{"id":6648,"date":"2013-10-18T18:52:16","date_gmt":"2013-10-18T18:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/?p=6648"},"modified":"2013-11-03T18:50:33","modified_gmt":"2013-11-03T18:50:33","slug":"abbeyappreciation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/abbeyappreciation\/","title":{"rendered":"Abbey Appreciation…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Take the small and winding path upwards through the sculpture park (guarded by giants of the horse chestnut variety), then onwards past the inviting\u00a0 restaurant on the left and the beautiful bier garten on your right (closed for the winter sadly – but there’s always next year!).\u00a0\u00a0 Follow the cobbles onwards and upwards, until you reach the building that forms the pinnacle of this fairytale setting. \u00a0 Kloster Andechs<\/a> is perched atop a small but perfectly formed hill, encircled by woodland and surrounded by patchwork fields.\u00a0 Its onion-domed church can be spotted miles away thanks to its lofty location, and I guarantee that you will spend the last ten minutes of the car journey there watching it sprout from tiny speck in the distance to impressive edifice as you stand before it.\u00a0 It is, according to the Six Year Old “cool”,\u00a0 but (in his opinion), mainly for the enormous (and\u00a0rather gruesome) sun-dial illustration that adorns the front “porch”…<\/p>\n

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This Abbey, a place of pilgrimage to thousands each year, is considered a sacred place in ancient and present day texts (you can often find it referred to as “The Holy Mountain” thanks to relics reputed to be consecrated here), and can be appreciated by both the faithful and the not so, who can stand in awe at the interior of its exquisite baroque church (the secret behind the door in my last Silent Sunday<\/a>).<\/p>\n

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Having originated in 1492, the Abbey’s adjacent (and superior) brewery is still expertly run by monks today.\u00a0 This is of course the very same year that Christopher Columbus was busy discovering America, but here at Kloster Andechs, they were incredibly busy brewing bier (a comment blatantly stolen from one of our party members, but it made me laugh), and it’s something that they are very much still doing now!<\/p>\n

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And after half an hour’s cherub spotting and gargoyle inspection, the Braustueberl<\/a> proved the perfect place for an early lunch, and a smidgen of sampling the Abbey’s finest.\u00a0 I think it might just have the most magnificent views of any Bavarian Bier hall ever too…<\/p>\n

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I do love the sign that reminded us that we were in a holy neighbourhood lest we forget ourselves.\u00a0 It reads “drink and eat, but don’t forget God”. \u00a0 I can confirm that both the vista, and the bier were both heavenly in any event.<\/p>\n

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Ever so slightly out-of-place –\u00a0 but we spotted this on the way back to the car (I have no idea how we missed it on the way up!).\u00a0 If nothing else takes your fancy here perhaps?\u00a0\u00a0 Nope, I have no idea either…<\/p>\n

And after our spot of Saturday morning Abbey Appreciation, we repaid the Small Boy for his patience (in both the church and the bierhall), with a quick jaunt on the banks of the Amersee whilst we waited for his big sister to finish a day’s outward bound camp nearby.<\/p>\n

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A wonderful place (that we will explore further one day) for the King of the Sticks to let off a bit of steam…<\/p>\n

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