Original subtitles

Join us on an extraordinary journey

that begins in the lush, green lowlands

and transports us to the heights of the majestic Alps.

What I've learned about trains since moving to Munich is

just now amazing the rail networks are.

We'll meet world-beating miniature classics...

He says he's crazy.

..and while we climb towards the mountains

we'll enjoy the best of the local beverages.

My most favourite. 7.2% alcohol.

We'll meet the people who work and live along this special line,

before boarding an engineering triumph.

All of these things that they needed to build the tunnel

had to be brought up

and they were sleeping on cliffs half the time.

This is no ordinary railway journey.

This is one of the most scenic railway journeys in the world.

Bavaria.

TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS

Bavaria, a land of pristine rolling countryside

and high-altitude glacial lakes in the towering Alps.

This is the largest of Germany's states

and we start in the west,

in this historic, lowland town - Nurdlingen...

..a pretty, walled town with a unique circular shape

that comes straight from outer space.

This picturesque place was built inside a massive meteorite crater...

..that dates back 15 million years.

The main station is just outside the walls

where we'll board the Fugger-Express to Augsburg.

It's a regional train, an ET 440,

which now heads southeast across the outer reaches of the crater.

There's a lot of land between just little villages.

When you are lucky maybe you can see some deer or rabbits on the field

when you just stare out the window.

Our extraordinary Bavarian journey starts in the lowlands

and will travel 45 miles to Augsburg.

We'll explore rare European railway history

before jumping on a high-speed train to Munich.

From Bavaria's capital, we will head south

towards the high Alps and Murnau.

We'll drop by a beer-brewing monastery

and climb higher into the heart of the Alps

to Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Finally we'll travel on a rare historic cogwheel train

that will scale Zugspitze, Germany's highest mountain.

Danke schon.

We have 150 miles to travel through this state

that once was an independent country.

But first, a rare historic gem.

This simple railway shed houses

an extraordinary collection.

It's home to there locos that were there

at the start of Bavaria's great railway history...

...dating back to 1849 and the famous Ludwig North-South Line.

One of the founders of the museum is former steam-train driver Andreas.

Yeah, I do everything, yeah!

I'm one of the enthusiasts starting my career in our society

in 1971.

It's a long time, nearby 50 years.

And these all are my children here.

It has over 200 diesel and steam locomotives on display.

Among these rare jewels

is the Bavarian Class S 3/6 steam locomotive...

..known as The Pride of Bavaria.

That is 3673

and this loco was built 1918, at the end of World War One.

The steam locomotive was running

120 kilometres per hour, four-cylinder compound

and for this time, the loco was very strong.

Every loco has its own history

and is a little bit part of me.

I was many years driver of this loco here.

This is my own history, yeah? So...

Our Fugger-Express continues to cross Bavaria

through the beautiful, undulating Ries crater.

I find travelling by train really very, very good.

Very comfortable, very quiet, very...

Yeah, it's fantastic.

As we travel east towards Bavaria's capital,

45 minutes into our journey we reach Augsburg.

STATION ANNOUNCEMENT IN GERMAN

It's one of Bavaria's oldest cities

and home to an extraordinary, little-known train park.

TRAIN WHISTLE TOOTS

In 2009,

the city's old train depot was turned into a railway centre

dedicated to all things trains...

..the Augsburg Bahnpark.

But there is one area which houses an enormous, world-beating display -

perfectly to scale, model trains.

The man in charge of all this fun is Markus.

We have got about 1,500m of track here.

That means about 33km of track in real life.

We have got about 220 locomotives,

700 coaches,

different kinds of steam locomotives,

historic locomotives and also modern locomotives.

This is a passion project

which was invented by my colleague Jurgen Drexler.

Jurgen! Jurgen!

Jurgen is a man on a mission.

It took him over 20 years

to collect and restore all these model trains.

MARKUS SPEAKS GERMAN

JURGEN SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY

He says he's crazy.

