The Hills are Alive

Leaving Hallstatt

We plan to catch the 0810 boat out of town for the 0828 train to Salzburg. We grab a few pastries from the local bakery on the way. The ride and connection goes smoothly and we are in Salzburg at 1048. We stop at the Tourist Information place to get a city map and while there, we buy a 24 hour Salzburg Card which will get us into the sights we plan to see and has transportation included also. We get our bearings and head to the hotel without any navigational miscues. It is not that far and as expected the room is not ready. However, they do hold your luggage, so we are happy. We organize our map, itinerary, and get our bearings before we head out. We walk along the Salzach River and cross over it. There is a Sunday market going on as we walk. Our plan is to start by seeing the Old Residenz and the Church Museum. We enter Mozartplatz with a large statue of Mozart. Mozart was born and raised here in Salzburg.

Residenzplatz

Then we enter the Residenzplatz next door. It is ringed by the new and old residences and the Salzburg Cathedral. This square was raised mostly under Prince Archbishop Wolf Dietrich Von Raitenau who ruled from 1587 to 1612. Now that is a mouthful. For centuries, the leaders here were both church officials and princes of the Holy Roman Empire mixing sacred and secular authority.
Before we go in the old Residenz, we check out the panorama Museum with a panoramic painting in the round of Salzburg from the 1800s. We had seen something similar in Switzerland, and this one is not very impressive. It does not help that there is no information in the panorama room, either English or Austrian. We exit and cross the square into the old Residenz. They give us an audioguide which tells about each of the 15 rooms we walk through and helps us understand the power of the Prince Archbishop.

Prince Archbishop Pastoral

The attached church museum has some nice church pieces and jeweled Pastorals of the Prince Archbishops dating into the late 1700’s. From there, we are led into the church from above where the back organ is. The cathedral was consecrated in 1628 during the Thirty Years War. We really enjoyed the whole museum experience. It was very well done and informative.
Next up, is to find some lunch. We walk back to a little bakery deli that we saw while walking here. Prices are great, about 3.75 USD gets us a Hugh chicken cutlet sandwich. We add a coke zero and a baked spinach bread type item. An excellent meal.
Now we head up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress. It was built on a rock 400 feet above the river. It was so foreboding that no one attacked the town for over a 1000 years. Never taken by force, Salzburg did surrender to Napolean without a fight. Maybe that is why this is still here, as we saw, in parts of Germany, where Napolean destroyed castles after defeating them, for strategic reasons. We take a funicular up to the fortress and it’s nice aerial views.

Salzach River View

The escorted audio tour inside leaves much to be desired. Overall, not very interesting, and when they took us up to the tower, we were attacked by thousands of flying ants. Retreat was hasty and necessary. Out of the fortress and back to the funicular, we head to the river for a short boat cruise. The Salzach is low and there is no other boat traffic. At the end the Captain announces he will do a waltz for us. He spins the boat around on its axis several time one way, then the other, with Mozart playing on the speakers. A nice finish.
As it is now almost 1800, we walk to the Augustiner Brau Haus, a beer garden that I had read about. We find it across from a church and enter a door. It does not seem like a beer garden as we walk in what looks like a somewhat religious building. Opening another door, we smell the food. Down some stairs, we pass food stalls and then enter into the tree shaded garden. Every table is full, so Carol asks a couple if we can sit with them. We meet Dave and Karen from Dixon, California. They are on a two and a half week trip. Carol talks with them, while I go to scout out the food situation. I return with a smoked rib platter that has baked potato and a cabbage slaw with it. Then off to buy beers. You pay, grab a mug, rinse it for good measure, hand the beer guy your ticket and that’s all there is. I get two half liters instead of the liter so the beer stays colder.
We hit it off with Dave and Karen, talking about traveling and our kids. They have 6 between them, so twice the pleasure of our three.

Night View From Our Room

They are going to be in Cesky Krumlov on Tuesday also, so we arrange to try and have dinner together. Dave drinks Eggenberg beer at home and wants to eat and drink at their brewery. We are quite OK with that. By the time we get back to the hotel to check in it is 8:30, so we have had a very nice but very long day. The room is wonderful, very modern, nice shower, air conditioning, fast internet, and noise proof windows. We have a view of the Salzach River down to the church near the Augustiner. I am sure we will sleep well.
Expenses
Breakfast Pastries 5E
Boat from Hallstatt 5E
24 Hour Salzburg Cards 54E
Lunch from Backerie 7.03E
Dinner and Bier at Augustiner Brau Haus. 19.9E
Pretzel Dessert for Carol 1.7E
Motel One Salzburg. 86.3E
Walked 10 Miles