Whilst in Bavaria, as well as visiting all of King Ludwig II’s castles and palaces, I also wanted to fit in a couple of royal residences in Munich, particularly Schloss Nymphenburg which was King Ludwig I’s palace. He was King Ludwig II’s grandfather and I’d read about his palace, Nymphenburg. And it was only a 10 minute walk from my hotel in Munich.
It was a lovely warm day and after a short wander through the gardens, I bought my ticket for the palace to have a look around the interior. The Queen’s bedchamber was the birthplace of King Ludwig II, so there was still a connection to Mad King Ludwig at this palace.
The Great Hall at the start of the tour is the most impressive of the rooms, the other rooms aren’t particularly special, they seemed to be fairly standard as far as rooms in royal palaces go.
However, I was particularly interested in seeing the Gallery of Beauties that I’d read about. King Ludwig I, who liked the ladies, had paintings commissioned of 36 women he considered beautiful and hung them in this gallery in his palace. His gallery was unusual because he didn’t just commission paintings of princesses and noble women, any woman he considered beautiful was painted.
Amongst the portraits was that of Lola Montez, the king’s mistress, who ended up being his downfall. Lola Montez had reinvented herself as a Spanish dancer, but in fact she was born Eliza Gilbert in Ireland. She had travelled to Europe to seek her fame as an actress and dancer. She couldn’t act, or dance either for that matter, but what she did have going for her was her exotic looks. She was considered a striking beauty and had a string of influential men as lovers, including Franz Liszt, and finally ended up as the mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria until his relationship with her forced him to abdicate and Lola was run out of town. Quite a story behind that portrait!
I enjoyed the tour of the palace and after that I had a walk around the grounds. The gardens were beautiful with fountains and bridges in both the formal front gardens and the grounds at the back of the palace. In May the flowers were out all, lots of orange and yellow ones at the back of the palace that coincidentally matched my clothes. I walked right through the gardens all the way to a bridge at the end than crossed over the stream with a distant view of the palace ahead. I then made my way to the formal grounds at the front of the palace and stood on the balcony at the front of the palace which was lit by ornate lamp posts.
After my initial rush to Nymphenburg to make sure I saw it before it closed for the day, I then headed to the Hirschgarten, the largest beer garden in Europe, which was basically next door to my hotel. It was packed out because it was Mother’s Day. In fact, on the plane, the Lufthansa flight attendant brought round a bottle of sparkling wine because it was Mother’s Day.
In the beer garden I had a couple of Hugo cocktails, which were a speciality of the area, a combination of prosecco, elderflower syrup and mint. I decided that cheese would be a nice accompaniment to my cocktail so I ordered some and ended up with a very weird concoction, a mixture of Brie, cream cheese and butter, which was bright orange accompanied by pretzels! It probably contained my fat allowance for the next 5 years and would no doubt send my cholesterol levels through the roof!
As it was my first day in Munich and had been an early morning I decided to leave it at that for today and continue my exploration of Munich at a later date.
Four days later, having seen all of King Ludwig II’s fantastical castles and palaces, I spent my day in the city of Munich.
First of all, I charged to the top of St Peter’s church tower because that’s what I do. I’ve got a thing about climbing church or cathedral towers anywhere I go and I also have a thing about using the steps, even if there’s a lift. So I charged up the tower using the staircase. Once at the top of the tower I had a view overlooking Marienplatz, Munich’s main central square.
When I descended to ground level and started to look around, I then noticed that all the shops were shut and discovered that today was Ascension Day and it was celebrated here as a public holiday because Bavaria is still predominantly Catholic, so religious holidays are generally observed.
Fortunately the Munich Residence was open so I went in there. The Munich Residence had been the city palace of the Wittelsbach dynasty, the Bavarian royal family. It was the seat of government for Bavarian during the monarchy and the largest city palace in Germany and was now open to the public.
I went in the Treasury first which contained the oldest known English crown which was for a queen. It was interesting to think how it had ended up in Munich as it was an English crown. The curators couldn’t be certain, but there was a theory that it had been part of a dowry. There was also a king’s crown and it was so big it looked like it would fit round my waist!
