovering the real Bavaria

05 Red Rothenburg Next stop: the Middle Ages

07 Prehistoric Nördlingen A town built on moon rock

08 Franconia, northern Bavaria Land of wine and Wagner

09 Nuremberg, the Second City Medieval centre of learning

10 Beautiful Bamberg Home of smoked beer

11 Beer gardens of Bavaria The best and prettiest

12 Munich: the capital Where Prada meets Dada

14 Regensburg, Passau, Landshut Royal cities of the East

16 Zugspitze Region Heart of the peaks’ district

18 Chiemgau and Chiemsee King Ludwig’s palace on the lake

19 Architects’ Mecca Little Inzell’s mighty sports stadium

20 The German Lourdes A pilgrimage to Altötting and Oberammergau

21 Murnau and the Blue Land Landscapes to inspire masterpieces

22 Schloss Neuschwanstein Europe’s most iconic castle

23 Füssen and St. Mang Climax of the Romantic Road IM

AG

E: I

ST

OC

KP

HO

TO

.CO

M

Passau

Inzell

Chiemgau Alps

MUNICH

Zugspitze

NUreMberg

Bamberg

Landshut

Altötting

Regensburg

Danube

Grüss Gott! This traditional Bavarian greeting – literally, ‘God greet (you)’ – has been in everyday use since the 19th century. It suggests the importance of tradition for Bavarians, who still commonly wear Trachten, the national costume of lederhosen and dirndl, even though Bavaria is Germany’s most advanced state, and Munich its most modern city.

The Real Bavaria is the title of this publication. It represents the originality of Bavarians, and respect for their land and its beauty. It embraces wonderfully-preserved medieval towns of half-timbered buildings. It stands for the ancient crafts of making beer and wine. It is Bavaria at its traditional best. Bavaria. Summer. The Original.

Bavaria

gerMANY

bavarian Alps: The Wendelstein

rack railway

AUSTrIA

002-003_Romantic_road(CC)_SB.indd 3 26/04/2013 10:03

Editor Michael Watts Art director Colette Fahy Picture editor Jamie Lau Sub editor Simon Berkovitch Images Alamy, Fotolia, iStock, Rex, Shutterstock,

* Published by Publicom International on behalf of Bayern Tourismus

Marketing GmbH, Arabellastrasse 17, D-81925 Munich.

T: 0049 89 2123970 F: +49 89 21239799 E: [email protected]

©Publicom International 2013. While every effort has been made to ensure that the information is correct, the author and publisher cannot be held responsible for any inadvertent inaccuracies or omissions. Hotel prices, restaurant menus and opening times of local attractions can change without notice; it is always advisable to check with the venue or the tourist information office in advance. Views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of Bayern Tourismus Marketing or Publicom International. The Real Bavaria 2013 is wholly protected by copyright and nothing may be wholly or partly reprinted without permission. Manuscripts, transparencies and illustrations are submitted on the understanding that no liability is incurred for safe custody.

For more information about Bavaria, join us on facebook.com/visit.bavaria and Twitter@visit_bavaria, or use your mobile phone with the QR code *

HOW TO GET THERE● By PlaneMunich airport (www.munich-airport.de). Central Munich is 28.5 km (18 miles) away.allgäu airport Memmingen (www.allgaeu-airport.de) in SW Bavaria, right by the A96 Munich-Lindau motorway and well connected by Allgäu-Airport-Express coach servicenuremberg airport in N. Bavaria (www.airport-nuernberg.de/english), only 12 mins by public transport to central Nuremberg● By RaIlGerman Rail (www.bahn.com). For travel within Bavaria use the convenient Bavaria Ticket all major car rentals

MUNICHMeMMINgeN

ZugspitzeFüssen

Würzburg

Rothenburg

Nördlingen

NUreMberg

Bamberg

Castle Neuschwanstein

STUTTgArT


Rothenburg has miraculously preserved an atmosphere of the Middle Ages

Rothenburg, in the region of Franconia, is a must-stop on the Romantic Road. A

century ago, travel author Robert Shackleton wrote: ‘It is a marvellous city, this Rothenburg ob der Tauber; a fascinating city, out of the fascinating past. Everywhere is the unbroken aspect of the

centuries that have gone. Ancient walls, deep-moated, loophole-pierced, still engird the city.’

This purple prose begins a chapter called ‘The Old Red City of

Rothenburg’, from Unvisited Places of Old Europe. Shackleton was right about this miracle of a place, with its perfectly preserved medieval and

Renaissance buildings; they are the ironic legacy of Rothenburg’s historic failure to build as economic power declined, and then belated recognition of the architectural inheritance it already had.

However, Rothenburg is now very far from unvisited. In summer, and the weeks preceding Christmas, when crowds throng Käthe Wohlfahrt, a chain of celebrated Christmas shops, it becomes a magnet for tourists drawn by

The local Schneeballen (‘snowball’), a deep-fried ball of pastry, covered in sugar and often chocolate

Shop signs: typically intricate

wrought iron

IMA

GE

S: A

LA

MY


Würzburg

Rothenburg

Füssen

Nördlingen

Neuschwanstein Castle

Bad Mergentheim

Munich

The Romantic Road is the real Germany – medieval towns of half-timbered houses on a route ending at Neuschwanstein, a most photogenic castle

Arched gateways with guard towers stand at the entrance to towns. There are half-timbered Fachwerk houses, Gothic cathedrals, Baroque palaces and whimsical castles built by Bavaria’s 19th-century king, Ludwig II. This is about as traditional as Bavaria gets.

