Freising
Diocesan Town Near Munich

Freising is a lovely little town around 40 km North of Munich at the Isar River. It's most famous for being the seat of the archbishopric Munich and Freising. Off course, Munichers are not too pleased with being the less important of both cities regarding religious issues.

Since the former archbishop Josef Ratzinger has been elected Pope Benedict XVI in 2006, even people who weren't aware that Freising existed are now interested in visiting it.

We passed through Freising last year during our bike tour from Munich to Vienna along the Isar and Danube (a total of 500 km!!), but didn't have time to stop and have a closer look at the town (except for the ice cream parlor).

Since then, a visit to the world-famous cathedral and the diocesan museum had been on my to-do list.

With the weather being nice last weekend and Tobi visiting some friends in another city, I decided to finally make a day trip to Freising. At the same time I wanted to enjoy the nature and get in shape, so I opted for going by bike. (By now you may have noticed, that I love biking!)

Along the Isar it's a lovely 2-hour ride without hills and you pass at least three beer gardens if you feel like needing a rest :-)
Off course, YOU don't have cycle, because you can either go by car or by public transport. With the S-Bahn S1 it takes around 40 minutes from Hauptbahnhof in Munich to Freising.

From the station, it's a 10 minutes walk uphill to the cathedral. Once up there you are rewarded with a splendid view over the landscape.

The cathedral is the town's landmark and a precious architectural monument. Most of the substance is Romanic from the 15th century. Even though the church looks quite unspectacular from the outside, you definitely must have a look at the opulent baroque interior.

Don't forget to visit the crypt with the remains of Saint Korbinian, the man who founded the archbishopric Freising in the 8th century.

The city also offers attractions to the ones of you not interested in churches and religious art. Such as the lovely St. Georg church (just kidding!!!).

If you're more interested in the earthly attractions, then head for the old city center (Altstadt). It has been wonderfully restored and looks picturesque with its old timbered houses from centuries ago.

As Freising is much smaller and less known than Munich, shopping tends to be a lot cheaper. At least I felt like in shopping paradise, especially as July is the time of summer sales :-)
Unfortunately I couldn't buy as many clothes as I wished, because on a bike, you have limited transporting capacity :-(

You can end your visit to Freising with a tour to the oldest brewery in the world, the Weihenstephan beer brewery. In the attached beer garden, you are served the supposedly best beer in the world. Go and do your research if this is true!

Another great attraction is the Weihenstephan gardens, where students of horticulture experience, learn and investigate. Here you'll learn everything about gardening you could ever wish for and see all kinds of common, new and innovative flowers for balcony and gardens.

Unfortunately I didn't have the time to visit neither the gardens nor the brewery, because I had to get going on my 2 hour ride back home.