Munich, The Home Of Europe's New Champions

 

Munich is the capital of Bavaria, the region which is where the stereotypes of Lederhosen and big beers come from. It is one of the best cities to visit in Germany, it has some incredible beer gardens and historical sites.

Another Flixbus journey took me here from Salzburg, I was hungover and desperately needed some water or Gatorade, sadly, it was another bus station in the middle of nowhere. So when I arrived in Munich I was absolutely knackered, that didn't stop me from going out to explore though. I went for a walk around to see some of the amazing architecture in a beautiful evening setting and I witnessed the feirabend, a term in Germany used to describe the time after work in which people spend some time to relax, I saw people having glasses of wine outside and others with steins of beer, I found a place to have what I absolutely should have on my first evening in Germany. Currywurst is one of the biggest streetfood dishes in Germany, served with chips, it is a high quality sausage doused in sauce and served with ketchup and mayo as well. All that washed down with a Nice Bavarian beer as well. I then went to a beer garden to have a stein and it set me back 7 euros. 

Near the St Peter's church is the main square in Munich, it's a great lively place to walk around and see things, there's even a really cool football shop there and also the town hall of the city. Lined with places to drink beer and eat sausages is a very impressive building for a town hall and it is close to one of the most famous sites in Munich. 

Five minutes up the road is the Munich Residenz which was the palace that once belonged to the Bavarian monarchy, from the outside it is not your typical fancy palace, it looks like something out of Minecraft, it is certainly an interesting building with a huge garden. However, what's truly amazing is inside, the palace is huge with what felt like 40 rooms of sheer opulence. It's definitely worth going inside and it takes about an hour to walk through it all, the amount of wealth these monarchs must have had back in the day must have been staggering. 

 

Hungry for something to eat, I headed over to Victual's Market, an excellent place to get some awesome German street food, full of stalls selling all kinds of German foods and meats, however for lunch I got a currwurst and a diet coke for not much more than a fiver, for Munich prices this is a bargain. I was told about a huge palace just outside of the city centre known as Nymphenburg palace, this place is relatively easy to get to on the U Bahn but it will take about 40 minutes from the city centre. It's definitely worth a visit though as this place is massive, going inside of the actual palace costs 8 euros and it's ok, the rooms are quite grandiose, but what's truly massive is the outside part. The gardens are more like one big park, the one at the back is of gigantic proportions and has a massive body of water inside of it. 

 When I got back to the centre of Munich I wanted to find a traditional Bavarian place for some authentic wurst, I found a place and had sausages with sauerkraut and of course I wouldn't be doing it right if I didn't have a beer. The sausages were delicious, but I wasn't a huge fan of sauerkraut, it's not actually something I eat often. Having beer outside in Munich is something that you have to do, however it isn't too cheap, if you have a pint, it will be four euros. Furthermore, things weren't too lively, possibly due to the pandemic, as soon as it hit 10PM all the beer gardens started to close and people were going home. 

Of course as Bayern Munich are the new champions of Europe and I felt I had to go to the Allianz Arena for a stadium tour. Honestly, the stadium isn't that impressive, the atmospheres must be amazing on match-days though. Considering that Bayern Munich are such a huge club in Germany, you'd expect their stadium to be right in the middle of the city, just like Dortmund. However, if you want to get to the Allianz Arena, it's not really worth it unless you're a huge football fan. It takes an hour to get from the centre of Munich to the stadium and a 20 minute walk from the station to where the stadium actually is. 

Once you get there it's really unclear where you actually go for the stadium tour, I didn't know I had to go through the turnstiles and then I eventually found it. As a student I had to pay 17 euros which covered the stadium tour and the museum. I have to say I wasn't impressed by the stadium tour, it's not actually a guided tour, lazily, they just tell you to follow some red footsteps which I found to be vague and you can only walk into the stand. You can't get to see the press conference rooms or the locker rooms which was a huge letdown for me as I really wanted to pose with all the player's shirts in the locker room. 

It wasn't all bad though, the museum was actually really interesting, fair play to Bayern Munich for actually having their silverware on display that they've won over the years. The club's history is huge and they have won loads of trophies, most recently they have their new treble which was actually on display and this was awesome to see. Furthermore, in the museum there is all sorts about some of the most famous moments of the club and at the end there are cardboard cut-outs of the players that you can pose with and when you're finished there's a huge club shop where they think they can charge you 100 euros for a Bayern shirt.

 As I said this isn't the best thing to do in Munich as it's extremely out of the way, when you pass by the stadium on the Autobahn, it doesn't look like a stadium, it looks like some sort of industrial facility, I'm not even saying this because I'm a Dortmund fan. 

A U Bahn ride away is the Olympic Park which is where the horrific terrorist attack during the 1972 Olympic games took place, eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team were mercilessly slaughtered and there is a solemn memorial in the middle of the park which explains everything to know about what happened. 

The main thing to see is the Olympic stadium, for four Euros you can go inside of it for a walk around, even though it's cool to see the stadium which was a venue for the 1972 Olympics and 1974 World Cup. It's a little bit unremarkable, the seats are covered in bird poo and it feels like a rather basic stadium. There is also BMW world nearby, which isn't much to be honest, it's really just an office building for BMW and you can see a range of BMW cars and motorbikes, maybe the appeal is past me. 

A few hours later, I headed out for some currywurst and beer at a beer market near Victuals Market, the atmosphere of a Bavarian beer garden is really nice and the currywurst tastes really good, however it isn't cheap. Two beers and a currywurst set me back 18 euros, as you can see, Munich is quite a pricey city. 

Munich is a fantastic city with loads of things to do, it is also the heart of Bavarian culture, even though I had two full days on a second visit I feel like I need to come back. It's not the best city for backpackers to be honest as things like beer and tourist attraction costs are quite steep. If I can make it back to Bavaria, I will have to see more of it such as Neuschwanstein castle and maybe it will be more lively when the pandemic is less of an issue.