International travellers wishing to pick up the southern part of the Romantic Road can fly into Franz Josef Strauss airport in Munich. You can be at Schloss Neuschwanstein in two hours. www.romanticroad.de

Coaches run daily, in both directions, from April to October, and link most towns and cities on the Romantic Road. Tickets can be booked at www.romanticroadcoach.de, and are valid for six months. Individual trips can also be organised

Olde Worlde Germany

T o u r b y c o a c hA brilliant invention of post-War tourism, loosely based on an old trade route and the Roman Via Claudia

Augusta, the Romantic Road winds south from historic Würzburg to the alpine glories of Füssen and nearby Schloss Neuschwanstein, Bavaria’s number one tourist attaction. Brown road signs, announcing Romantische Strasse, mark the way. Pageants and festivals are a feature of summer and late autumn.

For 220 miles, the Road passes through stretches of pillowy hillsides, cobblestoned villages and the medieval, walled towns of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Dinkelsbühl and Nördlingen.

Neuschwanstein: the third and most famous castle built by Ludwig II

On the road: coaches go daily

Nördlingen: traditional children’s

Stabenfest procession


It came from spaceAncient Nördlingen stands within a crater left by a meteor, millions of years ago Passing through Swabia on the Romantic Road, one hits 9th-century Nördlingen in an area called the Ries. This giant, fertile basin, caused by an asteroid 15 million years ago, was used in training by Apollo astronauts. Stone buildings in Nördlingen contain millions of tiny diamonds, made by the impact. Check out the ‘moon rock’ in the Reiskrater Museum, and walk the ancient town wall, still intact, starting at the Reimlinger Tor. www.noerdlingen.de

santa’s grotto

Meteoric rise: 9th Century Nördlingen

No visitor to Bavaria will leave without having come across locals dressed in Trachten, a costume based on traditional alpine work-wear.

For men and boys, this is lederhosen – short or knee-length breeches, always made of leather. They may also sport braces with a drop-front flap and a forest-green loden hat. For women or girls it’s the dirndl - close-fitting bodice, blouse, full skirt and apron.

The mistake some foreigners make is to assume that this is fancy dress. Although in cities tracht is usually brought out just for festive occasions, many rural Bavarians wear it to work, and lederhosen is associated with manliness, as the kilt is in Scotland.

For over 65 years, Angermaier has specialised in supplying high-quality costumes, either traditional or modernised, in selected stores across Bavaria. Its clothes pay fine attention to the customs of Bavarian handicraft but also to current trends. This year, new fashions are in shades of green and nude.

Its shop in Munich (101-3 Landsberger Strasse) is very popular, but Angermaier also operates an online service: www.angermaier-onlineshop.de It’s now offering readers of this publication the opportunity to have their own costumes, FREE, by entering our online COMPETITION, below. Imagine – your own dirndl or lederhosen, to wear at parties – or even on your visit to Munich’s Oktoberfest!

WIN! A REAL BAVARIAN COSTUME

G o B ava r i a n !

Ima

Ge

s: a

La

mY For DETAILS, please visit

bavaria. by/competition. The prize is valid until September 9, 2014

ANGERMAIER will give a €300 VOUCHER to the one winner chosen from all online entries made before midnight, September 9, 2013.

Kids’ stuff: children adore wearing the costumes

Real Bavarians: Angermaier’s new fashions


0 6

Every day is Christmas at Käthe Wohlfahrt, a Rothenburg-based retailer of traditional decorations and toys. With six stores in Rothenburg alone, it sells more than 30,000 different Christmas items, while its Herrngasse shop has a museum devoted solely to Christmas (www.weihnachtsmuseum.de). Perhaps no other nation celebrates Christmas (Weihnachten) so

much as Germany, which has successfully exported its Christmas markets around the world. The Wohlfahrt stores are

named after the wife of Wilhelm Wohlfahrt, who began by selling musical boxes on US army bases after the War. They are now in America,

France and Belgium. www.wohlfahrt.com

Santa’s grotto

Rothenburg’s most august hotel is the 4-star Eisenhut, right in the centre, and five minutes’ ride from the train station. Its many distinguished guests over the years have included Churchill, Art Garfunkel, William Randolph Hearst, England football manager Alf Ramsey and Burt Lancaster. It’s actually four old, interlocking houses, which accommodate 78 individual rooms and suites, furnished with art and antiques, marble and mirrors. A seat in the flower-filled garden terrace is much sought-after. The Eisenhut belongs to the select Sightsleeping group of Bavarian hotels, chosen for their cultural cachet.3 Herrngasse. D-91541 Rothenburg Tel. 0049 (0)9861 7050 www.eisenhut.com www.bavaria.by/sightsleeping-hotels

Hotel des arts

Christmas Museum: highly popular

IMA

GE

S: A

LA

MY

atmosphere of living history. They walk the ancient streets and climb to the top of the town hall tower for the grand view of Rothenburg’s famous red roofs.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, this was a Free Imperial City, fat and prosperous from trade along the River Tauber: Rothenburg ob der Tauber means ‘Red fortress above the Tauber’. In the ideological years before World War II, its appeararance encapsulated all that was quintessentially German. Today, it’s a great place to shop and visit. The place to stay is Hotel Eisenhut, part of which dates back to the 12th century.

