Shoestring Munich (A Guest Post by towelintherain)

Continuing the theme of allowing you, the readers of TRGTALP to contribute, I present to you our third guest post from seasoned traveller towelintherain.  towelintherain is someone I met in the same Krakow hostel as previous guest poster, AllanaD; so you can be assured you are in good company and reading the work of a fine pedigree.  An entertaining and engaging guy, towelintherain offers the readers of TRGTALP tips and advice on negotiating the Bavarian city of Munich on a budget.  This is a city I am yet to visit and so I would like to thank him for this post as I am definitely going to nick some of his ideas to help make the most of my stay in what is supposed to be an incredibly fun German city to visit!  Enjoy!

towelintherain's Tumblr can be found here - http://towelintherain.tumblr.com/

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Munich can be a very expensive place. Exactly how expensive depends on who you ask, but there are some things you can do to push down that cost quite significantly and perhaps even add to your experience.

Sights and Sounds
- Free Walking Tour - You can get an excellent value and fascinating insight into the history of Munich by going on the free walking tour by www.newmunichtours.com. Just rock up to the Mari statue in the middle of Marienplatz at 10:45am or 1pm and you’ll get hours of rich history and culture you might never otherwise discover. Feel free to give your tour guide a little tip at the end, depending on how much you enjoyed it.

Mari statue with the Rathaus in the background © towelintherain

- The Glockenspiel: Voted the second worst tourist attraction in Europe (behind a Czech pencil museum I believe), this is a 100 year old free show that happens at 11am, midday and 5pm in the Rathaus in Marienplatz. It doesn’t last long, but the square fills up to watch it and it’s quite entertaining.

Glockenspiel show © towelintherain

- View over the city: You can also go up to the top of the Rathaus. Two and a half Euros buys you a nice view over the city, a welcome breeze in summer and some excellent photo opportunities.

City views © towelintherain

- Endless green spaces: Munich has an almost infinite supply of parks and gardens. In particular, the Schloss Nymphenburg is a huge palace, museum and landscape garden with entry fees starting at 6 Eur 50 (more expensive entry fees are available but the basic one gets you access to all the key areas).
The Englischer Garten, the largest city park in Europe, is completely free and you could lose yourself for days in there. It has everything from miles of tranquil empty space to crystal clear babbling streams to biergartens (I personally recommend the Seehaus) to a Chinese pagoda. It even has surfing by the Koniginstrasse.

towelintherain at the Schloss Nymphenburg © towelintherain

Prost! at the Seehaus (they weren’t both for me) © towelintherain

Surfing in Englischer Garten © towelintherain

Food and Alcohol Free Liquid
Like most cities, good local food is in abundance from markets and street vendors. You can get a quick sugar hit for 30 or 40 cents or munch your way through the different kinds of wurst for a couple of Euros a go. You can even top up your water from a drinking fountain in Marienplatz. The Viktualienmarkt just south of Petersplatz caters for just about everything if you really can’t decide.

Viktualienmarkt © towelintherain

Boozing
Yes, the Munich beer is *that* good. But you don’t have to spend all your time drinking in the expensive bars and bierkellers. The people of Munich drink everywhere except for the public transport.

A good place is on the River Iser, just by Fraunhoferstrasse station on the U2 line. It’s been turned into a sort of beach and stacks of locals go to hang out there on a nice evening. You put your bottles in the river to keep them cool, maybe get a barbecue going and definitely set about having some good times. It’s the same tasty beer but it costs you about a Euro a bottle from the local shop.

Chilling by the Iser © towelintherain

Beers (chilling) in the Iser © towelintherain

Even better, included in the price of each bottle is a 25 cent deposit to encourage recycling. So if you make the effort to recycle your bottles then 25% of your beer is essentially free. There are recycling points dotted all over the city and in many of the supermarkets.

Public Transport
As you’d expect from a major city, tickets are valid on all U bahn, S bahn, bus and tram services. There are a bewildering number of options available, from single fares, 3 day passes, 7 day passes, specific inner or outer zones, tickets for individuals, couples, families etc. With a bit of digging you should find the cost to be not too unreasonable. A 3 day individual ticket for the main districts will cost you 21 Euros, for example.

The public transport is cheaper than hiring a bike, but hiring a bike would be more fun. Munich is known as the 'City of Bikes'.

Accommodation
Luckily a friend of mine lives in Munich, so I stayed with him, but if you need to pay for accommodation then consider The Tent hostel (http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/The-Tent-Munich/Munich/3787) located near the Schloss Nymphenburg and about a 20 minute tram ride to the city centre. This is just about the cheapest accommodation in Munich and was personally recommended to me by several people while I was there.

