This German city is a triumph of Medieval culture, Bavarian beer and ... surfing

With its 43 bells and scenes depicting both a barrel maker’s dance and the 1568 wedding of Duke Wilhelm and Renate of Lorraine, the Glockenspiel is an unlikely touristic triumph.

Marienplatz square with New Town Hall and Frauenkirche (Cathedral of Our Lady).

Munich is mostly sleeping. I should be too, but 27 hours of flying from Australia, a skewed body clock and a slumber-deprived mind means that, having landed in a still-dark Bavaria at 5.30am on a brisk autumn day, the scent of an urban adventure seems more thrilling than a nap.

To sleep or not? In some ways this is a very Australian travelling conundrum. The warped speed of travel, and the prospect of exploring new places, sees the first day of any journey seemingly last way longer than any other – a bonus when you’ve just arrived somewhere gorgeous and close by.

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Toss in endless hours of flying, crossing hemispheres and time zones, and a sleep-starved deduction that staying awake till dark (11 more hours) might somehow avoid jetlag, and suddenly it’s 8am, and the sun has finally risen. Boosted by an early check-in and a quick shower, it seems a shame to miss whatever’s outside my inner city hotel.

A short walk away is the old town. Greater Munich is a surprisingly green, modern and spotless city. While the area around the main train station is throbbing with employees rushing to work, the streets are still quiet in the medieval hub.

The Munich old town

Breakfast at a cafe is heavy on crusty German rye and good coffee – although more than €5 ($A8.30) for a cappuccino, and it’s only well after I’ve paid the bill and walked away, that I belatedly register what the day’s first caffeine fix has in fact set me back.

But it’s ideal fuel for the resumption of the longest day, which by 9.30am sees some of the shops on popular Kaufinger Strasse, one of the city’s oldest streets, begin to open. Along the paved pedestrian route, there are international chain stores, a retail outlet of the city’s adored football team FC Bayern Munich, and countless stalls selling roasted chestnuts and impossibly bright punnets of berries and plums.

The street leads to Marienplatz, where first hundreds and soon thousands of people begin to clamour in the mid-morning sun. This enormous square is the heart of tourist Munich, with its series of centuries old buildings, among them the stunning Neues Rathuas (new town hall), where a wander among the neo-Gothic arches feels like walking into a scene from The Sound of Music.

While Munich’s long history is evident in the architecture that lines the square, it is also apparent from the selection of walk-up tours being touted. Among other destinations, guides are waiting to take visitors to the nearby Dachau concentration camp, and on a Third Reich themed tour.

Munich, Germany. Photo: Anastasia Shuraeva

A waiter carrying a lot of beer glasses in beer garden at Octoberfest in Munich

There are also countless free walking tours of the city waiting to head off. But none seem in a rush to leave the area, as guides linger in nearby churches or offer extended explanations in situ. Because the biggest event of the morning for many, and possibly the most famous happening in town, takes place here at 11am.

With its 43 bells and animated scenes depicting both a barrel maker’s dance and the 1568 wedding of Duke Wilhelm and Renate of Lorraine, Munich’s Glockenspiel is, on paper, an unlikely touristic triumph. But try telling that to the scores of enamoured fans who fill the square in the minutes before the carillon sounds, their audible oohs and aahs providing an unexpected sideshow to the low-tech spectacle, which ends with the appearance of a golden cuckoo.

Inside Hofbraeuhaus.

From here, it takes perhaps five minutes to wander via some of the city’s loveliest old streets to one of its famed beer halls. Cavernous, noisy, and full of long tables covered in massive steins, the Hofbrauhaus Munchen is undoubtedly kitsch. But the food is plentiful, the place is invariably lively and fun, and if you’re lucky the resident Oompah band might even be playing a jig or two.

After a good feed and all that Bavarian folk music, it’s time to wander through some of the city’s welcoming stretches of green, where, only a few more minutes from the heart of the city, lies one of Munich’s most unlikely sites. This city may be 1000km from the Black Sea, but amazingly it has developed a local surfing scene. The Eisbachwelle is pitched as “the largest, best and most convenient city centre location for river surfing”. On the edge of the pretty English Gardens, ninja-looking surfers, donning head to toe wetsuits, surf the icy rapids on the Eisbach river, attracting sizeable crowds to watch.

Eisbachwelle surfers.

From here, there are more coffees on the way back to the hotel, and the realisation that slumber cannot be avoided for much longer. I don’t quite make it to 8pm before I finally pass out on an uber-comfortable bed to the alien, but strangely lilting sounds of a German news bulletin.

After an unexpectedly joyous day of sightseeing, the longest day is over. Would I do it again? Absolutely. I don’t even need to sleep on it.

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Checklist

Eat: With several branches across town, Munchner Suppenkuche offers a changing array of delicious soups and stews, from pork-heavy to vegan, with a range of toppings and sides that include pancake strips and outstanding rye bread. Arrive early if you can; lines often form at the main branch at lively Viktualienmarkt, where the outside picnic tables can be full of lunchtime diners as early as 11.30am.

Walk: Larger than New York’s Central Park, Munich’s charming English Garden is one of the world’s biggest inner-city parks. On an artificial island near the Haus der Kunst, the Japanese tea house continues with the location’s international theme and offers traditional tea ceremonies. It is open seasonally.

See: Munich has may famed churches. But the tiny Asamkirche is a Baroque stunner. Built in the 1700s as a private chapel for two brothers, it has a sumptuous interior. Its facade, on the other hand, is apparently integrated into the row of terrace houses on either side - although the extraordinary detailed stonework is a giveaway that this is someplace special.