A suggestion for the more active is to cycle through the Tauber Valley, from Rothenburg northwest to Wertheim. The route takes you through beautiful Franconian vineyards. Look out for a decorated broom, hanging in a winery entrance. It’s an invitation to taste.

But you don’t need a bicycle to enjoy the wine. The Rothenburg Wine Festival takes place in August, near the town hall (August 14-18). You can sample local Rieslings and Müller-Thurgau, even the rare Black Tauber. www.tourismus.rothenburg.de


A lbrecht Dürer, the greatest artist of the 16th-century Northern Renaissance, was a native of Nuremberg. A man of

extraordinary gifts – painter, print-maker, inventor and mathematician – he spent his final years in a pretty Haus on what’s now Albrecht Dürer Strasse, where guides demonstrate his printing techniques for tourists.

Dürer was the first to map the stars, and the Nuremberg of his day was a major centre of astronomy, science and mechanical invention. Prosperous guilds of craftsmen practised poetry and music-

making. Wagner drew on them for his long opera, The Mastersingers of Nuremberg.

That history is palpable here. Painstakingly restored after WWII, the streets of the Altstadt look convincingly medieval, especially the jumble around

the massive Kaiserburg castle. But the museums (as throughout Bavaria) are splendidly modern. A favourite is the encyclopaedic National Museum of German Art and Culture (Germanisches Nationalmuseum), which has a current exhibition (until June) devoted to Wagner and der Meistersingers. www.nuernberg.de

The HOTEL VICTORIA is an elegant, sandstone building in Nuremberg’s ancient centre, near the Königstorturm (King’s Gate Tower) and 100m from the main rail station. It was originally built in 1896 as a beautiful example of the Nuremberg Gothic Revival, and it now harmonises tradition and modernity.

Consequently, it’s now one of Bavaria’s highly recommended Sightsleeping hotels, whose membership is restricted to castles, palaces or contemporary hotels considered of artistic importance.

The VICTORIA is a privately-run, 3-Star Superior hotel, with 62 rooms costing from €99 to €250

Hotel Victoria, Nuremberg. 80 Königstrasse, D-90402 Nürnberg. Tel. 0049 911 24050 [email protected] www.hotelvictoria.de www.bavaria.by/sightsleeping-hotels

A C e n t u r y o f

t r A d i t i o n

The great city of Wagner’s opera The Mastersingers

The old town:

restored after WWII

Wagner: inspired by Nuremberg

Singing Nuremberg’s praises

IMA

GE

S: A

LA

MY,

FO

TO

LIA

, SH

UT

TE

RS

TO

CK

008-009_Franconia(CC)_SB.indd 9 26/04/2013 10:22

This northern region, named Franconia after 8th-century Frankish tribes, was absorbed by Bavaria in 1805

but retained its Lutheran religion and many other characteristics. Its gentle, wooded landscapes produce much excellent wine,

especially around Würzburg, while beautiful Bamberg is world-famous for beer. Nuremberg, between Frankfurt and

Munich, is the largest city

Nuremberg

Great white wonders About 90% of Franconia’s wines are white, with Müller-Thurgau and Silvaner predominant. Silvaners and rieslings from Würzburger Stein, near Würzburg, are especially prized. The River

Main weaves through the vineyards of some 5,400 wineries, many

producing wine in squat, round

bottles called Bocksbeutel, whose distinctive

shape is EU- protected. www.

franken-weinland.de

Rothenburg

Franconia: wine history is more than 1,200 years old www.frankentourismus.de

Bayreuth

BambergWürzburg

Marienberg Fortress: vineyards surrounding Würzburg, whose Residenz is a UNESCO World Heritage site


A visit to the biergarten means much more than just going down the pub

Pleasure gardens

BEST GardEnS

More than half the breweries in Germany (around 1,250) are in Bavaria, so it’s unsurprising that

Bavarians are among the biggest beer drinkers in the world – nor that beer-ologists think Bavarian beer the best there is.

The existence of a strong beer culture is underpinned by strict adherence to a beer Purity Law (Reinheitsgebot), passed first in Munich in 1487 and then throughout Bavaria in 1516. This establishes that only three ingredients are allowed: water, barley and hops.

Largely because of Oktoberfest, beer is a major industry in Munich, whose big breweries bear the famous names of Paulaner, Löwenbräu, Spatenbräu, Hofbräu, Augustiner and Hacker-Pschorr. Probably the largest beer garden anywhere is Munich’s Hirschgarten, with room for 8,000. But most brewers throughout Bavaria are tiny and specialised, selling on the premises where they brew, often in charming, shaded beer gardens standing above their beer cellars.