So far, he's spent 4,000 hours

building this incredible miniature railway line,

creating an 18-minute round trip for his trains.

It attracts visitors of all ages.

Not only for children. Also for the whole family

and especially, of course, for men.

It's time to return to Augsburg station...

..to catch our ICE high-speed train to Munich.

On our next stretch,

the scenery is picture perfect.

You have beautiful blue mountains all across Murnau.

You have a very colourful city.

TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS

We've been travelling now for 60 minutes

through the lowlands of Bavaria...

..heading to the glorious Alpine region

and the highest train station in Germany.

We're on the ICE,

the InterCity Express high-speed train,

from Augsburg to Munich.

It can travel at over 150mph

even with 12 carriages in tow.

In 2019, around 99 million people took advantage

of the ICE's fast and affordable train journeys.

One of the regular passengers is

Munich-based Canadian travel writer Christina.

What I've learned about trains since moving to Munich is

just how amazing the rail networks are in Germany.

If I wanted to get from one big city to the next,

you know, from Vancouver to Toronto it takes like four days

and so for me to be able to get on a train

and be from Munich to Berlin in four hours is absolutely insane to me.

Like, I would have never thought that was possible.

With an infrastructure of 21,000 miles of track,

Germany has Europe's largest railway network.

You can shoot from medieval towns to magical mountains

in just minutes.

In terms of landscapes, you see a lot of fields and stuff

but when you leave the city

for maybe like an hour, an hour and a half,

you start seeing the beautiful Alps, you start seeing the mountains,

all the cute little towns along the way. It's... It's gorgeous.

You never get tired of it. I just don't get sick of it ever.

And I feel like I'm geeking out a little bit over this

but I just really, really love taking the train!

After only 29 minutes,

our ICE train pulls in to Munich station.

Danke schon.

SHE LAUGHS Bye!

There's no time to explore Bavaria's capital today...

..as we're leaving the manicured lowlands behind

and venturing to the high, pristine Alps of southern Germany.

From Munich, we're heading south, deep into the Bavarian Alps.

We're en route to Garmisch-Partenkirchen,

a skiers' paradise.

But first we'll make a short detour.

At Weilheim we'll swap trains

to visit the Benedictine monastery at St Ottilien.

Then we'll continue on southwards

through this beautiful region of Upper Bavaria

to arrive at Murnau and its great lake.

St Ottilien - a pretty, rural station

with an incredible history.

In fact, life-changing for many.

This train station is important for us.

It exists already for 120 years.

It was built together with the monastery.

Father Cyrill's monastery is just a stone's throw away from the station

and they are indelibly linked.

By the platform is a cemetery where people were laid to rest

between 1945 and 1948.

Many arrived by train.

During the war the convent was used as a military hospital.

But on 27th April 1945,

3,500 seriously ill prisoners were travelling on a freight train

near St Ottilien.

The Nazis simply left this train exposed on one of the rails

a bit outside of this train station

because they know that French air attack would come

and so it was another sadistic way of killing people,

just actually by the people who were supposed to liberate them.

About 140 died.

But many were able to escape...

..and found refuge at the monastery.

Among the prisoners were several doctors.

They pleaded with the medical staff at the military hospital

to allow them to care for the most seriously wounded.

This was still Nazi-controlled territory

and after one or two weeks when the Americans arrived,

about 800 people were housed here at the hospital.

From then onwards, the convent was a Jewish hospital...

..until it was returned to the monks in May 1948.

The monastery of St Ottilien was a place of hope and optimism

for many survivors.

Over 6,000 patients were treated

and 428 children were born here.

As we leave this special place behind,

we cross the green pastures of the Oberland.

Now we're heading south towards the heart of the Bavarian Alps.

With only 70 miles left to go,

our EMU ET 2442 train is now entering the Blue Land.

Famous for its inspiring myriads of blue

and the stunning Staffelsee...

