Before I visited Munich for the first time, my thinking about this city was heavily influenced by a biased one-time German colleague. To him, this heavyweight of German cities deserved mention among the most important capitals of the old world, right next to Rome and Vienna. As a metropolis of arts and science, as a bold and assertive embodiment of modernization and enlightened patronage, and as a microcosm of the European civilization itself. Others may shrug it off indifferently as simply yet another mid-size city, pretty and historic but, at best, no worse than the next. But I subscribed to this Munich-the-art-capital-of-the-world view, convinced that this rigidly managed, ritzy, and uncommonly photogenic place ought to be the jewel of Germany. It certainly was no Hanover, an unsure amalgamation that is infinitely lacking in identity and hopelessly boring. And no Cologne, a place marked by a magnificent cathedral but otherwise a wasteland of blandness. Planted in the center of the country’s most traditional and classically beautiful province – Bavaria boasts some of Germany’s most convincing old time wealth, its prettiest and most varied landscape, and as many as 80,000 protected monuments – Munich must be more than a mere jewel. A crown jewel at the very least, and of the entire German-speaking Europe. Not surprisingly: after all, Munich, as they say, is ‘where Italy starts’.

Or so I thought. Towards the end of my recent stay – a couple of decades and visits later, each filled with purposeful observation and intense reflection – to this snob of urban Germany, the jewel suddenly felt a bit different. More like a polished rock, well-built and shiny but shielded from the viewer by a slab of glass, and about as warm and welcoming.

Now you know you should return!

I love exploring palaces!

Munich is a great city in a great location, so many day trips

I hope you are able to visit soon!