Don’t Get Fined!
There are a couple of random rules to be aware of.
- Don’t cross at crossings unless the green man is showing, otherwise you might get slapped with a 40 Euro fine. This law is actually enforced :-/
- Remember to validate your ticket. After you buy your travel ticket you have to put it in a machine located on the platform to get it validated. As a Brit, this is very much an alien concept to me but remember to do it or you may also get fined.

Munich very quickly became one of my favourite places. That may have happened/ happen to you too!

A Quiet Stroll Down the Rio Seco (A Guest Post by HeatherC)

For the latest, second, guest post at The Rough Guide to a Lonely Planet, I have asked an old friend of mine (and a published magazine travel writer) to contribute.  Heather has produced a really entertaining and insightful guide to an area of Spain many people are close to, on the Costa Blanca, but may not necessarily take the time to visit.  I hope you enjoy reading about the Rio Seco as much as I did and that it provides you with the inspiration to take that step off the beaten track to explore somewhere new in a part of the world already 'conquered' by the package tourist.

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Last month I called upon a friend I’d met in Ecuador several years ago. She had come to visit me when I lived in Sheffield and we’d kept in touch over the Internet, but it’s been a good few years since we last met up. She now lives in Spain, and I thought it was about time I took advantage of the outrageously cheap flights to Murcia and paid her a visit. To be quite honest, I wasn’t expecting much from the destination itself: The Costa Blanca. An internet search of the area, Pilar de la Horadada, yielded pages and pages of golf resorts, 18-30 style holiday offers and ‘Dream Homes’ in the sun. Not really my cup of tea, but a bit of sunshine and a catch-up with my old pal would make a lovely break in itself – so long as I could avoid theme bars and golf courses.

The Rio Seco and Pinar de Campoverde is located north of San Javier and east of Murcia.

View Larger Map

Finn came to pick me up from Murcia airport, which is a good job as it is really quite tiny and doesn’t seem to be furnished with taxi ranks or bus stops (this explains the enormous queues for car hire I had to steer through in the arrivals hall). I spent the 20 minute journey to our destination peering through the darkness and getting very excited at glimpses of citrus groves, with unpicked fruits illuminated by the headlights. The area around Pilar is largely agricultural. Whilst it is true that many of the little fishing villages on the coast have been turned into ex-pat communities and concreted monstrosities, you don’t have to go too far inland to find yourself in rural Spain.

Finn had to spend most of the daytime at work, and I set about getting to know the village where she lived – Pinar de Campoverde. It didn’t take too long, to be quite honest; the centre of Campoverde is essentially one street with a couple of basic shops and some alarming-looking bars with names like ‘Coco Loco.’ Many British and German citizens have emigrated here, or have holiday homes where they spend the summer season. This is still a Spanish village, however, and you’d get short shrift in the tobacconist (run by the ex-Mayoress) if you insisted on speaking English.

What is really special about Campoverde, however, is that it perches on the edge of a truly beautiful national park – the Rio Seco. Just off the main street is a little road leading to one of the entrances to this protected area, based on the course of a dry riverbed. When I visited, however, it was not so dry – heavy showers punctuated my holiday, incredibly unusual for an area that is usually baked dry by the endless sunshine. This meant that a ghost of a river had begun to flow along its old path, adding a lush freshness to the landscape. In places the colourful sandstone cliffs have eroded into stunning columns and caves which catch the sunlight in red and gold. In other places, trees, grasses, shrubs and reeds have grown so thick that sunlight is blotted out and you find yourself walking through a tunnel of greenery. A huge variety of wildlife lives in the Rio Seco area. I saw birds such as Bee-eaters, Hoopoes, Finches and Long-tailed Tits, as well as lizards and rabbits. Snakes are also reportedly common here, as well as hares and red squirrels. The flora is so varied, from Aloe and Pine to Bullrush and Rubber Plant. Bougainvillea, Tamarisk and Red Bottlebrush add splashes of red and pink to the greenery, against the gorgeous golden sandstone. What most amazed me was that there was no one else there. It was just me and the Bottlebrush and the Hoopoes. Walking alone in this dreamlike landscape was fantastically peaceful. I love being solo in this kind of environment, where you can truly soak up the tranquillity and let your thoughts wander at will. Aside from the trickling of water and the chatter of birds, there was beautiful silence.

A Bee-eater (source - HeatherC)

 Red Bottlebrush (source - HeatherC)

Signposting the way! (source - HeatherC)

Ridges of rock (source - HeatherC)

A red squirrel (source - HeatherC)

Rubber Plant (source - HeatherC)

Sensible precautions must be taken, naturally, as all solo travel necessitates; a phone and a bottle of water are essentials. Finn warned me not to go when heavy rain was forecast as flash-floods can be a danger, and you wouldn’t want to be caught there in the heat of the day, so it’s best to set off early morning or late afternoon. You can walk for several miles along various paths, either towards Mil Palmeras on the coast or in a loop back to Campoverde. In drier weather it’s possible to cycle along the route, though you should be prepared to carry your bike at times!