..artists have flocked here for 120 years.

But this train line into Murnau attracts more than just arty folks.

It's a Mecca for bright sparks, too.

And enlightening us is local artist and hotelier Gina.

I am Gina Feder. I am here to welcome you to Murnau.

I own a hotel

and I also used to be a gallerist for a long time here in Murnau

but also in Munich.

Many train lovers know Murnau very well

because of Johanna, the first electric train,

exhibited outside of the train station.

It was in 1905 history was made here

when they opened Germany's first, 15-mile-long, electric railway track

and its legendary locomotive was Johanna.

A Siemens-built E6904,

she travelled through the Blue Land for 43 years.

In the beginning of the last century,

many painters also came

because of the railway station in Murnau.

They found houses here

and started to paint.

Very famous ones were Wassily Kandinsky

and Gabriele Munter

and the train was a motif for the painters.

For artists it was popular because of the colours of the scenery here.

When you have the sun, when you have the sunset,

you have beautiful blue mountains

and because it's like an arena

going around all across Murnau

you have a very colourful city.

Gina's family have lived in these mountains for generations...

..and in the same home.

I love the landscape. I love the lakes.

I love the whole situation here.

I used to live in Munich for 23 years

but I would never go back.

Our Bavarian adventure continues as we leave the famous Blue Land

favoured by artists

for a place steeped in sports history,

as we climb further to our Alpine destination.

But first, our next stop leads us to a divine setting.

Almost half of all Germany's beer is made in Bavaria,

so it would be rude not to try some.

Ah! I love this beer!

Mm!

TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS

We're on one of the world's most breath-taking journeys...

..from a meteor crater to Bavaria's Alps in the south.

We have only 50 miles left

before we're surrounded by some of Europe's biggest mountains

on the German-Austrian border.

After Murnau, we'll weave our way deeper into the heart of the Alps.

We'll stop at Oberau to visit Ettal's famous beer-brewing monastery,

then travel to the capital of the area, Garmisch-Partenkirchen,

at the feet of the great Zugspitze.

Danke schon.

Danke.

Our train now skirts the 75-mile-long Loisach River...

..which is popular with fishing enthusiasts

and the river will lead us to our next stop.

Bitte.

Danke.

And our next stop is Oberau.

A short walk away is another astonishing monastery,

where 40 Benedictine monks live and work in the abbey.

Built nearly 700 years ago by Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian

this magnificent monastery has more to offer than the eye can see.

Opening the divine doors is, of course, a monk.

I'm Father Thaddaus, a Benedictine monk

of the Benedictine monastery Ettal Abbey.

After 24 years living here at the monastery,

our special guide knows every inch of this remarkable building.

Ettal Abbey is a special gothic construction

with a Baroque dome

and we have the highest dome of Bavaria,

66m inside and 70m outside.

The Italian architect wanted to have three entrances

but here, in the story of a construction of a church,

it's normal that we need money,

so they saw it's enough to have one entrance.

BELLS CHIME

The main attraction for the monastery's millions of visitors

is a rather small statue

hidden under the big dome.

Ettal was more and more in the 16th century

a location of pilgrimage to this Madonna.

If we have pilgrims we have the necessity

of giving beer and food

and so we developed the house of guests

and our brewery is founded 1609,

more than 400 years old.

In fact, it's one of the oldest breweries in Germany.

This is now the modern way of brewing beer today.

We join now the brewhouse with the three tanks.

Mm! It smells wonderful!

We start with this. This is water and malt.

Heat it up by 73 degrees.

The next step, we take out the mash.

The hops come in.

We have simply three ingredients -

water, malt and hops.

This brewing process is protected by a 500-year-old law

which safeguards the purity of this holiest of beverages.

Ettal monastery brews 6,000 litres of beer per day...

..ranging from lager, wheat, dark beer

and, Father Thaddaus's favourite, strong beer.

Mm!

Lucky for him, one of his most important jobs is quality control.

