Landhaus Iris

Bavaria in a Nutshell

by Turtleshell

"A picturesque town"

In February 2008, I moved to Bad Tölz following a job offer. It literally took me months to come to a decision - after all moving from Berlin, a 3.5 million metropolis, to a Bavarian village with 17,000 locals and 5 dogs, is quite a change.

So, to get a long story short: Here I am, and the first thing that struck my eyes were the facade paintings, the so-called Lüftl-paintings. Honestly, I'm still not sure if I like them, but it gives the town a picturesque touch, which is quite common for cities and towns south of Munich or Oberbayern (Upper Bavaria) or the Alpenvorland.

Bad Tölz is a one-hour drive away from Munich, which makes the town a near ideal place for a day-trip (Salzburg, Austria still ranks first, but that would be a 3-hour trip one-way).

The first word in Bad Tölz, by the way, does not exactly mean "evil" but as much as "Bath" or "Spa", though I quite don't get why people would pick this town as their preferred health resort: It's raining two times as much as it does in Hamburg, northern Germany, and while I'm used to the traffic in Berlin, the drivers here are just crazy. I'd pick Langeoog or Spiekeroog where cars are prohibited. Rant over.

If you happen to be in Munich and would like to see a quaint little town, something "original Bavarian", or if you like hiking or would like to get a tad closer to the Alps, seriously consider Bad Tölz.

"Old Town and Spa Town"

Coming fom Berlin, I was happy finding an apartment at Marktstrasse, the most "vibrant" part of Bad Tölz. It's a shopping street and center of the old town. Tölz basically consist of two parts divided by river Isar, the "old town" and the "spa town".

"River Isar"

One of the things I like most is walking alongside river Isar. Unless rainwater from the surrounding hills and mountains have turned Isar into a brownish, muddy stream (which happens frequently, did I mention it statistically rains 2.5 to 3 times more often than in Berlin?), the riverbed is shallow, the water is translucent turquoise with white-grayish gravel banks sticking out of the river. Nice.
Of course there are idiots (yes, idiots) who picnic on one of those banks and then "forget" to take their waste back home.