Bavaria (Bayern) is the original home of many of
Germany's best-known clichés: beer-swilling Lederhosen-clad men,
sausage dogs, cowbells and Alpine villages, Sauerkraut and Wurst
and the fairy-tale castle of Neuschwanstein. Yet all this is only a
small part of the Bavarian picture, and one that's restricted to
the southern areas in and around the Alps.
Historically and politically , Bavaria has always
occupied a special position within Germany. Although a wealthy
duchy within the Holy Roman Empire, its rulers preferred artistic
patronage to the territorial expansionism and dynastic feuding
characteristic of the rest of the nation. A fundamental change in
Bavaria's status occurred at the beginning of the nineteenth
century, when it profited from Napoleon's decision to re-order the
map of Germany: it was doubled in size, and promoted to the rank of
a kingdom. Thereafter, it retained much of its independence and its
own monarch, even after the union of Germany in 1871. Following the
demise of the monarchy at the end of World War I, Bavaria briefly
became a free state, but quickly degenerated into a hotbed of
right-wing extremism where Hitler had his first successes. This
reputation for reactionary politics continues to the present day:
Bavaria has continuously been ruled since World War II by the
ultra-conservative CSU, whose stranglehold on power seems
unshakeable.
Bavaria is made up of four distinct regions, each with its own
identity and culture, and its cities are equally varied in
character. In Munich the Land has a cosmopolitan, if
conservative, capital that ranks as one of Germany's star
attractions. The city lies at the centre of Upper Bavaria ,
the state's heartland, a region that ranges from the snow-capped
peaks of the Alps to gentle hop-growing farmland. It's a
traditional, deeply Catholic area whose rural traditions continue
in spite of the inroads of mass tourism.
West of here is Bavarian Swabia . Detached by Napoleon
from the rest of its traditional province (thereafter officially
known as Württemberg), it remains stubbornly Swabian in culture -
most obviously in its distinctive pasta-based cuisine. Even so, it
is home to the most outrageous of the Romantic castles which form
such a crucial part of the Bavarian stereotype. Outside of the
mountainous Allgäu area in the south, this is a region of
undulating agricultural country, ideal for walking and cycling
holidays. The pristine local capital of Augsburg has been a
place of importance since the days of the Romans, and its
resplendent Renaissance buildings give it a highly distinctive
appearance.
To the north lies Franconia , which was likewise absorbed
into Bavaria in 1803. The most obvious evidence of its
distinctiveness can be seen in the wine-growing area around
Würzburg in the northwest, where a culture quite at odds
with the beer-loving rest of Bavaria exists. In the northeast of
Franconia the difference can be seen most obviously in the
elegantly plain Baroque architecture of the Lutheran strongholds of
Ansbach and Bayreuth : the Reformation left Franconia
more or less split down the middle along religious lines.
Nürnberg , a place risen from the rubble of wartime
destruction and restored to the splendour of its Middle Ages
heyday, was another city which quickly embraced Protestantism. The
same is true of Rothenburg ob der Tauber , the most famous
of the medieval towns on the Romantic Road , one of
Germany's most famous tourist routes. Yet Bamberg , whose
magnificently varied architectural legacy is unsurpassed in all of
Germany, remained, like Würzburg, staunchly Catholic.
Eastern Bavaria , incorporating the provinces of Lower
Bavaria and the Upper Palatinate, is the state's backwater: a
rustic, relatively poor region where life in the highlands revolves
around logging and workshop industries such as traditional glass
production. However, the region also has a number of urban
attractions, most notably the wonderfully well-preserved medieval
cities of Regensburg and Landshut , and the border
town of Passau , which is notable for its harmonious Baroque
layout.
Travel is made easy by a generally good network of
trains and regional buses, though public transport is sometimes a
little thin on the ground in Bavarian Swabia and Eastern Bavaria -
having a car makes life easier here. Cycling is an excellent and
very popular way to get around, and is facilitated by a great many
marked cycling paths throughout the state. Accommodation is
uniformly good; it's normally not too difficult to find a bed,
though problems may occasionally be experienced in the mountain
resorts and some of the more popular tourist towns. An unfortunate
restriction for travellers over 27 is that they're barred
from using youth hostels, though reasonably priced private rooms in
most places should compensate.