This post is a start of a new series documenting our time in the Dolomites region of Italy in the summer of 2023. As a travelling couple we have always been big fans of the hills & mountains with various destinations in the Alps in Europe & the Himalayas always topping our list for places to travel to. The Alps have a special place in our heart as we have spent some memorable times in this beautiful mountain range that runs across Europe. We started out our Alpine travel journey in Chamonix in France back in 2015 ( Chamonix – Dizzying heights of the French Alps ) and since then have visited Zell am See & Kaprun in Austrian Alps ( Zell am see & Kaprun Part 1 – An exhilarating ride up the Kitzsteinhorn ) and spent almost an entire week in Zermatt & Murren the Swiss Alps in the summer of 2022 ( First taste of Zermatt & the Matterhorn – Up the Rothorn – Swiss Sojourns, Part 3 , The pleasant Alpine town of Murren & an afternoon walk to Gimmelwald – Swiss Sojourn, Part 6 ). So this time we turned our attention to the eastern most part of the Alps in Italy – the Dolomites.
We had researched about the Dolomites before this too. The main hurdle we hit was the lack of public transportation in the region in the shoulder season that we usually planned our travel in. That changed as the Dolomites public transportation improved a lot in the last half a decade and to add to that we decided to travel in the peak summer season. We wanted to hike in the Dolomites and that is easiest for amateur hikers like us in the summer season when all the paths are open and free of snow. So with our primary destination set I set about planning an itinerary (more on that in the next post ) and saw that the closest and most convenient airport to reaching the Western part of the Dolomites that we were targeting was not in Italy but Munich in Germany.
We had been to Munich in 2018 and spent a wonderful few days here and visited most of the places that we were interested in. We had visited both the palaces in Nymphenburg (First taste of Munich – A morning spent at the Nymphenburg Palace & Gardens ) and the Residenz in Munich itself ( The Residenz, Munich – A lesson in Bavarian History & German pride ). We had spent a full evening in the sprawling English Gardens ( A walk to the English Gardens & back- A relaxing last evening in Munich ) but we had the spent most of our time in Munich in and around the beautiful Marienplatz square in Old town ( Walking in & around Marienplatz – The Heart of Munich ). I had enjoyed the relaxed vibe and the beer gardens of the city, so when I saw that Munich was the most convenient Airport I booked a night in Munich before we travelled on to Bolzano & the Dolomites.
We took a flight from Mumbai to Munich via Doha and landed at the Munich airport without any hassles along the way. We collected our luggage and went to the train station attached to the airport from where we took a train to the Munich Hauptbahnhof ( main train station). I usually book hotels inside Old towns in any European city but since we were in Munich just for a night and would be taking a train to Bolzano the next morning I booked a hotel close to the train station. It was drizzling as we reached the city and I hoped that the rains wouldn’t follow us to the Dolomites although the weather forecast wasn’t very promising. We reached our Hotel Kings First which was a short walk from the station and it turned out to be a decent little hotel. I had booked an attic double room and we reached our room and relaxed for sometime.
Our Attic room at the Hotel Kings First in Munich
It was constantly drizzling outside and we decided to rest our legs for sometime after a long flight. If it was a city we had never been to before we would have braved the rain and still ventured out. Having seen Munich a few years ago we could relax our legs a bit as we had a lot of hiking coming up in the coming week (weather permitting!).
The only thing we had not seen in Marienplatz was the ringing of the musical mechanical clock tower in the Town Hall as it was being restored when we visited last time. The clock tower or Rathaus Glockenspiel is from 1908 and rings everyday at 11am and 12 noon and also 5 pm from March to October. Since we were visiting in August and would be out of Munich after breakfast the coming morning we decided to put on our rain gear and go see the Glockenspiel in action.
The New Town Hall Clock tower on a cloudy & rainy evening in Munich
The huge crowds assembled to see the Clock tower in action
We took the short tram ride to the Marienplatz as it was raining and walked down to the square where there was a sizeable crowd assembled even in the rain to watch the tower in action. I decided to put on the 300 mm and stand right at the opposite end of the square where the crowd was minimal and take photos of the moving figures. The show started as the clock stuck 5 pm and the figures started dancing across the clock tower. The top part of the mechanical clock has scenes from the marriage of a local duke and includes figures of jesters, musicians and even duelling knights as the royal couple watches on.
Scenes from the Marriage of Duke Wilhelm V to Renata of Lorraine on the clock tower
The second rung shows a story from the end of the plague in 1517 when coopers (barrel makers) have said to have danced through the streets of Munich to celebrate the end of the plague and encourage the people to leave their homes. This dance is recreated every 7 years in the streets of Munich by present day coopers and the last was in 2019 – So maybe 2026 we return to see the actual dance, who knows!
The coopers dance on the Glockenspiel in Munich
The show ended with a rooster chirping thrice and the crowd roared in appreciation. As always I always find these mechanical clocks all over Europe to be a amusing novelty not a must see. But since we were there we had to experience it once for ourselves.
The better half knew that I wanted to visit the famous Hofbrauhaus – the most famous beer house in Munich. We hadn’t ended up going last time and this time she suggested we have an early dinner there. When the better half makes such amazing suggestions you readily agree!
