Salzburg is affectionately known as the City of Mozart - Austria’s beloved musicians’ birth place. There is no shortage of Mozart in this city – one will find him from gardens, to universities to chocolate souvenir pieces. Salzburg’s reign as a world music capital has only been strengthened by the powers of Hollywood. If you know the Sound of Music then you have probably seen Salzburg! As a city with a population of merely 210,000 residents, it has certainly done well to promote itself and become one of the top tourist destinations in the world with more than 5 million visitors per year!
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| Mozart Chocolates |
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| Universitat Mozarteum |
After checking into the classic
Sheraton Salzburg hotel, I urged the parents to waste no time or daylight and begin our Salzburg city walk! (Always wise given the unpredictability of Europe’s October weather patterns) As we walked around the beautiful Mirabell gardens (think images of the Von Trapp kids dancing in the gardens) we soon found ourselves at Salzburg’s town centre, where the famous Salzburg landmark Fortress Hohensalzburg stood handsomely in the background.
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| Mirabell Gardens...Fortress Hohensalzburg in the background |
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| Rose @ Mirabell Gardens |
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| Just across the bridge is Salzburg town centre |
The city was alive with a multitude of tourists, the first hoard of them we spotted crowding around Mozart's Birthplace -
Mozart Geburtshaus. I do remember going inside there 20 years ago, as they have kept the same yellow paint on the walls. We chose not to go in given the number of keen tourists and the fact that mum and I had been there before. As we meandered around the little streets and alleys, getting distracted by the cute tourist shops that seem to follow you around, yet feeling as if we were taken back in time, we stumpled upon a carnival. Just as Munich were celebrating Oktoberfest on a grand big scale, the dainty town of Salzburg, on the other side of the alps, were celebrating Oktoberfest in their own style too. One quarter of the town was alive with merry-go-rounds and beer tents, like a miniature Oktoberfest.
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| Mozart's Birthplace and all the tourists! |
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| The back of Mozart's birthplace...hardly a tourist in sight! |
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| A classic merry-go-round |
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| There's a carnival going on! |
Toys
The highlight of our afternoon would have been visiting
Fortress Hohensalzburg. It is Salzburg city's signature landmark which can be seen from almost any corner in this town. The Fortress is over 900 years old and if you are going to visit Salzburg, a visit up here is a
must. The views from the top are stunning. Really amazing. You can get to the top either by walking up, or if you are time-short like we were, taking the
Festungbahn cable car, which is the fastest way to the top!
For more information about Fortress Hohensalzburg,
go here.
I will let my pictures do the storytelling :)
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| View from the top...Stunning |
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| Salzburg city view |
Fortress Architecture
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| Mum & Dad @ Fortress grounds |
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| Just could not get enough photos of the scenery...more Alps! |
There is an excellent museum up there, be sure to check it out. Photos were not allowed up there (even though plenty of non-compliant tourists were taking photos), hence I don't have any photos from the museum visit. One can easily spend a few hours up there. You can eat there, enjoy a concert plus many more. We were there until 5pm-ish, and that almost completed our day of sightseeing.
Day 2 Salzburg - one of the things I really wanted to do this trip was 'The Sound of Music Tour'! This is an excellent tour and a fantastic way to see the rest of the Salzburg region; which has some of the best scenery in Austria. You don't have to be a Sound of Music fan to enjoy this tour either; you just have to put up with the soundtrack on the coach when your tour guide isn't talking :) And what is there not to love about the soundtrack? We all know the songs! I would say this tour was probably a highlight of our entire trip - I think it was a combination of weather, sights, tour guide, duration, scenery, music that made the experience so much fun.
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All 3 of us outside the Von Trapp's house!
It is actually Schloss Leopoldskron i.e a palace |
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Reconstructed Glass Pavilion is now at Hellbrun Castle.
Our tour guide (pictured) explained the original pavilion was
actually filmed in the studio and was much larger than the one we are now seeing. |
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| Some of the lovely countryside scenery from the coach |
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| Lake Wolfgang |
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| At Mondsee - colours! |
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| My delicious Apple Strudel with custard whilst taking a break at Mondsee |
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Mondsee Cathedral
Where the wedding scene was filmed. |
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| Cathedral Interior |
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| Back to the Mirabell Gardens |
Once the tour finished, we took a break and went back to Salzburg town centre to finish off anything we didn't get to see the previous day. Turns out Salzburg is rather small. We covered most ground the previous day, so we decided to check out yet Salzburg Cathedral + more random street browsing before heading back to the hotel for some rest.
like it, succinct
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