2023 Central Europe - Salzburg

Train Station

Up and packed and off to the nearby cafe for breakfast before taking the subway to the Vienna main train station where we caught the train to Salzburg, home of the Von Trapps from the Sound of Music and Mozart's birthplace.  We had pre-booked the train, but didn't add reserved seating and the train was packed!  We were politely informed that we were in someone's reserved seats and asked them how we would know that.  After learning how they designate the reserved seating, we found that every seat on our car was reserved.  We had already been through a couple of the scheduled train stops, so decided to just take a chance and sit in reserved seats that were unoccupied.  Luckily for us, the seats remained unoccupied, so we didn't have to scurry between cars trailing our luggage looking for seats.  Others weren't so lucky as we spoke to one couple who called it playing musical seats, having been asked to move three times!

The train traveled east to west in southern Austria through lush green farmland and it was an easy 2 1/2 hour trip.  We arrived in Salzburg and it was drizzling and cold, but a short 10 minute walk from the station got us to our funky old Bed and Breakfast.  The room is spacious and the entire hotel is filled with antiques and vintage radios, victrolas and typewriters.  We had a late lunch at a nearby restaurant with the traditional Austrian all-wood interior, including the ceiling.  They had a variety of foods on the menu and we enjoyed a bowl of hot soup and a giant pretzel.  We stopped at a grocery store and picked up cheese and crackers and some wine for an appetizer type dinner as it was forecast to rain most of the evening and we didn't want to have to go back out.

The hotel had many Easter decorations throughout and we woke to a rainy and cold Easter Sunday.  The hotel had a nice buffet breakfast as we checked our list of things we wanted to see and the weather - forecast was just a little rain around 10am.  Well, we got out and about, walking miles around the old city and climbed the many steps to the castle on the hill and wandered around the many paths with views of the old town below, drizzling the entire time.  It didn't stop raining til almost 5pm.

Hohensalzburg Castle dominates Salzburg

Street Scenes of Old Town (Altstadt)

Residence Fountain in Residence Square

Salzburg Cathedral

State of the Virgin Mary in Cathedral Square

The Hohensalzburg Fortress can be seen from almost everywhere in Salzburg

The Fortress and the funicular going up the side of the hill.  We opted to walk up instead.

Art installation "Saphaera" informally called the Golden Ball. 

Views of Salzburg's Old Town from the Fortress Hill

Following the Paris Love Lock Bridge tradition, Salzburg has its own version.

The church bells started ringing about noon and continued for a full half hour.  Local legend is that the church bells go to Rome to be blessed for Mandy Thursday and when returned, don't ring until the Resurrection.

We walked to St. Peter's Abbey and cemetery where the last scene takes place in the Sound of Music where they are hiding in the graveyard before fleeing to Switzerland.  The cemetery is small and broken up into small areas, but every grave was decorated with spring flowers - just beautiful.  I took a million photos thinking we could check online to see exactly where the Sound of Music scenes had been shot, but afterwards Mr. Google informed us that the actual filming took place in a recreated studio set.  Ugh.

St. Peter's Abbey

St. Margaret's Chapel at St. Peter's Abbey

For a late lunch, we walked north to the Augustine Monastery that is now a beer garden and hall.  We bought tickets for our beer stein, picked it up off the shelf and took it to the central fountain to rinse out before taking it to the men manning the kegs.  When I was buying the tickets, I saw the sign that said 1 and one that said 5, so quickly calculating that 1 is small than 5, I ordered that stein.  Hmmm,  seems I missed the decimal point before the 5, and so we ended up with full 1-liter steins that were so heavy, we struggled to pick them up!  They had a food court and we enjoyed some of our beer and a late lunch in this historic spot among many families there celebrating Easter.

Entrance to the Beer Hall

One of three large Beer Halls

Old Town

A beautiful side chapel in a Salzburg Church (there are 22 churches and we didn't visit them all, but I can't remember which church this was in)

Where we rinsed our steins before having them filled with Beer

Easter Street Decorations of Greens, pussywillow, streamers, and often dyed eggs

On our way back to our hotel, the sun came out just as we were walking through the spring blooms of Mirabel Gardens - it rejuvenated our spirits and during another light apppetizer supper, we recounted the day's sights, and laughed about the huge beers that we couldn't finish.

Mirabel Gardens

Mirabel Gardens    See those shadows?  The SUN!!!

Tomorrow is the official Easter Monday Holiday in Austria and we will be leaving Salzburg on the train to Hallstatt in the Alps of Austria.