Munich – Marvel at the biodiversity on a bird safari, visit a Buddhist temple or cruise through the canals in gondolas. Book author Franziska Consolati from Weilheim shows that you don’t have to travel to Africa, Nepal or Venice for this. BILD gives the best tips from their book (“In Germany around the world, Conbook, 24.95 euros), how you can experience the magic of distant continents in Bavaria.
On a bird safari in Africa
Observe a variety of bird species with binoculars – just like on a bird safari in South Africa? The Chiemsee is particularly suitable for this. Around the largest lake in Bavaria, ornithologists have discovered over 300 different bird species here over the past decades – around half are indigenous (e.g. cormorants, swans, falcons and the turquoise-red-brown kingfisher), the other half are migratory birds.
What Franziska Consolati finds particularly fascinating about Chiemsee: “Here, with the Alps in the background and the Bavarian Sea in front of me, I can observe the same bird that I can see in Africa a few months later.”
The Fraueninsel on the Chiemsee. Franziska Consolati recommends the “Bavarian Sea” especially for bird watching – like in South Africa
Experience a temple like in Nepal
“On the winding roads through the Bavarian Forest, only a small sign tells you that a piece of napal is hidden somewhere behind the trees,” writes Franziska Consolati in her book. In the middle of the forest, approx. 20 kilometers east of Regensburg, lies between the towns of Wiesent and Ettersdorf Nepal Himalaya Pavillon – on a small hill.
The Buddhist-Hindu pavilion has been there since 2003, embedded in an idyllic garden with now over 6200 different plant species.
Good to know: the pavilion is open between April and October. The income from the entrance fees (10 euros for adults, 2 euros for children up to 15) goes to the “Water for the World” foundation, which has supported projects for clean drinking water around the world for decades.
Take the gondola through the canals
Venice in the middle of Bavaria: It works great in the Franconian town of Bamberg. “The fishing district along the Regnitz is part of the old town, which is over 1000 years old”, describes Franziska Consolati in her book “In Germany Around the World”. By the way: The Bamberg gondolas are even original from Venice.
The gondola rides take between 30 and 60 minutes – and cost 60 euros per gondola.
–The Upper Isar Valley reminds the author Franziska Consolati of Canada (Photo: © Conbook Medien GmbH / Franziska Consolati)
Wild river landscapes like in Canada
The water is emerald green and so clear that you can still see the bottom even at a depth of two meters. “The bank is wild, sometimes there are roaring deer on the bank,” Consolati describes very vividly in her book.
It does not describe a Canadian landscape here – but the Upper Isar Valley, “one of the last wild river landscapes in Germany”. Consolati, on the move on a padel boat, continues: “If I were to trust my feelings, I would have to reckon with a bear after every bend.”
Hut time out like in the Alps
Consolati has a special relationship with New Zealand. “Because a lot of decisions have been made here that have steered my life in a decisive direction,” she describes. She particularly remembers taking a break in a New Zealand mountain hut.
Where can you relive this feeling better than in Bavaria? Consolati recommends, for example, the Jagahüttn“ very close to the well-known and crystal blue Eibsee, southwest of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Costs: From 145 euros per night for two people. Attention, the author recommends: “It pays to reserve early.”
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