Mountains and Fountains

Today is our second day in Salzburg. After breakfast in the hotel, we walked over to the train station to catch the bus that would take us to Untersberg.


Our hotel.

The bus ride took about 30 min. We arrived at the tram station, bought our tickets and rode up to the top of the mountain - 1853 meter high.

Once on top there are hiking trails that take you to different lookout points. We hiked to the highest one, which took about 45 min and lots of sweating. It was sunny and very warm and humid. The views from the top were wonderful, even with hazy skies. Brandon had fun at the top building some towers from the stones. These mountains are mostly marble. Its interesting that the stones on the hiking trail are polished smooth from years and years of hikers stepping on them.



Views of the Alps.






The cross on the mountaintop that you can barely see in the distance is near the tram station. This cross is featured in aerial views of Salzburg during the opening scenes of The Sound of Music.

We stayed on top of the mountain for a little while, relaxing the in the shade of an information sign while Brandon played. It was time to hike back down to the tram station. The hike down was easier but still slow going due to slick rocks and gravel. Near the end Katrina slipped and scraped her hands up a bit.


Making our way back down to the tram.



We rode the tram back down the mountain and caught the next bus heading towards Salzburg, getting off the bus a little ways down the road at Hellbrunn Castle.

In 1610, Prince-Archbishop Sittikus decided he needed a lavish palace with a vast ornate garden purely for pleasure. He built this and loved to invite his VIP guests out for fun with his trick fountains. We got our tickets and waited in the shade for the tour to begin. We had heard that the tour guides loved to get people wet. The trick is to notice where the ground is wet and move away from that area. All the fountains are fed from a natural spring. Of course, Brandon wanted to get soaked. He even volunteered to sit at a special table that soaked visitors. I think these gardens were one of his favorite places on the trip.


Brandon volunteers to get wet. Water shot out of the seats and the table.


Inside one of the grottos.




The prince's crown.


This was a water powered chirping machine. It sounded like birds in this room.


Brandon had a lot of fun and got really wet. The fountain tour exited into the formal gardens. We were free to roam the gardens and the attached park.


Katrina and Brandon in the formal gardens.


View of Untersberg.

We were told that the park is the home of the gazebo from The Sound of Music. We found it in a corner of the park.


Sixteen Going on Seventeen....gazebo from The Sound of Music

Brandon spotted a playground, so we headed that way. Katrina and I found a shady spot to sit while Brandon played on the zipline and then in the sand.





Fun in the sand.

We were hot and hungry, so we walked back to the bus stop and headed back to Salzburg. We ate lunch at a little cafe near the bus stop. Katrina and I each vegetable lasagna and Brandon had a hot dog.

This afternoon Katrina wanted to visit Mozart's house. Yesterday we visited his birthplace. I wasn't so interested, so we decided to split up. I headed out to find the local hobby shop. Brandon chose to come with me. Katrina headed to Wohnhaus - Mozart's house.

Brandon and I found the hobby shop easy enough. It had an incredible selection of HO scale vehicles. I've never seen so many. I ended up buying a few (2 of which will be headed to Blodgett), as well as some scenery details. Brandon bought an HO scale city bus.

We figured Katrina would be awhile longer, so we headed to the toy store that Brandon spotted the night before. We wanted to see what Siku they had and to look at all the new Lego kits. Katrina texted me as were walking there. She would meet us at the toy store.

Mozart's second home provides insight into Mozart's life and music, with the usual scores and old pianos and a 30 minute film. Katrina enjoyed this home more than the birthplace home.

We made our way to the elevator that takes tourists up the cliffside for a different view of the city.


View of old town and fortress from top of elevator.



Mosaics of old Salzburg.

We were hungry and had some trouble deciding what to eat. We finally agreed on the Augustiner Braustubl, a huge 1000 seat beer garden within the monk-run Augustiner brewery. It was packed with people, loud and happy. Just what I expected of a beer garden. We found a table and I headed over to get the beers. First you pay the cashier, then you find a mug, rinse it out and hand it to the guys at the kegs. I had a beer. Katrina had another Radler.



I brought the drinks back to the table and headed upstairs to see what the various food vendors were selling. Katrina and I ended up with roasted chicken. Brandon had a pretzel. We agreed, that was the best chicken meal we have had in a very long time. Later, I headed back upstairs to find some dessert. During this whole time Brandon alternated between eating and playing on the wooden beer barrel play area.






It was late, we were tired. We caught a bus back to our hotel and crashed. Tomorrow we head to Slovenia, with a sidetrip to Hallstatt.

