Austria Day 6: Salzburg

Day 2 of Salzburg

One thing that people forget about Salzburg is that it is more than just Sound of Music and Mozart. It is a beautiful city in its own right and deserves a visit. Like most European cities it is walkable, and you should, absolutely, walk these streets, as in every town in Europe.

So our next full day in Salzburg started earlier than day 1 because we didn’t have a car to drop off. You can read about Day 1 here.

Hohensalzburg Fortress

Our first stop of the day was this castle that we had seen from Mirabell Palace, sitting atop the hill. It is one of the largest medieval castles in Europe and the views from the wide verandahs are very interesting.

QUIZ #1:

You can see the hills, but can you identify the point of interest in that photo up there? Think of the Hindi word “Cheel” and think of the German word for throat. We were there two days ago…

Did you get it? No?

The border with Germany is out there and the point of interest is across the border…

Aha! Yep. Let me know in the comments if you got it.

Altstadt

You can see the Old Town from up there, the main square lies below you. The river Salzach flows serenely through the town.

QUIZ #2:

Now, in the photograph above, can you identify the Mirabell Palace?

It’s there… Tell me in the comments if you found it!

The castle has broad passages and stairs that end up in very broad terraces from which the countryside below stretches out.

I have to assume that this was a wine distributing cart. Wine, the clean, safe way to stay hydrated because the water was so unsafe to drink!

Take a walk around the terraces and take your time taking photographs.

Inside, we saw the ruins of what was once a chapel.

And then we came upon this doll set, puppets.

I’m going to assume this is the von Trapp family. Or maybe not!

Then we took the cable car down to the main square.

Remember that golden ball we had seen from up there? It looked small, right?

It isn’t small at all!

It dominates the square, overshadowing the obligatory fountain.

And even, I daresay, the statue of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

We strolled across the square and through the streets to the riverside.

And came upon the Mozartsteg. The Mozart bridge. Apparently, he used to walk across it.

My guess, informed guess, is that the plaque and the naming came about a few years (quite a few) after his fame spread and he became a household name in my household. Where did he go across to the other side? I’m sure there was a reason for his daily walk across. If someone told me, I have now forgotten…

Hangar 7

Our next stop after the morning spent wandering around Salzburg, was Hangar 7, the Red Bull Museum.

If you like daredevil stunts, well, the Red Bull brand has made a brand out of it. Also, they own a Formula 1 team, with a 4-time F1 champion in the form of Max Verstappen.

You can see cars and planes from various Red Bull adventures.

There was, I’m sure a Felix Baumgartner exhibit as well, but for some reason this portion of the trip, including most of Salzburg, I seem to not have many photographs.

Felix, was the guy who jumped from space to earth…

We then got ourselves over to our friend’s son’s house for a lovely dinner with him and his wife!

Conclusion

And that was that for our Salzburg trip.

Highly recommend a trip to the city. The Augustiner and Steigl breweries have excellent beer! The Mozartkugel is very good! There are people, shops, architecture, streets, sights and sounds that stay on long after you’ve come back to your mundane existence worrying about laundry, what to make for dinner and whether the shredded cheese has gone bad or not.

The town comes highly recommended.

By me!