After Munich, we headed to the small boarder town of Garmish-Partenkirchen, which lies in the southern heart of Bavaria. It's primarily known as a ski town, but we arrived to early in the season for any outdoor sports. But, we really enjoyed the laid back setting of a very small town.
Tiny, dark restaurant that had such great food that we went there both nights we were in town.
The Partenkirchen part of the town is known for it's charming downtown lined with beautifully painted houses.
There isn't much to do in this little town, but there was a nice hike into the mountains that could be done. We opted for a cable car ride up and a hike back down.
It was snowing those big beautiful flakes when we started... but by the time we finished a lot of it had melted off.
It was a gorgeous hike.
The main attraction was this very thin gorge - we're at one of the widest points in the picture above. There was a walkway carved along the river's edge, so we enjoyed the crazy rock formations and tight walking conditions.
In 1936, Garmish-Partenkirchen hosted the ski jump part of the olympics.
After our hike, we headed back to the center of town to enjoy a hot cheese fondue at the Christmas Market. In Munich, there were hundreds of stalls selling all kinds of items. In Garmish, I think there were about 15 stalls - but we liked that even better. We're glad we spent some time in a village - so often, we head to the big cities when we travel because A. they are easiest to get to and B. there seems to be the most information written about things to do in big cities. But little towns have charm & a quality of life that is appealing and enjoyable to be part of, even if it is only for a couple of days.
Soooooo beautiful! Such a fun trip!