This tradition of the biergarten has flourished for more than 200 years. The ritual includes a light meal (Brotzeit), probably of cold meat and cheese, to accompany the litre of beer. www.bayrisch-bier.de

Leafy: trees are often chestnuts

Since May is the start of the beer garden season, here are six very pretty beer gardens to visit:

alpEnBlick Uffing, on Lake Staffelsee. alpenblick-uffing.de

BrauErEi WochinGEr Traunstein. wochingerbraeu.de

kloSTErGaSThof Raitenhaslach, near Burghausen am Inn. klostergasthof.com

lEonBErGEr landgasthof- leonberg.de

BräuSTüBErl near Maxlrain. maxlrainer-braeustueberl.de

landGaSThof haMMErWirT hammerwirt.de

IMA

GE

S: A

LA

MY


Astonishing murals in Bavaria’s City of Beer

Bavaria’s Second City is rich in art and culture

Bamberg al fresco The art of painting trompe l’oeil

frescoes, known in Bavaria as Lüftlmalerei, reaches a stunning apogee with the Baroque façade of

Bamberg’s Altes Rathaus, its town hall perched on an island in the river Regnitz. Such murals, depicting both religious and secular scenes, are found throughout Bavaria. The Altes Rathaus was built in 1467, with the allegorical frescoes added by Johann Anwander in 1755.

Bamberg – built, like Rome, on seven hills – thoroughly deserves its selection as a UNESCO World Heritage site, not only for the town hall but for a clutch of ancient buildings, including its 12th-century cathedral and Abbey Michaelsberg, and its ‘Little Venice’ colony of old fishermen’s houses on the Regnitz.

For beer-lovers, this is a special place of pilgrimage. Though a small town, Bamberg itself boasts nine breweries. Brewing began in the monasteries, then spread to commoners, who were granted a special permit. The beer is

still stored in subterranean rock cellars beneath the hills. Beer gardens sprang up above them.

Another claim to fame is the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, a regular on the international concert circuit, whose principal conductor is Briton Jonathan Nott. www.bamberg.info/en

B E E R H U N T E R Many countries produce ‘smoked’ beer, a distinctive flavour obtained by roasting malted barley over flame, but none so successfully as Bamberg’s Rauchbiers, made by the Schlenkerla and Spezial breweries. Schlenkerla ‘s red-brown beer comes from infusing kilned malt with smoke from beech logs in a special stove, then maturing it in 700-year-old cellars. It goes very well with barbecued food.

Altes Rathaus: Baroque frescoes


City Partner Hotel ADRIA is in a lovely, old part of Munich called Lehel, a few minutes’ walk from the famous English Garden. Walking through the park, you pass beer gardens and the Japanese Teahouse. Maybe you stop for a beer or a Radler shandy at the Chinese Tower. Many Munich attractions are close to the hotel, from the shopping streets of Maximilianstrasse and Kaufinger Strasse to the 16th-century Hofbräuhaus, a brew-pub with dirndl-clad waitresses and oompah music.

Head for Marienplatz, the great square in the heart of the city, with the street-market of Viktualienmarkt just off it. Or check out Lehel’s museums and art galleries, like the Schack-Galerie with its important 19th-century paintings

W H E R E T O S TAY I N T H E C A P I TA L

Munich artist: Portrait of the dancer Alexander Sakharoff (1909) by Alexej von Jawlen-sky, a Russian Expressionist who moved to Bavaria

Art haus: Neue Pinakothek (above) features many German Romanticists like Caspar David Friedrich. Sir Norman Foster has redeveloped the Lenbachhaus (below). The Deutsches Museum (right) is on an island in the Isar

The ADRIA has 44 rooms and suites, with weekday doubles from €124, €109 Friday-Sunday.

8a Liebigstrasse, D-80538 Munich Tel. 0049 89 24 2117 0 Fax. 0049 89 24 2117 999 [email protected] www.adria-muenchen.de

012-013_Munich(CC)_SB_v2.indd 13 26/04/2013 10:24

Where Prada meets DadaFrom posh shops to challenging art, Munich has it all

WHERE TO SHOPDesigner shops are on Maximilianstrasse, Munich’s ‘Golden Mile’

Neuhausen Nymphenburg

HaidhausenLudwigsvorstadt-

Isarvorstadt

Olympic area

Rive

r Isa

r

MaxvorstadtSchwabing

Cenre

M unich is famously Germany’s hi-tech, high-art capital, the meeting-place

of ‘laptops and lederhosen’, as Bavarians like to say.

It has 22,000 companies working in electronics, telecoms, aerospace and automotive engineering. Its quality of life, from luxury shopping to Michelin-starred cuisine, is envied by the rest of Germany. Yet most Müncheners are essentially conservative – devoted, for example, to their traditional costume, called Tracht.

Here are some suggestions (all too few) for things to do there: n If your pockets are sufficiently deep, stay in the swanky Bayerischer Hof, with its rooftop Blue Spa and Lounge. n Have a morning swim at the Müller’sche Volksbad, an indoor public pool with marvellous Art Nouveau décor. n For breakfast, eat Weisswurst (white veal sausage) at Dallmayr, a centuries-old deli/café/restaurant that specialises in trad Bavarian. n Enjoy a strong bock beer in the

garden of the Forschungsbrauerei, a brew-pub set in a large forest to the southeast.

