We are in Bavaria for a short vacation. Our flight landed in Munich and we drove to Salzburg where we spent two nights visiting the delightful the Alt Stadt / old city part of Salzburg.
We arrived mid day, checked into our hotel and went sightseeing right away. We crossed the Salzach River, walking over the Makartsteg pedestrian bridge to the beautiful, baroque Altstadt / old city. We didn’t even get half way over the bridge before we stopped to take pictures of the striking Festung Hohensalzburg / Salzburg Fortress with the peaks of the alps in the background.
We went shopping on the Getreidegasse, known for its many ornate signs; we found a store that sold local Schnapps, Austrian style jackets, and leather goods; we stopped for a drink at the plaza outside of Mozart’s Geburtshaus/birthplace. Really very nice. We visited Salzberger Dom / Salzburg Cathedral, Franziskanerkirche / St. Francis Church, and Stift St. Peter / St. Peter's Abbey, where we had dinner at the famous Stiftskeller one of the oldest restaurants in Europe, dating back to 803.
The hill up to the castle was really steep, so we decided to take the funicular. It was worth the 10e per person price; the view of the city was beautiful. Our hotel was next to the Mirabell Gardens: we went for a self guided Sound of Music tour through the gardens; we attended a Mozart concert the Schloss Mirabell – it was fabulous! After the concert we took a taxi to the Augustinerbräu / Augustiner Beer Garden; we walked back along the river and couldn’t resist stopping for a slice of Sacher Torte at the nearby Sacher Hotel. The nearby Linzergasse is sort of like Getreidegasse and one evening we went there for a light dinner.
Salzburg is a beautiful place to visit! Our next stop is the Neuschwanstein Castle in Füssen, Germany.
The drive from the Munich airport to Salzburg is pretty straight forward. We took A99 -> A8 -> A1. The road signs all said “Salzburg” on them so we knew were going in the right direction. Key point: when you get into Austria, you need to buy a toll sticker for your car called a Vignette for 8e (good for 10 days). Look for the signs at the Austria/Germany border, exit, park your car and go into the little building. It was quick and easy and the nice people spoke English.
For visitors from the US who are fans of the movie the “Sound of Music.” The city doesn’t heavily promote it, but you can find tour busses. We didn’t do the tours. Just walking around, we stumbled upon parts of the city that we knew from the movie. It made our sightseeing tour all the more fun.
On subject of music, Salzburg much, much more heavily promotes the composer Mozart! This is his birthplace. You'll find a couple of statues, a plaza, souvenir shoppes and countless free and paid concerts -- all dedicated to Mozart. I strongly recommend going to one of the many concerts.
The musicians delight in sharing Mozart's music with visitors.
Salzburg, Austria, Österreich, 2012, walking
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