The Hills are Alive with the Sights of Salzburg

After getting ready for the day and having a great breakfast, we packed our gear in the car and headed towards Salzburg. Driving through the city, we eventually entered the highway and headed east arriving in Salzburg before noon, about a 2 hour drive. We found our hotel, the Hotel Pension Alderhof, checked in and got some area information.


Interesting statue in the old town.

Salzburg Austria is forever enjoying the tunes of Mozart and The Sound of Music. Salzburg is full of wonderful offerings for tourists: the old town, splendid gardens, churches, and a medieval fortress. Take away Mozart and the Von Trapps and Salzburg is still full of rich history. In AD 700, Bavaria gave Salzburg to Bishop Rupert for his promise to Christianize the area. It remained and independent state until Napolean arrived. Thanks to its large and formidable fortress, Salzburg avoided wars for 1,200 years, until WWII. Much of the city was destroyed by WWII bombing, but the historic old town survived. 8 million tourists walk Salzburg’s cobbled streets every year.

We decided to buy the Salzburg Card, which the hotel had for sale. It covers admission to most of the attractions in Salzburg and the public transportation.

We walked over to the train station and caught a bus to the old city. Our first goal was to visit the Hohensalzburg Fortress. Built on a rock 400 feet above the Salzbach River, this fortress was never really used. It was a good investment for Salzburg. So formidable was its presence, nobody attacked the city for over a thousand years. The city was never taken by force. It wisely surrendered when Napolean came to town. After being used as a military fortress, the fortress was opened to the public in 1860’s.

We had to ride a funicular up to the fortress. Of course, Brandon and I enjoyed that very much.

We ate some lunch outside the fortress in a café with a fantastic view of the city.





After lunch we took the fortress tour. It turned out to be very short and only showed us a small part of the buildings. Oh well, it was still interesting to see. Each fortress and castle we visit is different in its own unique way.






View of Untersberg, where we will visit tomorrow.


Not a great picture, but this is the Abbey where the real Maria served and where some scenes of the movie were filmed.

After the tour we walked around the courtyard and visited the museums, then rode the funicular back down to the old city.

We wanted to do the Rick Steve’s self guided walking tour of the old town. We started in Mozartplatz where there is a statue in honor of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart spent much of his first 25 years in Salzburg.


Mozartplatz

We also visited the Residenzplatz, where the buildings once ringed in the ancient Roman forum. We saw the Salzburg Glockenspiel, although it appeared to be under reconstruction.

We also visited the Salzburg Cathedral. This was one of the first Baroque buildings north of the Alps.




Carriages waiting for a concert to finish.

In Kapitelplatz, we walked passed a giant chessboard and the horse bath, the 18th century equivalent of a car wash.


Fountain at the horse bath.


Giant chess board.


Modern sculpture in Kapitelplatz.

We visited St Peter's Cemetery. It has a collection of mini-gardens bunched right along and under Salzburg's giant cliff walls. In Austria, gravesites are rented, not owned. Rent bills are sent out every 10 years. If no one cares enough to make the payment, your remains are discarded. Most of the graves are marked by iron crosses, which was cheaper than tombstones. While the cemetery where the von Trapp family hid in The Sound of Music was a Hollywood set, it was inspired by this cemetery.







It is said that dwarf monks lived in these cliffside dwellings.

Just down the lane from the cemetery is the Toscanini Hof. This square faces the 1925 Festival Hall. This is where Captain von Trapp waited before walking onstage, just before he escaped with his family.


Side of the famous Festival Hall.

To the left of the Festival Hall is a 1500 space underground (in the mountain) parking garage.

We finished up on the Getreidegasse. This street was old Salzburg's busy main drag. It is famous for its old wrought iron signs. The architecture on the street has not changed since Mozart's day.




I don't think the M stands for Mozart.

Speaking of Mozart, our next visit would be on this street - Geburtshaus, Mozart's birthplace. Mozart was born here in 1756. This house is the most popular Mozart sight in town. In this house he composed most of his works.

We were hungry by the time we exited Mozart's house. Brandon had spotted a Chinese place a few buildings up the street. Brandon had soup. Katrina and I made the mistake of having the buffet. Chinese food should not be served in a buffet. The best part of the whole meal was the ice cold Coca Cola's.

After dinner we slowly wandered towards the river. Katrina took a lot of pictures as the sun was setting. On the other side of the river we cut through Mirabell Gardens and ended up wandering through. They were having a concert in the gardens, so we took pictures and listened from a distance. The Mirabell Gardens were laid out in 1730 for the reigning price-archbishop. Statues and an arbor were featured in The Sound of Music.




The Salzach River


View of Fortress from Mirabell Gardens


Fountain in Mirabell Gardens

We exited the gardens and found a bus heading back towards our hotel. Ugh, another hotel without air conditioning.