Ingolstadt Off The Beaten Path

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This castle is controlled by BAvaria State Library. This castle was owned by Frauenberg Knights of Haag when it was bult in 1037, and still has some frescoes back from that period in the entryway. There are historical documents of Codex and paintings interspersed throughout. It is located in Riedenberg; about 18 miles NE of Ingolstadt. It is open 9-6PM daily and tours are in Duetsch only on the hour only. Fee is 5,50 Euro

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This small but important town is along the Atmuhl River. It has a lot of boat excursions leaving from the docks near the town, but the most visible and wonderful is the Befreiungshalle monument on the hill. It was built 1842 and is a huge circular structure that has many statues outside and much more to see inside. The War of Liberation from Napoleon was the occasion to build this huge monument on Mount Michaelsberg. It was completed in 1863, and has many commemoration statements on the walls and marble floor. The designs and angel figures surrounding the interior are fantastic.
The town center is has a lot of nice structures and a plaza that is long. It may take about 1/2 day to see the sites and enjoy a leisure lunch

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This is an abbey of the Benedictine Order.

It is located on the south bank of the Donau (Danube) close to Kelheim, which makes it downriver from Ingolstadt and upriver from Regensburg.

Main features:-
- an Asam chapel
- the oldest abbey brewery in the world (1050)
- a lovely Biergarten
- located as the Donau enters a rocky gorge

It took us a while to find it, but well worth the effort.

We were there on a public/religious holiday - not sure which one. Anyway, it was busy!

I may do a separate tip for the Biergarten.

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It’s a dormitory town just on the northwest fringe of Ingolstadt. It is a separate town, and in a different Kreis, but there’s not much open space left between the two settlements.

It’s small too - just a wee main street and Rathaus square, plus all the houses of course.

However, it still has working farms right in the town centre and the farmland reaches right into town itself.

I visit the place regularly, and I’m getting to know it a bit from walks and runs. I even went to a Christmas Eve church service there - haven’t been so cold inside a building for a long time. Probably since my last visit to a church, in fact.

The town is on the main railway line from Nürnberg to Munich, and has its own station.

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Abensberg is a small town 30km east of Ingolstadt.

It has a couple of claims to fame which I know of. First, it is the northern end of the Bavarian “hop” route - the hop growing region. The other is the local brewery. It has become famous by having its re-development planned by the famous Austrian architect Hundertwasser. The end result includes an amazing and distinctive 35 metre high tower.

You could argue about the aesthetics, but it makes its mark. I won’t bother trying to describe it - just look at the pictures.

A tour of the brewery costs €11 per adult. It’s in German only. The leaflet which explains the tower is available in English. The price includes a free beer and pretzel in the biergarten after the tour.

The brewery specialises in weissbier - beer made with wheat - but has other types as well. I liked the weissbier better than any others I’ve tried, although helles is more my style. We also had a brodzeit in the biergarten - very good too.

The visitor centre has a well stocked gift shop.

The town is located just northwest of the main road between Ingolstadt and Regensburg.

Oof! Where to start?

This roughly translates as a medieval spectacle. Sandizell is a small community in the Donaumoos (Danube marshes) about 45 minutes drive from Ingolstadt.

So, there is a lovely castle (now a hotel/conference centre) in the village, complete with moat. For 4 days in June, it becomes a medieval community and the public pays €6 to get in to have fun.

You have market stalls selling all kinds of stuff - clothes, jewelry, food & drink. They have beer stalls. Tea stalls. Falafel stalls. Medieval pizza stalls. All the stallholders and other participants are dressed in medieval costume. So are many of the visitors.

Some of the participants will camp there for the 4 days - living and breathing, eating and drinking, the middle age way.

Fun. Interesting. Especially the boar sausage in a roll with good local beer to wash it down!

Apparently they have a bigger version every couple of years in nearby Neuburg. So, its part of the local culture.

Anyway, go if you get the chance.

Oh, and in the interests of accuracy, the marshes were drained long ago and are now lush farmland.

Ingolstadt always was and still is a town influenced by its military. During the time of the Kingdom of Bavaria, Ingolstadt was build as the last ressort for the kings if they would have had to flee their residence in Munich ("Landesfestung Ingolstadt"). Later on Ingolstadt became famous through its large numbers of Pioneer (Engineer) soldiers stationed in and around the town.

In 19th century, Ingolstadt's Elisabeth Fleisser wrote a theater piece titled "Pioniere in Ingolstadt" which dealt with the relations between the soldiers and the town's female inhabitants. The play was first put on stage by Bert Brecht in Berlin, with whom Fleisser had a love affair. This led to the long-time marking of Fleisser as persona non grata in Ingolstadt.

Todays the Pioneer Troop is stationed over large areas in the south-east of Ingolstadt and they often train around and on the Danube. So if you are technically interested try to go there when they have training and watch them building bridges over the wide waters of the Danube stream (look it up in the local daily newspaper "Donaukurier").

By the way: I served most of my military duty in the Pioneer Brigade 60 "Bavarian Lion" - but mostly not on the river ;-)

Ingolstadt, thanks to the Danube, is surrounded by lots of little and bigger lakes where you can go swimming or do sunbathing. They have greenspace for picknick and are mostly surrounded by forest which you can discover on prepared paths. At some of the bigger ones there even is a touristic infrastructure.

My two favourite lakes are the Auwaldsee and the Baggersee.

*The Auwaldsee in the southeast of town offers Camping, Boat-rides, Minigolf, Tennis and a nature-education-path.

* The Baggersee northwest of downtown is bigger and has a Wildpark (including some Bisons!), Tennis, Minigolf and grilling areas.

At both lakes there are restaurants where you can for example try fresh fish.

By the way: The Health Dept. of Ingolstadt checks the quality frequently, so there is no risk for you. An in addition to that: On bigger lakes and especially on weekends there are lifeguards on duty who do a great volunteer work.