Above all, Munich is a terrific place to see art. The Kunstareal, or Art district, dates from the 16th century, when Duke Wilhelm IV commissioned paintings for the royal palace. In one small area are classical museums, the Alte and Neue Pinakotheks, with works by Dürer, Rubens, Raphael, Cezanne and Van Gogh, while the Warhols,

Twomblys and Hirsts are in the Pinakothek der Moderne and the Brandhorst. Dadaist Marcel Duchamp was a huge fan of the Deutsches Museum,

a splendid science and technology museum, whose mechanical displays helped change his (and our) views of art.

The big cultural news this summer is the re-opening of the Lenbachhaus, originally a Florentine-style villa, now restored and enlarged by British architect Norman Foster. Its unique collection of Kandinskys and other Blue Rider artists extends into the Kunstbau, a reconstructed subway at Königsplatz station. www.muenchen-tourist.de IM

AG

ES

: AL

AM

Y, S

tAE

dt

ISc

hE

GA

LE

rIE

IM L

En

bA

ch

hA

uS

012-013_Munich(CC)_SB_v2.indd 12 26/04/2013 10:13

Regensburg’s Old Town and Stadtamhof district have UNESCO status because of architecture spanning 2,000 years, especially its 11th to 13th-century tall buildings and the narrow, colourful lanes

It’s Eastern Bavaria’s largest city, with medieval layout intact, mighty merchants’

houses and a history as old as the Romans. Nearby Walhalla, a repro of the Parthenon, is a neo-classical home for German heroes, and the Altstadt is on UNESCO’s World Heritage list. Yet this is also a lively, contemporary university town, with a celebrated cathedral boys’ choir, the Domspatzen. Don’t miss. www.regensburg.uk.com

Best show in townsRegensburg was among Germany’s top visitors’ sights in 2012

UNESCO HEritagE

Regensburg

but the pretty pastel colours of houses feel almost Mediterranean and contribute to the city’s cosmopolitan air.

Much of medieval Passau was razed in the 17th century, but grand buildings survive, not least the Veste Oberhaus fortress and the neo-gothic town hall, with its tower on which flood-water levels are recorded – the perils of being ‘the Bavarian Venice’. www.tourism.passau.de

The Golden Tower: built in the 13th century

014-015_Eastern_Bavaria(CC)_SB.indd 15 26/04/2013 10:15

People’s party

A region of ancient cities, from mercantile Regensburg to princely

Passau, connected by the great, arterial Danube

Forget Kate and Wills. What wedding can compare with that of Duke Georg the Rich, from Landshut’s

Wittelsbach dynasty, to Jadwiga, daughter of Poland’s king, which united 15th-century Western Christianity.

Hence, the town commemorates the nuptials with a giant

street party every four years. Each weekend, from June 28 to July 21, locals will dress in costumes of the Middle Ages and re-enact the

bridal procession from St Martin’s church, past Castle Trausnitz and through Europe`s longest street of Gothic houses. There will be jousting, jugglers and fire-eaters. Party on! www.landshut.de

Cruise CityTRAVEL INFOLandshut lies 45 miles NE of Munich, on the road to Passau

The ancient Bavarian capital of Landshut still celebrates a famous royal wedding of 1475

Passau, on the Danube, has been called one of the world’s ‘seven most beautiful cities’

Regensburg

LandshutPassau

in Passau, the blue Danube that flows through eastern Bavaria meets the green-tinted inn and the blackish ilz at a tiny peninsula called the Dreiflüsseeck, ‘a place of three rivers’. this proximity to water has made Passau historically a great beneficiary of trade with Central europe. today, however, river-trade plays second fiddle to Danube cruises.

italy’s influence is most apparent in the Baroque cathedral, st stephen’s, famed for its gargantuan piped organ,

Wedding procession: ‘Princess Jadwiga’ in her carriageIMA

GE

S: A

LA

MY,

SH

UT

TE

RS

TO

CK

014-015_Eastern_Bavaria(CC)_SB.indd 14 26/04/2013 13:49

Springtime in ZugspitzeThe heart of Bavaria beats in its very picturesque mountain communities

Walks on the Wild side

u

miles from Munich by train or car, it’s grown chic and cosmopolitan after many years of hosting major winter sports events. In summer, it’s a perfect base for climbing, cycling and hiking. Serious hikers should make for the 4,000ft Eckbauer, which has clearly-marked footpaths and mountain huts for sleeping, some with staff serving meals.

In the vicinity of Garmisch are two very picturesque villages. Mittenwald was described in 1786 as ‘a living picture book’ by Goethe, who was bewitched by its location and the frescoed buildings lining the Obermarkt. Around the same time began Mittenwald’s now famous manufacture of violins, violas and

cellos, which thrives to this day. Oberammergau, at the foot of the

Ammergau Alps, is acclaimed for its Passion Play about the life of Jesus. The actors are locals, whose 17th-century forebears promised to perform a devotional play ever after if God spared them from the plague. Presumably, He did, but the next Play is not until 2020.