The famous Hofbrauhaus beer house in Munich
The Hofbrauhaus was crowded and noisy as ever and you just have to find seats for yourself the old fashioned way. The better half is an expert in that and soon we we got seats for ourselves. We finally got the busy and harried server’s attention after a few minutes and ordered a wietbier for myself and a lemonade for the better half. We also ordered Munich style sausages with sauerkraut and potato salad for myself and a huge bowl of potato and vegetable soup & bread for the better half.
The painted ceiling of the crowded but boisterous Hofbrauhaus
I enjoyed my first great beer of the trip as the live band started playing Bavarian music and the boisterous place became even more noisier. I am not usually a fan of crowded eating places but the great no nonsense food & beer with the energetic music made it an experience I would highly recommend.
Enjoying my first great Wietbier of the trip
The no nonsense crowded environment of the Hofbrauhaus
With our tummies full and finally having visited the Hofbrauhaus we started our walk back to the hotel. We couldn’t resist having a cone of Gelato to top off the evening and bought one at a popular place in Marienplatz. That capped off a great evening in Munich and we had done what we had set out to do inspite of the inclement weather.
Satisfied me after a great evening in the Hofbrauhaus thanks to the better half
We reached the hotel just in time as the drizzle turned to heavy showers and we watch the water flow down our attic room windows as we drifted off to a restful nights sleep.
Rains start as we return to our hotel
We woke up early the next morning and looked out of the window to see skies which had blue peeking out from in between the clouds. Most importantly it wasn’t pouring. So we got ready and went on a pre breakfast morning walk to Marienplatz. I have a habit of walking around European Old towns early in the morning when they are absolutely empty and a photographers delight – Munich was no different. We walked past the Old Justice Palace building and crossed into the pedestrian part of Munich via the Karlstor ( A medieval gate to the city).
The morning walk to Old Town – The Old Justice Palace to the right
A modern art installation in front of the Old Justice Palace provides a unique contrast in styles
The fountain at Karlsplatz with the Medieval gate Karlstor to the left
Happy to have a dry morning in Munich
The Karlstor – One of the Medieval gates to Old town Munich
The view of Karlspatz from under the gate
As expected Marienplatz was almost empty. There were the stray tourists walking to or from their hotels with luggage. Compared to the crowds of the previous evening this was absolutely deserted.
The Old town streets -delightfully empty early in the morning
We walked past the St Micheal’s Church , the beautiful interiors of which we had visited last time and walked the famous shopping streets of the Old town Neuhauserstrasse & Kaufingetstrasse , only now everything was closed and there were no shoppers in sight! You won’t recognise this place if you go in the middle of the day – it’s that crowded!
The St Micheal’s Church
Neuhauserstrasse all deserted at dawn
We stopped at the German hunting and fishing museum and took the customary photos with the sitting boar and huge catfish sculptures that have become tourist attractions in their own right.
The sitting boar and catfish sculptures outside the hunting and fishing museum
We walked past the lane leading to the iconic Frauenkirche with it’s iconic twin onion domed towers. We would return to the church later as we wanted to visit Marienplatz before the usual hordes took it over.
The iconic twin towers of the Frauenkirche in Munich – note the time 6.39am!
We finally reached Marienplatz where there was no tourist to be seen. Usually we are given company by some other photographers (mostly Japanese ) in our early morning walks in Europe. Here there was no one! Just some locals rushing to the train station underneath without even looking up at the beautiful square. I needed no second invitation as I enjoyed myself taking photos of the beautiful square from all possible angles.
The “New” Town Hall with the Clock tower at dawn
Beautiful Marienplatz at Dawn
St Mary’s column on the left & St Peter’s church tower peeking out on the right
The Fischbrunnen fountain in Marienplatz
The pleasing symmetry of the New Town House
The iconic photo of Marienplatz – St Mary’s column with the Town Hall behind
The restored Fischbrunnen fountain
We walked around the square just enjoying the beauty all around and walked down by the St Peter’s Church ( We had climbed the tower for amazing views last time – highly recommended!) to the now closed Viktulienmarkt square which we had frequented for meals on our last visit.
Happy us enjoying the beauty of Marienplatz, Munich
The cobbled street down from Peterskirche down to Viktulienmarkt
The Peterskirche tower that we had climbed on our last visit
We ended our morning walk by going to the small square & fountain in front of Frauenkirche which I found to be a cosy and quiet place even at the busiest of times and it was quiet and peaceful early in the morning.
The iconic domed twin towers of the Frauenkirche, Munich
The Wasserpilz fountain in front of the Frauenkirche
With that we ended our time in the Aldstadt of Munich and took a tram back to our hotel where we treated ourselves to a delicious breakfast.
After destroying a delicious and varied breakfast at the Hotel Kings First
With our tummies full we collected our luggage and went to the train station from where we would take a train to our first base in the Dolomites – the city of Bolzano. It had been a short and sweet return to Munich where we had checked all the unchecked boxes from last time.
Whether the rains would stay away or follow us across the border down to Italy is the story for another post some other time, some other day.
Till then,
Bye.
yogictravel 
lovely start to a much awaited series. Thank you for making me re visit the gorgeous old town of Munich, that too empty.
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