springtime in Germany
There couldn’t possibly be a better way to spend spring break than forgetting all about overdue assignments and taking off to the drinking capital of the world for a few days of bratwurst, beer and burly German men. Well, that’s what I thought as I booked some cheap Aerlingus flights and jetted off to Munich for four days. And I wasn’t disappointed.
Munich is often overlooked by tourists in favour of the German capital, Berlin, but it is a city full of hidden gems that are just waiting to be seen. It is also quite student friendly, with lots of cheap and cheerful hostels and night-long happy hours.
After arriving in the city centre train station following some half German, half English buying of train tickets and trying to decipher timetables, we went straight to Senefelder Strasse, about a five minute walk from the station and the main hostel thoroughfare in the city.
Our hostel, the Euro Youth Hostel, was cheep and cheerful, which suited us fine as the room was only really used for sleeping in. One of my favourite parts of the hostel was the bar, which had beer on tap 24 hours a day – you never know when you might get a craving for a pint. The bedrooms and bathrooms were spotless, and breakfast was included in the €17.50 a night charge, which was great value. Most hostels have happy hours every night, and ours ran from 6pm until 9pm, with shots and pints at €2 and doubles at €3.
With accommodation sorted, the next thing on the list to do was sample some of the famous German culture. As Munich is most renowned for its beer production, no visit to the city could be complete without a trip to the Hoffbrauhouse, where we took up residence every night. This is one of the oldest beer halls in the world, where Hitler conducted some of his earliest Nazi rallies.
Nowadays when you step inside the door you are transported back a few centuries. A brass band in traditional German lederhosen costumes play lively tunes to the dancing tourists, and young maidens wander around selling baskets of giant salty pretzels, which are so nice they should be a food group in their own right!
Here the Germans don’t do things by half, beers come in litre tankards and for those of you who, like me, aren’t beer drinkers, you have to try Russ’n, a litre of half beer, half lemonade. The trip is almost worth it for one of those alone.
The atmosphere in the Hoffbrauhouse is lively enough to rival any Irish session, and you always meet some friendly locals or other tourists to have a bit of banter and a Prost! with. You also have a chance to find out what sights are worth visiting and which should be avoided, which really helps you make the most of your time on holidays.
There is somewhere to see for everyone in Munich, the old Olympic stadium for the sports fans, or the BMW museum for car enthusiasts. One sight that everyone should pay a visit to is Dachau, the concentration camp on the outskirts of Munich. Tours run from the centre of Munich every day except Monday, and at €17 for students, which includes travel to and from the camp and a fully guided tour, it is well worth the money.
Dachau is one of the most sobering experiences you could ever have. While we all learn about World War II during history class, the sheer scale of what happened doesn’t hit you until you’re standing in a gas chamber, or looking in the crematorium at the ovens where tens of thousands of bodies were burned, or seeing the cramped living conditions that the millions of people who passed through the camp experienced.
It might not seem like one of the most enjoyable ways to spend a morning, and it isn’t, but it is also a place that everyone should see at least once, just to appreciate and better understand what happened there.
For the more adventurous tourists who want to sample every delight of Munich, there are numerous beer halls which serve traditional German food with their beers, such as pork knuckles, currwurst and bread dumplings. Thankfully, there are also a large number of restaurants dotted around the main square in the city (the Marienplatz) serving all kinds of food that will suit even the fussiest of diners. The main square of the Marienplatz is home to a large amount of small coffee shops with outdoor seating where you can enjoy a coffee while listening to the bells of the town hall tower (the Glockenspeil) chime on the hour.
We found an excellent vegetarian restaurant just off the Marienplatz, called Prinz Myshkin, on our second night and went back again for the rest of our stay. Prices were a little more expensive than the other restaurants we had seen, but still quite cheap compared to Irish standards and despite the opulent surroundings, they still found space for three scruffy students who arrived without a reservation.
Munich is full of large parks and gardens where in summer naked sunbathing is the norm, but as there was still a blanket of snow on the ground when we arrived, we missed out on that one German tradition. The largest of Munich’s gardens is the Englischer
Garten, which is home to the famous Chinesischer Turm, which is a large pagoda-style tower, as well as a beer garden. It is situated just a ten minute train ride from the city centre. This is one of the nicest parts of Munich; not many activities are as relaxing as having a drink in the shade of the tower on a sunny day, with a band playing in the background.
Unfortunately, our four days went by faster than we had hoped. Before we knew it, it was time to pack our bags and get the train back to the airport, but not without deciding that we would definitely be back again.
All in all, Munich is one city that is definitely worth a visit, and should not be overlooked in favor of the more well-known tourist cities in Europe.