My most favourite.

That's the Heller Bock. It means the blonde strong.

It has 7.2% of alcohol.

I have the joy to taste it.

It's something he's very dedicated to.

Ah! I love this beer.

Mm!

It's strong.

Drink one and then you say goodbye to your companions in the evening.

It might be goodnight Vienna for Father Thaddaus...

..but for us, the real fun is only just beginning.

After travelling for three and a half hours

from our starting point, Nurdlingen,

our electric Talent 2 train is gently gliding through the Loisach valley,

the gateway to the mighty Bavarian Alps.

It was around the 1880s

that the railway changed the fate of this region.

The construction of a direct line from Munich made

this stunning area much more accessible,

turning it into a fashionable place to come

and enjoy nature at its best.

After 140 miles, we will be leaving the main railway

as we arrive at Bavaria's Alpine capital, Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

This double-barrelled city gets its name

from one of the most iconic sporting events to take place in the world.

In 1936, it hosted the third ever Winter Olympics...

..and it was for that occasion

that the town of Garmisch was ordered

to join the nearby town of Partenkirchen.

This extraordinary ten-day event attracted 646 athletes,

28 nations,

17 competitions

and 500,000 spectators.

Today, the site of the legendary Winter Olympics can still be admired

and showing us around is local tour guide Monika.

My name is Monika.

I'm the guide here in this stadium area

and I live here in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

The competition that left everyone holding their breath

was the audacious ski-jumping.

But the real thrill is not from looking up -

it's from looking down.

Are you afraid about heights?

This is the point of no return for the spectators.

As they say - onwards and upwards.

We are about to climb a tower

floating at over 200 feet from the ground.

When they reach the take-off ramp,

they reach a speed of 97kmh.

To find the right moment to stand up and jump,

it's very difficult for the ski-jumpers.

They're in this position.

They stand up and then they have 0.2 seconds till the take-off.

Now, we walk up.

The gradient is 35 degrees.

Very, very steep.

Now, we walk up slow, yes?

To climb the 430 feet from the stadium ground is bad enough...

..but the ski-jumpers can reach speeds of 60mph on their way down.

This sport is not for the faint-hearted.

This is the point where the ski-jumper are sitting here

and start.

And now you have the same view to the stadium area

when the ski-jumper are starting here.

I never jump myself.

You have to start with ski-jumping five to six years old

and nowadays I'm too old, I think!

I come up here one time a day

and I like it.

At this elevation, you can fully appreciate the beautiful panorama

and the charming city.

It gets even better if you take a different way down,

one that doesn't involve defying gravity.

If you want to breeze into the stadium like Eddie the Eagle

you can take a zip wire.

It'll whisk you down at 40mph.

Fortunately, a soft landing is guaranteed.

Our journey does not stop here.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen is famous for its mountains...

and majestically dwarfing all others is

Germany's highest peak, Zugspitze.

To build a train line up it

took ingenuity and endurance.

TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS

It's the final stretch of our four-hour train journey through Bavaria.

To fully appreciate the majestic location

and the glorious Alpine scenery,

we'll be travelling on a special train

that climbs to the very top of Germany.

The journey commences just outside Garmisch-Partenkirchen

on a single-gauge electric train.

It'll then scale Zugspitze to 8,700 feet.

Local historians Wolfgang and Michael are deeply passionate

about this unique train line.

My name is Wolfgang Ollendorf.

I'm living in Wallgau.

I'm Michael Woywood and I live in Grainau.

When I was a boy growing up in Munich

as an American, we used to come down to Gramisch.

Then we'd get on the Zugspitzbahn

and we would head up to Eibsee

and we would ski.

And so for me, I've been interested in the train since I was 12.

A long time.

It is a mountain train that is very special.

The railway is going really steep on the mountain

and as a child I would look always to the train.

CHILDREN SPEAK EXCITEDLY

From Garmisch-Partenkirchen

the line tracks through the valley for 12 miles

to pass Grainau.