HeatherC's underwater adventures in Spain (source - HeatherC)

The last thing I expected in visiting the Costa Blanca was a rural retreat, but that is exactly what I got. I had a dip in the sea at a lovely quiet beach, Torre de la Horadada, and a glorious walk at another nature reserve, Lo Pagan, where there are colonies of Flamingos and various seabirds. Still, it was the fantastic solitude and ethereal beauty of the Rio Seco that really impressed me, and reminded me that a solo rural getaway can be just as rewarding as an action-packed city break. It has also reminded me to seek out beauty in unlikely places – a bargain flight to tourist central could land you a stone’s throw away from a pastoral paradise.

German Journeys (A Guest Post by Allana D)

After several posts from yours truly, I can only imagine that regular readers of TRGTALP are growing tired of hearing my thoughts on travel by now.  I therefore, had a brainwave.  I am lucky enough to have met and know so many people that are as passionate as me about travel that I thought I should hand over the reins to them so that they can offer you something fresh, a change from the norm and a different perspective on their travels and how they get the most from their journeys.  To kick us off, I have enlisted the help of Allana D, a wonderful Aussie I met in a hostel last October in Krakow.  I hope you enjoy reading about and are inspired, as much as I am, by her travels through Germany.

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Germany has been a favourite country of mine since I first travelled there in 2008.  From the first time, this beautiful country captivated me with its vast and interesting history and beautiful cities.  In March 2013, after having lived in Germany for 6 months, I organised and planned a 3 week solo trip in and around Germany to see more of the places I had been dreaming of since my first visit.

View of River Neckar and Heidelberg Old Town from Heidelberg Castle (source - Allana D)

I chose to travel around Germany using their fabulous (and sometimes, not so fabulous) train system, Deutsche Bahn (DB).  I figured out pretty quickly that the trains are extremely expensive when I started to ‘budget’ on how much my transport would cost me.  However, DB has a great ‘Savings Fare’ ticket – all you need to do is make an online account (it’s free!) and you can book all your tickets online using a credit card and the tickets are emailed to you.  Take into account that DB is notoriously known for their delays and last minute changes! If you can help it, try to book a direct train to any or all your destinations.

My first destination was Heidelberg and due to a delay and track change, I almost missed my 1^st connection as I was frantically looking for my next train…which happened to be only on the other side of the same platform.  One of the cities I visited was Munich (a given when planning a trip around Germany, I think J).  I had 5 nights there and it still wasn’t enough for me. It is such a great city to explore for history (both modern and ancient) as well as culture. I did a Sandemans New Munich free walking tour one morning and our guide told us an interesting fact: Germany is the 3^rd largest beer drinking nation in the world behind the Czech Republic and Ireland; however, if you were to only focus on Bavaria (the state and region in which Munich is located), it has the largest amount of beer drinkers in the world...astonishing!

One of the most memorable days on my trip was my day trip from Munich to see the Linderhof Palace and Neuschwanstein Castle, both built by King Ludwig II. It was a pre-booked and fully organised tour which, for me, took out the stress of organising every detail myself.  Another thing that made it a great day was to see the Bavarian Alps and cross them off my ‘To Do’ list.

 Neuschwanstein Castle (source - Allana D)

The Bavarian Alps (source - Allana D) 

If you are looking for somewhere different to go in Germany, rather than the main cities like Berlin and Munich, check out Bamberg.  Only an hour train ride from Nuremberg in Upper Bavaria, this UNESCO historic town is a great day trip.  After walking around for about an hour, I finally found the city centre.  My pathetic sense of direction clearly won that day! The River Regnitz runs through the town and the Cathedral and Castle sit on top of the hill which you can do tours in and around.

 Bamberg (source - Allana D)

Allana D with Bamberg in the background (source - Allana D)

Just a few tips which I could have used for my trip...

• Keep your city maps - Usually if you stay at hostels, their city maps are awesome! I can guarantee you will not remember every church name or building in your photos!
• Invest in ear plugs when bunking in a dormitory - They will be a Godsend! I cannot count how many sleepless nights I had due to people who snore like bears!
• Bring your own towel - All of the hostels I stayed in charged me for a towel! I could have saved a bit of money if I had brought my own. (Other places I have stayed in in Europe were free).
• Check out a city’s events before arrival - I was in Munich for the ‘Strong Beer Festival’ and also some major football games and didn’t even realise it!

Absolutely Phenomenal!

Gunter and his wife, Christine, with their trusty steed 'Otto'! (Source - newsday.co.tt)

Check out the link below to see the 23 years travel (and he's still going) of Gunther Holtorf (and his late wife) in their Mercedes 4x4.  Truly inspiring!

Gunter Holtorf's Worldwide Travel Expedition!