Before moving on, it’s worth diverting to Kloster Ettal, a 14th -century abbey built in supreme rococo style, and to Schloss Linderhof, smallest of the three palaces of Bavaria’s 19th century king, Ludwig II. It’s the only one which he lived to see completed. www.zugspitze-region.de

Mountain hiking – Wandern in German – is a national pastime, for young and old alike. Consequently, alpine trails are impeccably signposted, though the plentiful cable-cars and chair-lifts are still handy.

claims to have

1,200km of hiking trails and 2,000km of cycle paths, and is also popular with motorbikers, canoeists and paragliders. Before going, you may wish to contact the German Alpine Association. www. alpenverein.de

016-017_Bavarian Alps(CC)_SB.indd 17 26/04/2013 13:52

Lake ConstanceLake

KönigsseeZugspitze

MurnauLake

Chiemsee

MuniCh

The Alpine Road, Deutsche Alpenstrasse, twists and turns for 280 miles

through the alps of southern Bavaria. Its spectacular scenery encompasses 25

castles and palaces, 64 spa resorts and 21 glacial lakes, starting in the west with

Lake Constance (Bodensee) and ending at Lake Königssee, near Austria

Springtime in ZugspitzeThe heart of Bavaria beats in its very picturesque mountain communities

Ettal is a rococo Benedictine Abbey, with its own distillery. It was founded in 1330 and rebuilt after a fire in the 18th century. www.abtei.kloster-ettal.de

H I G H L I G H T S

Linderhof, supposedly King Ludwig II’s favourite palace, was originally a simple hunting lodge. www.linderhof.de/englisch

▲ �

Herrenchiemsee Palace is called the ‘Bavarian Versailles’ because of Ludwig II’s admiration for Louis XIV of France and his version of Versailles masterpieces like the Hall of Mirrors. www.herrenchiemsee.de/englisch

neuschwanstein

AuSTRiA

IMA

GE

S: A

LA

MY,

IST

OC

KP

HO

TO

, SH

UT

TE

RS

TO

CK

The towns and landscapes around the Zugspitze, whose snowy peak is just short of 10,000 feet, are

rightly considered one of Europe’s most scenic attractions. The summit, reached by cogwheel train and cable-cars, reveals a panorama of steep crags and deep valleys, forests of fir, winding rivers with thunderous gorges, and villages with traditional window-boxes of red geraniums. Here, you may think, is the real Bavaria.

The ‘Blue Land’ around pretty Murnau fed the imaginations of early 20th-century Expressionists, but the biggest tourist destination in the Zugspitze region is Garmisch-Partenkirchen, originally two villages each side of the Partnach river. Only 60

016-017_Bavarian Alps(CC)_SB.indd 16 26/04/2013 13:51

The Town ThaT goT iTs skaTes on

excellent in Chieming.Bernau, which belonged to the

wonderfully-named Counts of Preysing, is a health resort, once frequented by Roman soldiers. Seebruck, also of Roman provenance, has an important former monastery, Seeon Abbey, which Mozart and Haydn visited.

Naturally, sailing on the Chiemsee, especially at the calmer southern end, is highly popular. Learners can take a course at the Segelschule Bernau (www.segelschule-bernau.de). www.chiemgau-tourismus.de

near Traunstein is inzell, set in a sunny valley ringed by mountains and lakes – the

epitome of all that’s best about the Bavarian countryside. Yet this tiny idyllic resort – 90 minutes southeast of Munich –contains an extraordinary piece of architecture.

The Max aicher arena is the most modern speed-skating ice-rink in the world, and was awarded a major prize at a world architecture festival in 2011, the year that inzell staged its international speed-skating championship. The beauty of it is the spectacle of athletes and spectators surrounded by panoramic views of a dozen mountains, seen through the arena’s transparent walls and roof.

inzell is at the heart of more than 2,000kms of mountain-bike trails, and local mountains such

as Rauschberg, Teisenberg and gamsknogel offer good sport. Rock-climbing is one of many summer activities here.

Yet inzell, as a ‘kinderland’ resort, prides itself on being for the whole family. with an ‘inzell Card’, families can have free use of bicycles and cable-cars, and unlimited access to its water-park.

This is also a good place to try traditional cuisine – dishes like butter noodles with cabbage, deer stew with dumplings, or veal from organic farms in the valley. www.inzell.de/en

Would you believe it – sleepy little Inzell has built an architectural marvel

Trails: Inzell makes a perfect base for mountain-biking

Caption here please

Lakeland: Chiemsee Schifffahrt’s boats (left) ply the lake’s towns and islands, like Herreninsel, with its great palace of Herrenchiemsee (above)

WANT TO YODEL?

Music teacher Josef Ecker demonstrates how to jodel at his training courses on Hochfelln mountain, near Bergen www.bergen-chiemgau.de/en

Max Aicher Arena: Inzell is known as the ‘Mecca of ice-sports’

IMA

GE

S: A

LA

MY,

SH

UU

TE

RS

TO

CK

018-19_Cheimgau & Chiemsee(CC)_SB.indd 19 26/04/2013 10:26

Chiemgau boasts a huge lake, very popular for water sports, and a great many other activities, from ballooning to paragliding

Sailing the Bavarian SeaLake Chiemsee dominates

Chiemgau, a hilly, grassy region of the lower Alps, between the rivers Inn and Traun. Bavaria is

land-locked, but Chiemsee is a tidal lake, covering 80 square kilometres, and can boast of being the ‘Bavarian Sea’ – in the Ice Age, indeed, it spread over half of what’s now Europe.