My favourite piece in the Treasury was a beautiful statuette of St George on his horse killing the dragon made of hundreds of precious stones.
I was also fascinated by a travelling case for a queen which contained toiletries, a teapot, a sewing kit, a set of cutlery, a screwdriver and a drill! I wondered what she would have used a drill for on her travels…
After that I went round the 900 rooms of the Munich Residence. No, it was only 90 rooms. It just felt like 900. The audioguide actually said unfortunately not all of the rooms were open for viewing, only 96 were open! 96 was more than enough! I was flagging at the end of that. None of the rooms were as impressive as at Mad King Ludwig’s palaces.
To be fair, a lot of the Munich Residence had been damaged in the Second World War, but it did make me appreciate the genius of King Ludwig II. The more I heard about him, the more I liked him. In the end all of the rooms started to look the same and the audio guide no longer held my interest.
Finally I spent 20 minutes in the Cuvilliés Theatre which is attached to the Munich Residence, but I had had enough of the Munich Residence by now. The only way it would have held my attention would have been if I’d been there to watch a ballet or an opera. I have to say I preferred being in the mountains and countryside to being in the city.
On leaving the Munich Residence I made my way to the English Garden to have a walk round. The English Garden was busy, probably because it was a Bank holiday. It was a nice place for a wander and I also saw the river surfers on the Eisbach, an artificial stream running by the edge of the park. It’s a dangerous pastime and for experienced local surfers only, due to the rocks set into the concrete and the shallow water. It looked terrifying to me!
Afterwards I went for an ice cream and then into a beer cellar, but because it was Ascension Day and a public holiday it was really crowded. It wasn’t my kind of thing at all. I’m not really a beer drinker and I hate crowds. So going into a crowded beer cellar on a Bank Holiday was probably not the best idea I’d ever had…
I was happy to stick with castles and palaces and the undisputed genius of Mad King Ludwig II of Bavaria.
I would thoroughly recommend Schloss Nymphenburg, the Treasury and the Munich Residence in Munich city centre. But be selective in the Munich Residence. Don’t try and see all 96 plus rooms that are open unless you want to end up in a trance by the end of it like I did!
I travelled in Bavaria during the second week of May in 2015.
Unlike the palaces and castles of King Ludwig II, photography is permitted inside Schloss Nymphenburg, the Munich Residence, the Treasury and the Cuvilliés Theatre. If you want to see more, click on the below links to the official websites. General information, including admission prices, can be found on these websites.
I bought a 14 day pass which was valid for a large number of castles and palaces throughout Bavaria and cost 24 Euros. This leaflet details all attractions covered by the 14 day pass which includes Schloss Nymphenburg, the Munich Treasury, the Munich Residence and the Cuvilliés Theatre.
In 2018 tickets for Schloss Nymphenburg cost 6.00 Euros per person. There are no guided tours of the palace, but an audioguide is available for 3.50 Euros per person.
In 2018 tickets for Munich Residence cost 7.00 Euros per person and include a free audio guide. Tickets for the Treasury cost 7.00 Euros per person and include a free audio guide. Tickets for the Cuvilliés Theatre cost 3.50 Euros per person.
Combination tickets for the Munich Residence and Treasury cost 11.00 Euros per person and combination tickets for the Residence, Treasury and Theatre cost 13.00 Euros per person.
I stayed at Hotel Kriemhild close to the Hirschgarten in Munich and a 10 minute walk from Schloss Nymphenburg.
I flew to Munich direct from Birmingham Airport with Lufthansa
Read the three instalments about my tours of King Ludwig II’s fantasy castles and palaces.
Neuschwanstein Castle
Linderhof Palace
Palace of Herrenchiemsee
Read about my other adventures on my trip to Bavaria and Austria.
Paragliding in the Bavarian Alps
Surreal Night at the Rattlesnake Saloon
Längenfeld Aqua Dome Spa
I love visiting castles and palaces. Read about other castles I’ve visited around the world.
Kronborg – A Visit to Hamlet’s Castle
