Sure we do - and no, not a silly question. It's different from north to south in Germany, too, even different from northern Bavaria to southern Bavaria, and to make matters worse, there are also big differences in accents and dialects in the different towns and villages - I've been living in this small town for nearly 9 years now - and still have trouble sometimes to understand the local dialect, although I'm just from the city, only 9 miles down the road! Same with the farmers that sell their stuff at the market in Schweinfurt - they're from Sennfeld or Gochsheim, just a few miles away, and when you talk to them (especially the elder ones), it's kinda like talking to a foreigner! I always imagine it must be hell on a visitor from another country that had German classes and comes to a Bavarian village - not a chance for him/her to understand a word from the locals if they speak in their "native" tongue!

When I came to Bavaria at age 9, no one understood me because I had a heavy Swabian accent (grew up near Stuttgart) - now I adapt to every accent rather quickly but also unwillingly in order to fit in

Hopefully you pick up on the southern accent without a problem. Everyone I talk to that's not from the South loves it, and until Australia, I was completely unaware I even had an accent! Talk about an eye opener!