The lake has two main islands, Herreninsel (the Gentleman’s Island) and Fraueninsel (the Lady’s ). On Herreninsel stands Herrenchiemsee, the (unfinished) palace built by Ludwig II in 1878, which was intended as a replica of the Palace of Versailles. Throughout summer, tourists flock to see its magnificent Parade Chamber; the king’s bedroom, with its boat-like bed; and the Gallery of Mirrors, lit by nearly 2,000 candles.

Frauenchiemsee, smaller, has a village and an active Benedictine convent, founded in 782, whose nuns make liqueurs. Both islands are well-served by a passenger boat, the Chiemsee Schifffahrt, which circumnavigates Chiemsee and

offers a three-hour guided tour of the lake called Tales of Chiemsee (€25pp. www.chiemsee-schifffahrt.de). Bikes can be rented in several towns around the lake.

Chiemgau is very outdoorsy, and pretty keen on ecotourism. A hiking and biking trail, the Uferweg Chiemsee, runs for 60kms around the lake, with easy access from Übersee in the south, Seebruck in the north and Chieming to the east. Every day, from mid-May to early October, a shuttle-bus goes around, picking up hikers and cyclists with their bikes. You can also go ballooning or enjoy paragliding, rafting and canyoning. Wind- and kite-surfing are

018-19_Cheimgau & Chiemsee(CC)_SB.indd 18 26/04/2013 10:21

Murnau and its lovely countryside inspired Kandinsky and the Expressionists

Münter in a house in Murnau, now a museum called the Münterhaus, whose furniture and staircase he painted.

A delightful town in the foothills of the Bavarian Alps, with pretty beer gardens and little shops in a mall, Murnau has prospered

from this artistic legacy. It’s a member of the European Federation of Artists’ Colonies, and more than 50 artists now live and exhibit here. Its Schlossmuseum features Blue Rider works, and there are more to see at the nearby Franz Marc Museum in Kochel am See. www.murnau.de

Market town: part of Zugspitze region

Inspiring landscape: Gabriele Münter’s Jawlensky and Werefkin (1909)

Gateway to the Alps♦ Walking in summer meadows, seeing

fairytale palaces, high in the Alps - and tasting the best beer in the world

♦ Enjoy a great holiday in Bavaria. Only 90 minutes by plane from Stansted

♦ Fly daily with Ryanair to Allgäu Airport Memmingen, gateway to the Bavarian Alps. Ryanair also flies twice a week from Edinburgh

♦ A highlight is a visit to bewitching Neuschwanstein, the model for Disney’s Sleeping Beauty castle, and seen in other Hollywood movies. It’s one of the world’s Top Tourist Sights

♦ Allgäu Airport Memmingen is only 47 miles from Munich, the capital of Bavaria. A bus goes directly to Munich

♦ So whether it’s the sophistication of Munich, or the simple pleasures of the Bavarian countryside , you’ll have the holiday of a lifetime

Allgäu Airport Memmingen is locatedjust off the A96 Munich-Lindau motorway

For booking, see: www.ryanair.com For further information:www.allgaeu-airport.com

Paint the town blue

020-021_Bavarian Alpsv2_SB.indd 21 26/04/2013 10:28

Murnau and its lovely countryside inspired Kandinsky and the Expressionists

Further on from Garmisch-Partenkirchen are three popular bathing lakes – Staffelsee, Riegsee and Froschhauser-See – in a

stretch of protected moorland known as Murnauer Moos. This nature reserve is most attractive. Rare orchids and gentians grow here, wildlife is abundant, and there are beautiful walking and biking trails.The German government has invested heavily, and it’s designated as an area of national importance.

The lovely countryside near Staffelsee is known as ‘the Blue Land’, and it greatly inspired Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky and his Blue Rider group of Expressionists. Between 1909 and 1914, he lived with fellow-artist Gabriele

ABlack Madonna is a statue or painting where the Virgin Mary is depicted with dark

skin. There are at least 450 such Madonnas in Europe, but few as important as the one in Altötting, which draws over a million visitors each year to her shrine in the Chapel of Grace. Altötting, an hour’s drive from Munich, has been called Bavaria’s spiritual centre, the ‘German Lourdes’.

Pilgrimages to Our Lady of Altötting began in 1489, and have included recent popes. The shrine is

in the octagonal Gnadenkappelle, in the middle of the Baroque-era Chapel Square. It also houses silver urns containing the hearts of Bavarian kings and prince-electors.

