We'd decided to hit Salzburg on Saturday because the weather was supposed to be pretty good... and the weather did not disappoint. We had a spectacular ride northeast through the Inn river valley, bounded on both sides by spectacular mountains, before turning due west after emerging from the mountains and following them to Salzburg.
We decided to get tickets on the "Hop On/Hop Off" bus that makes a loop around the historic city and out to some of the nearby palaces. To gauge by all the visitor collateral, Salzburg is most famous for two things: Mozart, and The Sound of Music. And that certainly got emphasized, and we certainly did all of the cheesy things like visiting the site locations for the movie shoot. But it's also a really interesting city, with a known history dating back to Celts who settled here, and Rome's first outpost north of the Alps. Salzburg gets its name from nearby underground salt mines, salt being a particularly precious commodity in ancient times that was brought down to the Salzach river for transport.
Salzburg is built around the Mӧnchsberg (monk's mountain) and imposing hill with sheer rock walls overlooking the city and the Salzach River. Stift St. Nonnberg (Nonnberg Abbey), the home of Maria von Trapp when she was a nun, is built into it. This is the oldest nunnery in Central Europe, if I heard correctly. At the high point is Festung Hohensalzburg ("Festung" is German for "fortress"), a truly imposing castle visible from pretty much anywhere in town, on any side. Trust me. I've got dozens of pictures to prove it.
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| Dom Cathedral, with Festung Hohensalzburg on the hill |
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| Festung Hohensalzburg picture #2,359. Kapitel Platz |
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| Ein Prosit! Party for locals (and whoever else wants to bust in). |
There is also a Capuchin Monastery built into another cliff, Stift St. Peter (St. Peter's Abbey) built into the foot of the Mӧnchsberg, and a number of beautiful and inspiring kirchen as well as the Dom Cathedral. Outside of town are a number of summer palaces, including Schloss Freisaal, Gwandhaus, Schloss Frohnburg, and the impressive Schloss Hellbrun with its gardens, glass pavilion (site of the "I am Sixteen" segment of The Sound of usic) and wasserspiele (trick fountains). And of course, Schloss Leopoldskron, which everyone who's seen The Sound of Music will recognize. I'll put in some pictures. You'll figure it out.
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| The Glass Pavilian where Kurt hits on Lisl in The Sound of Music |
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| Schloss Leopoldskron (think Sound of Music) |
We noticed a lot of folks walking around in lederhosen and dirndls and thought it odd, but hey, you see a lot of tricorn hats in Williamsburg. Maybe they're interpreters. As it turned out, around dinnertime we stumbled upon a local fest in Kapetel-platz, between the Dom Cathedral and the foot of the Mӧnchsberg, right below the fortress. An Austrian band, dancing, beer (of course), bratwurst with saurkraut and hard rolls (of course), giant soft pretzels (of course)... we ended up hanging out and enjoying ourselves for a good long while.
Before heading back to the train station, Judy wanted to see if we could find the Pferdeschwemme, the Royal Horse Bath, located near Siegmundsgate, the tunnel through Mӧnchsberg at its narrowest point. While looking around, we stumbled across some very old steps in a very old wall that looked like they climbed up to Festung Hohensalzburg. Now, you can take a funicular up to the castle... but that's for wusses. And we had some beer, pretzels, and brats to work off. So up we went.
You know, the top of Mӧnchsberg is a lot further than it looks!
So, we came back down, and we did find the Pferdeschwemme, and we did take a lot of pictures (including 3,467 of Festung Hohensalzburg). And we did post them in a Google+ album. And you can see them by visiting this website:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110323470356616481793/albums/5734193538401417313?authkey=CM3Ul6-1iLe2Qw
And we did catch the 8:00PM train, and we did get back to the hotel around 10:30. And we did sleep. Well.
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