Half A Day In Salzburg

One of us is obsessed with The Sound of Music. Which meant we couldn’t arrive in Austria and not pass through Salzburg. So we took a nice mid-morning train ride from Vienna to the Salzburg HauptBahnhof where we stalked the luggage lockers until we successfully found one, luckily a jumbo locker, to place all our bags (3 carry-ons & 3 handbags). Free from baggage, the one of us went on a Sound of Music tour with Panorama Tours which she later reported was absolutely delightful and highly recommended.

My sister M’sa and I though just wandered aimlessly around town. It ended up being one of my favourite days on the trip especially since I had been more than prepared to head straight to Croatia. We strolled the Mirabell Palace Gardens, had a bite at Cafe Bazar, passed by Mozart’s birthplace (Mozart Geburtshaus) and residence (Mozart Wohnhaus) as well as Christian Doppler’s birthplace (Christian Doppler Geburtshaus), walked through Getreidegasse Strasse full of shops, and tried an “echte Salzburger Mozartkugeln“. We crossed from new Salzburg to old Salzburg over the Makartsteg which is adorned with love locks.

In Salzburg’s Old Market Square (Alter Markt) we had another bite, sausage from a food truck that reminded us of Berlin. This square was already a marketplace in the 13th century. It is surrounded by grand Baroque townhouses whose architectural bones date back to the Middle Ages. The exception to the grandeur is the building currently occupied by the fine jewelier Nedoluha. Built sometime in the mid 1800s to close a narrow alley, it’s the smallest building in Salzburg’s historic city center.

Then we visited the impressive Baroque Salzburg Cathedral (Salzburger Dom). It just beckoned us in. At the entrance, the Apostles Peter and Paul are holding a key and a sword respectively. Inside is an impressive 4000-pipe organ and the font where Mozart was baptized. Inside is actually relatively peaceful. Clean and crisp. I would actually enjoy attending a Mass here. Down in the crypt you can find partially excavated remnants of the former cathedral. Imagine, a Christian church of some form has stood here since 774! In the private chapel we said our prayers before heading back out into the sunlight.

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By this time we had arrived at Hohensalzburg Fortress with plenty of time to spare. We bought tickets and took the funicular (Festungsbahn) up. The views from up here were amazing. High above all the rooftops, this, the largest preserved castle in Central Europe. It was built in 1077 primarily to protect the archbishops from hostility. In addition to the princely bedchambers there is a Marionette museum. But did I mention the breathtaking views? I didn’t want to leave. In fact, we made Zee come meet us up here (she walked up) after her Sound of Music Tour and we all watched the sun set while eating a rather generic meal in their open-air patio. Simply lovely.

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Now it was dark and we had to find a place to watch the Russia – Croatia World Cup Quarterfinals. We found refuge in the Hotel Sacher bar where we tried their famous Sacher Torte. I was such a nervous wreck. I couldn’t watch the penalty shootouts and went out for a cool breeze. Happily, Croatia won and all was well with the world.

As we made our way back to the Salzburg train station to catch the night train to Zagreb, Croatia football supporters were celebrating on the streets of Salzburg, my companions were busy singing the songs of The Sound of Music for all to hear, and I was walking several feet behind!