The most Latin city north of the Alps, it has been called, though those who call it that have their tongues stuck firmly in their cheeks. There are restaurants and coffee houses here that you would not necessarily find in the Rhineland or Pomerania, and there are tanned, expensively dressed people – peacocks, if you like – of the kind one sees in Italy. But there is no getting away from the fact that Munich is a German city; more specifically, a Bavarian city. And you can’t get much more German than that.
Arrive at the Hauptbahnhof, Munich’s superb main railway station, early in the morning, and you will see folk piling off carriages from Passau and Landshut to enjoy their first, foaming beer of the day, washing down, as often as not, one of those white Bavarian sausages. Come back at twilight and they will be there again, quaffing more than one beer this time. They will be sober, too. The German is a serious performer with a stein in his hand.
Beer and Bavaria: it’s such a cliché that it has become a joke. But any tour d’horizon of this beautiful city should begin with that first beer of the day because malted barley has played such an important part in its identity. It was in Bavaria in 1516 that the Reinheitsgebot, the famous pure beer ruling, took root in law and, to this day, Munich is the most significant brewing town in a nation that brews the most celebrated beers (as opposed to ales) in the world.
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To get the best out of Munich it is not necessary to attend the Oktoberfest (which begins in September), and it is certainly not compulsory to spend your money in the Hofbräuhaus, that most overrated of tourist attractions. The finest beers to be found here are Augustiner and – make a special effort to sup it – Andechs, whose beers take their name from the Benedictine monastery just outside the city. One of Munich’s best-known restaurants, Andechser am Dom, hard by the Frauenkirche in the centre of town, is the best place to drain a toothsome helles or two. You can search high and low but, as many an experienced toper can tell you, there is no finer beer to be drunk this side of paradise.
Although Munich exults in its beer, there is much more to it. Culturally this city is a powerhouse like few others. It has one great orchestra (the Bavarian Radio Symphony) and one very good one, a first-rate opera house, and dozens of world-ranking art collections and museums. You could begin your gallery-going on 1 January, and by 31 December there would still be something new to see. For form’s sake it is wise to start in the Alte Pinakothek, the collection of Old Master paintings that may be seen as a pendant to the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. The rooms drip with masterpieces, not just Dürer, Cranach and the early Flemish painters, but Raphael, Titian, Van Dyck, Rubens, and, delightfully, the urchin paintings of Murillo. Not to be missed: Dürer’s self-portrait, one of the works that define our civilisation.
Over the road from the AP stands the Neue Pinakothek, which you want to do on another day. The Pinakothek der Moderne, featuring the best of the German Expressionists, is not far away, and very good it is, too. The gallery not to be missed, however, is the Lenbachhaus, which has the largest collection of Kandinskys in the world.
It was in Bavaria, shortly before the First World War, that Wassily Kandinsky forged the Blue Rider school with Paul Klee, Franz Marc, August Macke and Gabriele Münter. Here, simply by moving from one room to the next, you can see how painting moved from the figurative to the abstract. Yes, Cézanne was dissolving perspective a decade before, but it is in Munich that pure abstraction was born. There are other fine painters in the Lenbachhaus, notably Lovis Corinth, but the Kandinskys supply the lustre.
Work your way across town from the Lenbachhaus to find, opposite the Residenz, the yellow-stoned Theatinerkirche, a fine example of Bavarian baroque, and a reminder of Munich’s profound Catholic identity. Founded in 1158 by Duke Henry the Lion, Munich has always been the capital of a dukedom or kingdom that is a state in itself, as locals are happy to remind you.
Bavaria was ruled by the Wittelsbachs from 1180 until 1918 and it remains “Freistaat Bayern”, a country within a nation. The blue and white flags of Bavaria fly everywhere, as a symbol of independence and, other Germans might say, defiance. It is certainly true that many people see themselves as Bavarians first, then Germans. “Prussian pigs” they have been known to call their friends in the north, and Berliners are not slow to repay them in their own coinage.
To see the Theatinerkirche at ease take a seat on the south side of the Hofgarten, between the Residenz and the great Englischer Garten. In these lovely gardens – quiet, too – you may sit all afternoon and never tire of the view, or the mood. It is a special place to take a book, or just nod off. In the heart of a busy city here is repose. Then, for something more lively, stroll through the English Garden towards the Chinese Tower, where the beer flows all day and everybody behaves peaceably.
Gracious living is the mark of Munich. Walk along Maximilianstrasse, from the State Opera to the River Isar, and you will find wealth in the hotels, the shops and the restaurants. You will also find people at ease with themselves. There is a quality of life here that matches the standard of living, and that is not always the case. Furthermore it is a quality of life that is enjoyed by many of the people who live in Munich. They work hard, and they make the most of their idle hours, all year round.
To see this quality of life in flesh and blood, walk along the Isar towards the mighty Deutsches Museum, that repository of German industrial and scientific culture that is one of Munich’s jewels. Turn right by St Luke’s, the Protestant church, pick your way through the pleasant streets that lead to the ring road, and you will come across the Gasthaus Isarthor, a small neighbourhood restaurant that also serves as a local.
Seated in this homely, wood-panelled refuge, with the first glass of Augustiner marked on the coaster (and another on the way), the visitor may see Munich in its truest colours. The grub is excellent, so don’t hold back. Bavarian black pudding, washed down with a gallon of pilsner, is a treat that never palls. Slap bang in the middle of a city that is international class in all respects here is a slice of authentic Munich life that, in its own way, matches the glories of the Alte Pinakothek. In matters great and small, this is a city to treasure.