Today’s pilgrims combine seeing the shrine with visiting Oberammergau and hiking the Meditation Trail in the Ammergau Alps. Oberammergau, which stages the Passion Play, exerts a religious power all its own. The two towns now organise a regional tour of sacred sites, called ‘In the footsteps

of Emperors, Kings and Popes’. (religioese-zentren.com) www.altoetting.dewww.oberammergau.de

GOd’S Own COunTry Altötting and Oberammergau are the great religious centres of Bavarian life

Sacred sites: the Passion Play of Oberammergau (above) and Altötting’s Chapel of Grace (main picture)

Paint the town blue

IMA

GE

S: A

LA

MY,

RE

X, S

tAE

dt

ISc

hE

GA

LE

RIE

IM L

En

bA

ch

hA

uS

020-021_Bavarian Alpsv2_SB.indd 20 26/04/2013 10:28

Since May is the start of the beer garden season, here are six very pretty beer gardens to visit:

■ Alpenblick

Crossroads of the Alps All roads lead to Füssen, a jewel in Bavaria’s crown

Roughly three miles from Austria, 70 miles from Munich, Füssen is a hub for travelling the

Romantic and Alpine Roads. But it’s worth lingering here. It’s the main town for visiting Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau, the castle where Ludwig II grew up.

In Füssen itself is the former Benedictine Abbey of St. Mang, 1,100 years old, a key site on the main medieval road across the Alps to Italy. It has magnificent frescoes, inspired by the legend of St Mang, a saint credited with miracles. A museum in its south wing displays Füssen’s history and its prominence in making medieval lutes.

Füssen’s alpine setting, on the River Lech, among the Allgäu hills, is very beautiful; it’s reputedly the highest town above sea-level in Bavaria. It sits at the southern edge of Lake Forggensee, with good swimming and sailing. There is a terrific view to be had of Ludwig’s two castles from a boat trip on Forggensee (June 1-October 15) www.fuessen.de

Red-roofed Füssen: much more than a base for exploring castles

Among the pleasures of visiting new places is returning home with mementoes of your stay. now great castles like neuschwanstein are commemorated in high-quality souvenirs that reflect bavaria’s rich cultural history.

Shoppers can choose from beautiful silk scarves, cushions, bags, napkins, jewellery, decorative bottles and porcelain. Their designs are taken from original paintings and decorations in bavaria’s castles by kulturGut, the company developing items for the state museum shops.

A pendant of garnets, named after

lola Montez, mistress of king ludwig 1, costs €50. A scarf called ‘pagodenburg’, in honour of the chinese pavillion in Schloss nymphenburg, is €60. prices range from €3 to €500. And there’s something for every age group.

Tel. 0049 89 17 889670. schloesser-bayern-shop.de

S h o p B a v a r i a

Handbag Carla: €150

IMA

GE

S: A

LA

MY

022-023_THE ALLGÄU_SB_v2.indd 23 26/04/2013 10:31

Lake Forggensee, historic Füssen and

King Ludwig’s romantic castles are the highlights of this

breathtaking landscape

Neuschwanstein, once dismissed as the folly of a mad king, has become one of the world’s major sights

Spectacular Schloss (Castle) Neuschwanstein sits high on crags above the village of Hohenschwangau, looking

chocolate-box beautiful. It’s ten minutes by special bus from the rail terminus in Füssen, journey’s end on the Romantic Road, and, for those who know its story, a visit to this 19th-century palace combines delight with melancholy.

Neuschwanstein’s founder, the highly-strung Ludwig II, lived here only briefly before mysteriously drowning in 1886. He had been deposed as King of Bavaria because

of financial improvidence, though his debts were not his country’s responsibility. He was seen as a fantasist and a misfit, but his friend and cousin, Empress Elizabeth of Austria, concluded: ‘The king was not mad; he was just an eccentric, living in a dream world.’

Ludwig’s taste for theatricality was expressed in his passion to build picture-book castles from the age of

chivalry. Neuschwanstein was never conceived in 1869 as a

fortification, but as his personal summer retreat, one dedicated to his friend and hero, the

composer Richard Wagner. Its flamboyant interiors, created with

the help of a stage designer, are

inspired by the mythology in Wagner’s Tannhauser and Lohengrin. Yet Wagner, dying in 1883, never saw them.

Critics derided Neuschwanstein as kitsch, but there was method in the king’s supposed madness. He included modern flush toilets and running hot water, for example; morever, building so-called ‘fairytale’ castles was not so unusual in the 19th century.

Today, Neuschwanstein is seen as an important example of the Romanesque Revival. It was opened to the paying public right after Ludwig died, and each year has more than 1.4 million visitors. During the War, it stored Nazi plunder. Now it’s one of Germany’s Top 10 sights, and has appeared in several movies, including Sleeping Beauty. One man’s romantic ideal of a castle has turned out to be the world’s. www.neuschwanstein.de

Füssen

Lake Forggensee

Neuschwanstein

MuNich

022-023_THE ALLGÄU_SB_v2.indd 22 26/04/2013 10:30

www.bavaria.by

St. Coloman in the Bavarian Alps

Bavaria. Summer. The Original

Dear All,

Never felt so relaxe

d.

Why didn ‘t

we come before? www.bavaria.by

St. Coloman in the Bavarian Alps

Bavaria. Summer. The Original

Dear All,

Never felt so relaxe

d.

Why didn ‘t

we come before?

024_BACKPAGE.indd 24 26/04/2013 10:35

Bavaria Magazine 2013 - The Real Bavaria - An original kind of holiday

Documents

Transcript of Bavaria Magazine 2013 - The Real Bavaria - An original kind of holiday