Day 1 (July 11-12, 2017): A Stop in Bavaria.
I love the Balkans. Yes, the powder keg that blew up the world by starting WWI and the region of the former Yugoslavia that turned into a bitter hell of civil war and ethnic cleansing in the 1990s is perhaps my favourite part of Planet Earth.
This will be our third trip to the region, having gotten our first taste of Croatia over a dozen years ago, and returning again to visit four countries (Serbia, Slovenia, Macedonia and Albania) in 2015. This time, our trip will take us back to see different parts of Croatia, and then onto Bosnia & Herzegovina, plus Montenegro.
But first, there are some sights to see in Bavaria!
Flight path from Halifax to Munich
We left Halifax on Condor Airlines abit late, at 11:20PM Tuesday night and arrived in Munich 10:40AM Wednesday. With nine hours to explore the city, we set out without delay, taking the uber efficient S-Bahn (metro) into "ground zero" of Munich: Mariansplatz.
Marianplatz is is flanked by the "new" and "old" city halls. I love the German word for city hall: "Rathaus". Doesn't that say a lot about municipal politics?! Anyway, one finds "neue" (new) and "alt" (old) city halls in many German cities, and Munich is no exception.
Marianplatz - the heartbeat of Munich
The "old" city hall (das alt Rathaus)
I don't know about you, but we tend to work late into the night preceding a vacation departure. So one boards an overnight flight already exhausted, and then one sets out on a sightseeing mission after enduring a night in an Economy Class seat, having only pretended to sleep a few winks. And the net result is a day of sightseeing as a zombie. That pretty well described how we felt on our day in Munich. However, it was supposed to pour all day, but we were blessed with pleasant temperatures and partly cloudy skies - a real treat!
Munich, like all European cities, is chock-o-block with jaw-dropping cathedrals. Since some were clad in scaffolding, we opted for some interior pics. But those sights won't disappoint! Here are a few of the churches we feasted our eyes upon during the day...
Not far from Marianplatz is the oh-so-famous Richard Strauss Fountain, named for the famous composer. Truly, we couldn't see what the fuss was about!
Genuine liederhosen for sale - a real steal at just 200 euros!!
Lunch was had at a large Department store restaurant just off the plaza, where we feaster on pork schnitzel. Bad enough we are not beer drinkers -- to come to Munich and not drink beer is unheard of -- but we couldn't leave without at least dining on schnitzel. And was it ever tasty. From Marianplatz and environs, we headed to the massive area housing the Resienz, , the palace which housed Bavarian rulers from 1385-1918.
With the afternoon winding down quickly, we decided to make our last venture the 1972 Olympic Park. You may recall the 1972 Olympics are perhaps mostly remembered for the assassination of nine Palestinian athletes. We were impressed at the magnitude of Olympic Park, and also by the degree to which it has been maintained after 45 years. The facility designs were well beyond the norm of the early 70s.
Next to Olympic Park is the world headquarters, production facility, and massive museum of BMW. Time didn't permit us to take in the museum, but it certainly looked worth exploring on a future trip. (Maybe I'll own a B-mer by then!)
The BMW universe! World headquarters, production facility, and museum.
From Olpymic Park, it was time to get moving back to the airport for our 7:40pm flight to Croatia. Munich Airport is highly decorated with awards for being outstanding, and those accolades are truly merited. It is a design masterpiece in terms of a user-friendly world airport.
We are finally here in Croatia, tucked into our cozy hotel on the edge of the Old City, which we are excited to explore in tomorrow's 33C heat. My eyes are heavy, so I bid you good night from Zadar, on the Adriatic Sea.
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