Today, our trip crossed over in to Austria as we had a bus trip to Salzburg. Just like when we crossed from the Netherlands into Germany there was an immediate change. It was more scenic on the roads, the Austrian’s seem to go all out on the flower boxes on the front of their homes. The scenery on the highway to Salzburg was more ‘mountain backdrops’ as we wound our way closer to the Austrian alps.
There wasn’t one direct highway to Salzburg, so it felt like a winding road, some of which was quite narrow when we met up with trucks heading the other way. I wasn’t sure what I’d expected of Salzburg, but what I found was a charming city with some amazing history and a definite classical music buzz with the added bonus of some talented street performers, and all the Mozart history was interesting.
We are finding that the end of summer is most definitely the time for many festivals throughout the places we’ve visited. I wondered whether the difference between Germans and Austrians could be captured in their types of festivals. A few days ago in Germany, it was about young men trying to knock each other off a boat while drinking lots of beer, as opposed to the classical music vibe of Salzburg.
Salzburg is the fourth-largest city in Austria, with a population of 160,000. The city lies on the Salzach River, at the foot of the Austrian Alps. Its main sources of income were salt extraction, trade, and gold mining. It fortress overlooks the city and is one of the largest medieval fortresses in Europe, dating from the 11th century. Salzburg has an extensive cultural and educational history, being the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and home to three universities and a large student population.
We started our walk at the Mirabella Gardens which were a stunning garden built on the Salzburg Palace grounds. From there we wound our way through the old city, noting local fountains that had been used in the classic movie “The Sound of Music”. Salzburg seems very proud of the movie.
Once we’d walked to the main cathedral which was first consecrated in 696, our guide then set us free to explore. With Deb still struggling with a cold, we found a nice restaurant and I enjoyed a traditional Austrian Schnitzel and some strudel with a nice glass of local wine.
After lunch it was back in the bus to visit Moon Lake on our way to Linz, where we would meet our ship. The significance of Moon Lake is that it’s St Michaels church was where Maria and Von Trapp married in the movie.
We were back at the ship in time for dinner, which was followed by another quiz night. We had won the first two and were seeking the triple crown. Sadly, we could only muster 16 points, leaving us a joint runner-ups. Probably best we didn’t win another bottle of bubbly to go with the other two we haven’t had yet.
Until tomorrow!
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