Andy's Germany Adventure: Day 9 (a)

Tuesday 18 January 2011.

Leaving Dresden early I headed from Saxony south to Bavaria. First stop Bayreuth, a town particularly connected with Richard Wagner, Franz Liszt and of course Inspector Morse (whose colleagues thought he was going to Beirut). The Wagner Museum was closed for renovations when I was there, but I can recommend the tour of the opera house (Markgräfliches Opernhaus).

It is surprisingly small inside (only 550 seats) but decorated in an extravagant gilded 18th century Italian baroque. The entire rear wall is taken up by the royal box, which also has its own staircase from the main entrance, made in wood but painted to look like stone. The royal box is more extravagantly decorated than the main stage to reflect the importance of the royal presence. The building was originally all wood, but had stone walls added later. Wagner apparently had it remodelled to suit the acoustics of his performances, which require quite different conditions to Mozart and Beethoven, for example. When I was there the acoustics were so successfully amplifying the clanging of some workmen building a scaffold, that it was hard to hear the guide. Sadly, they don't allow photography inside, so you'll have to ask Google for pictures.

Bayreuth is perhaps not quite as fairy-tale-like as Weimar or Meissen (it's fairly flat for a start), but has its fair share of palaces, churches and museums, so is worth putting on your list!

Next stop today: Nuremberg.