We'll climb to 3,000 feet to reach Eibsee,

where we will stop to admire the lake.

Then the gradient steeply increases

as it climbs to the highest train station in Germany...

..at nearly 9,000 feet.

The railway was built from, I think, July 1928.

It was finished in July '30,

so only two years they need for the whole railway

to the Zugspitzplatt.

For the first 20 minutes, it's a peaceful ride...

..skimming the foothills.

But at our next stop, it's all change.

The next station is Grainau

where the locomotive changes to the cogwheel train.

From here, the gradient dramatically increases.

The only way to stop the train slipping as it climbs

is to use a toothed rack system.

When it starts in Grainau, it starts going uphill right away

and from Grainau up to the Eibsee, which is the first stop.

Eibsee lies at over 3,000 feet

and the mountain views here get even more impressive.

But it's the electric-blue lake that catches the eye.

Formed by a giant landslide

and fed by glacial waters

it attracts many visitors to its shores...

..like cyclist Robert.

My name is Robert Roop. I'm originally from Virginia

but we moved here from Chicago four years ago

and we live in Munich.

From Munich it's an hour, hour and a half by train

and on the train you can take your bike, your skis, whatever,

from the hauptbahnhof directly to the Garmisch hauptbahnhof

and from there catch the train to the top of the Zugspitze

if you want to ski on the glacier.

They've some of the best snow in the area.

If you want to bike, the area's great for biking.

There are trails all around the Zugspitze,

all around Eibsee.

Hiking, as well.

I've been to the top of the Zugspitze a few times.

I've hiked to the top, I've taken the train

and, you know, once you're up there you're really in a different world.

It's just rock and snow and down here you're surrounded by green.

Back on our cogwheel train, we're about to experience a railway

that was Germany's most difficult to build.

Within half a mile from Eibsee

the line starts to scale 5,500 feet.

To achieve this, it travels through a two and a half mile long tunnel

followed by another, the Rosi Tunnel, at three miles long.

And only then will it finally reach our last stop

at Zugspitzplatt.

This steep mountain line was built by many skilled engineers

and drew in Europe's finest miners

from as far away as Italy.

You had several issues.

You had issues related to avalanches.

So they had to make sure that when the snow would come

that they would be safe from the avalanches.

They built the tunnel in four stations,

going through the mountain, through the rock

and they connected it, yeah?

And the deviation was about 5cm

and they had no laser, only trigonometry -

very difficult at that time.

Incredibly, in these extreme conditions,

they only had two years to build the railway.

They have 2,500 people working there.

You don't have any supplies.

So all of these things that they needed to build the tunnel

had to be brought up, either with a separate cable car

that they built just for that, as well as the people -

the people would actually sit on the logs that they were bringing up

to help build the tunnel.

And then the people had to sleep places.

They built buildings onto the side of the mountain

just so that the people that were there could end up sleeping

and they were sleeping on cliffs half the time.

Despite the huge physical challenges, they succeeded

and this extraordinary mountain railway was even completed on time.

To get the best panoramic views

you need to disembark the train...

..and take a cable car

that will whisk you to Zugspitze's great summit.

What can be funny is sometimes you'll be down in Grainau

and it's sunny.

You think, "Oh, I think I'll go up to the Zugspitze,"

and by the time you get up there, it's all cloudy

and you can't even see down into Grainau.

But one thing is for sure.

There's always a nice cold beer waiting for you when you get up there.

Once at the top, the views are simply breath-taking.

From the north side, there are uninterrupted vistas across Germany.

And from the south,

the grand Austrian Tyrol stretches out before us.

On our epic 150-mile train journey from Nurdlingen to Zugspitze...

..we've crossed some of Bavaria's most inspiring landscapes...

..enjoyed its rich steam-engine history...

..and climbed to the very top of Germany,

a truly spectacular railway journey.