Beer paradise

Photo: Hacker-Pschorr's tent from the middle, right next to the band.

Being one of the best-known festivals all over Europe, Oktoberfest takes over the city of München annually for almost an entire month. Can you guess which month is it about? It depends on every year, but it is mainly September :) Even though, the name comes after its first celebration in October 1810 - to honor the marriage of the future Bavarian Kings. King Ludwig I ordered Münchner breweries to produce special beer for the occasion, and still so it is nowadays! Six local breweries serve their Oktoberfest beer at the festival: Hacker-Pschorr, Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu, Paulaner, Löwenbräu, Hofbräu München and Agustiner Bräu. But festival's history has also a sad side: it has been cancelled 24 times due to several wars, economic problems and diseases - such as both World Wars, the Great Depression and cholera. 

Oktoberfest is held in Theresienwiese, a park located nearby Munich's central station. The mentioned breweries make way for 14 big beer tents every year accompanied by 20 smaller structures in charge of providing typical Bavarian food and drinks to the visitors. Besides that, the whole complex is amused by music and even a big parade takes place on the first Sunday to kickstart the festival. 

I took the picture above at one of the most traditional tents at the festival, The tent is called "Himmel der Bayern" (Bavarian Heaven) and belongs to Hacker-Pschorr brewery, a result of two 600-year-old family-breweries that merged in 1972. It is one of the biggest with a capacity for almost 10.000 people. 

Arm yourself with patience if you want to sit inside a tent, reservations are usually sold out months before the event. Or do what I did: avoid weekends and go early on a weekday. The door opening is at 10am, so if you get there around 9am the line is not very long. I quickly got inside and found a table for 8 people right next to the band!