I have been in Germany staying with lovely friends. As well as a gorgeous house in Erlangen they have an apartment close to the Alps in Bavaria. We spent a couple of days exploring an area new to me.
We came upon a beautiful town beside the Isar River, nestled in a valley surrounded by glorious mountains. There has been heavy rain so a lot of the snow was washed away, but Bad Tolz still looked stunning.
The town has flourished since the 1300s and now stands out as a baroque and colourful jewel close to the mountains. The pedestrian centre has beautiful houses decorated with paintings and scenes from the bible.
“Luftlmalerei” is a typical Bavarian way of painting the facades of houses. The technique resembles painting frescoes and it goes back to the baroque and rococo period.
Look up towards the interesting roof line.
Shops advertise their wares in old fashioned ways.
We walked up the hill beside the town to see the church, which, as usual, is perched on the best spot in town.
The interior is quite unusual. One of the altars is set at the top of a set of stairs decorated with sculptures.
The sun came out as we left the church.
I don’t know what this building below the church is…any suggestions?
Late afternoon sunshine lit up the town and the lovely buildings.
As we were leaving the sky turned pink and the almost full moon appeared.
I can’t leave Bavaria without talking about the food. We went to a famous bakery for afternoon tea. Cafe Winklstuberl makes 800 cakes a day and we happily devoured a couple of them.
We met two lovely ladies in traditional dress.
We walked out of Cafe Winklstuberl to this pretty scene.
We went for dinner at Klosterstueberl in their lovely white room with arched ceilings.
I chose schnitzel with mushrooms and my friend had spinach dumplings. We shared a delicious dessert.
I look forward to a longer stay in the area. My friends occasionally rent their apartment, so if you are thinking of going to the area, let me know.
I flew from Munich over the very neat villages in Germany, over the Alps into Florence to begin my 4 months in Italy…a new adventure.
We are planning a trip to Sicily in spring as well as lots of day trips around our gorgeous area. I hope you will join me.