Explore this salty city famous for “the Sound of Music” and Mozart.
Salzburg, Austria was founded on the trade of salt. Its name even means “salt castle” in German. A bishop in the 11th century hunkered down in the fortress and the city of Salzburg would grow up around it. From the 14th century until Napoleon showed up in 1803, Salzburg was ruled like a mini kingdom by its bishop and was part of the Holy Roman Empire. Austria would later claim Salzburg as part of its territory.
Today, Salzburg is known as one of the filming locations for “the Sound of Music” and the birthplace of Mozart. It is also a UNESCO world heritage site for its rather intact Baroque town center, which I spent a day and a half exploring. I didn’t arrive from Switzerland until about noon on my first day. After checking into my hotel, off I went exploring.
(Side tangent: I took a train from Buchs, Switzerland to Salzburg. That train started in Switzerland, passed completely through Liechtenstein, through the mountains of western Austria, into Germany and then back into Austria at Salzburg. Four countries in three hours. Europe is weird.)
Jana Irving Heading to the very busy Staatsbrücke, which goes over the Salzach River, on my way to the historic city center, or Altstadt (old city).
Jana Irving I started randomly wandering about in a quest for a sandwich.
Jana Irving And found out that Salzburg is very cute.
Jana Irving The cathedral on the left and the palace on the right. We will be seeing them again in the next post.
Jana Irving Fancy signs everywhere.
Jana Irving The Altes Rathaus (old city hall).
Jana Irving A sandwich was acquired, and I headed to my first goal of the day, Hohensalzburg Fortress.
Jana Irving I cheated and took the funicular up to the top.
Jana Irving Looking very fortressy.
Jana Irving Cute castle well.
Jana Irving There was a very weird puppet exhibit in the castle.
Jana Irving The Golden Hall, which served as a ballroom of the bishop’s state apartments. The Princely Rooms are fairly intact medieval rooms.
Jana Irving The Golden Chamber, the fanciest of the state rooms.
Jana Irving Well, that’s a fancy door.
Jana Irving The Bedchamber is a bit simpler but still has a ridiculous door.
Jana Irving A bedroom isn’t complete without its own privy.
Jana Irving The Princely Rooms were up there.
Jana Irving The fortress is one of the largest in Europe.
Jana Irving And it has great views.
I am skipping ahead past things I’m going to cover with the next post here. The DomQuartier takes up a big area of the town center, so I’m dedicating an entire post to it.
Jana Irving The Altes Rathaus making another appearance.
Jana Irving The giant Kollegienkirche (College Church). The plaza in front serves as a little food market.
Jana Irving A very white Baroque church. Also very tall.
Jana Irving The cute Gothic St. Blasius.
Jana Irving The skies were very moody all day. The streetlights came on very early.
Jana Irving St. Blasius, again.
Jana Irving The birthplace of Amadeus Mozart. I didn’t go to the museum but I did get a sandwich at that SPAR.
Next day now. I am skipping a section again here from the DomQuartier.
Jana Irving Above the colorful Kajetanerplatz is the Stift Nonnberg, a monastery.
Jana Irving Very colorful.
Jana Irving Crossing the Salzach.
Jana Irving Hohensalzburg Fortress dominates the skyline of Salzburg.
Jana Irving For some reason, I decided to climb this hill.
Jana Irving Another monastery was built on this hill.
Jana Irving Kapuzinerkirche (Capuchin Church).
Jana Irving This hill did have some views at least.
Jana Irving At the bottom of the hill is another shopping area. St. Sebastiankirche can be found here.
Jana Irving The church was closed, but they did have a gate up so you can still go look at the church.
Jana Irving I found myself a cemetery behind St. Sebastian.
Jana Irving I’m not sure if that is a chapel or a mausoleum.
Jana Irving On my way back to the hotel to pick up my backpack, I wandered through Mirabell Gardens.
Jana Irving It is a nice garden. It would have been nicer if it wasn’t winter, though.
I was greatly impressed with Salzburg. The town center was easy to get around in. It was also cute. It’s a great place to stop to see a bit of Austria. They also have a Christmas decoration museum. It was closed when I visited. #sadface
Salzburg isn’t done yet. I still have a major attraction to show you!
Check out my next update where I explore Salzburg’s DomQuartier!
or
Start at the beginning of this adventure in Zurich!
