Central Europe Day 9: Salzburg

It was 9:00 a.m. when our next shuttle driver arrived in from of our Cesky Krumlov hotel. His name was Andrew. He was a young man working on a Master's Degree at the university in business and economics. He drove for the shuttle service in the summer to make a little money. Andrew was Czech, but he spoke English very well. He invited us to talk to him as much as we wanted so he could practice the language. He also spoke German. He told us that he had studied as an exchange student in Salzburg when he was in high school. When he dropped us off in Salzburg I asked if he would like to stay with us and show us around. He looked me straight in the eye longingly, as if loving the idea, and said he would love to. Then snapped back to reality and declined as he headed back to his employment.

Before we took off from our Czech hotel, I asked Andrew if we were going to travel the scenic route through winding country roads, or if we would be using the expressway to arrive to our destination. He informed me it would be the expressway. Needless to say I was relieved, but I took a Dramamine just in case.

After another 3 hour trip, Andrew dropped us off at the front door of the Hofwirt Hotel and helped us in with our bags. The hotel didn't look like much from the outside, but it was in a perfect location within the city. It was also very clean with a large breakfast room that contained TWO coffee machines! Our room was somewhat modern with ample space. It had no air conditioning, but we really didn't need it. We were only on the first floor with a large window opening to the street. Consequently we dealt with some street noise, but no one really cared.

We once again had to store our luggage and hit the streets until our room was ready. No problem. We were getting really good at this by now. We took a walk around Salzburg trying to orient ourselves. Our hotel was on the northeast side of the Salzach River not too far from St. Sebastian's Church. It took no time at all to reach the bridge that crossed into Old Town (Altstadt). Here we wandered through Mozart's Square, Dom Cathedral Square, the Residenz Square as well as many side streets with shops. In the distance we could see the Hohensalzburg Fortress, so we headed to the spot where the funicular would take us up the steep hill to visit the fortress. No climbing up today.

     

Once in the fortress, we toured and climbed to various levels, snapping great pictures of the city of Salzburg on one side and the beautiful Alps on the other. We found a Marionette Museum that contained displays of marionettes used through the years to entertain. One, in particular, was very entertaining: the coffin of Archbishop Wolf Dietrich that was tucked away in a corner. Pam opened the door to this coffin and his marionette came out with a ghastly laugh. It was too funny. We opted not to go through the fortress apartments, as we had seen plenty in Vienna. Instead, we found a steep footpath out of the fortress and went in search of the Nonnberg Abbey - the very one that was used in the Sound of Music.

     

The Abbey was still in use and was really not very clearly marked. We entered on the side of the abbey and found ourselves in a graveyard. Finally, we came to the front gate and exited. I snapped a picture not realizing it was the gate that Maria was knocking on in the movie. From the abbey, we made our way down a pedestrian walkway that led to the city.

                                   

From there we returned to our hotel to get settled into our room. Since it was Sunday, most of the stores were closed in the city, including grocery stores. We munched on some of our remaining snacks for lunch before heading out again to look for Mirabell Palace.

The Mirabell Palace was actually built in the 1600s by the Prince Archbishop for his concubine. The gardens next to the Palace are actually more well known as one of the locations filmed in the Sound of Music. It contains statues of exotic animals, fountains, well groomed gardens and lattice tunnels. The famous steps where Maria sings Do Re Mi are also found at one end of the garden. It was beautiful!

      

From there, we headed back to Linzer Gasse, the street on which our hotel was located. We had noticed that it contained several reasonably-priced cafes offering a variety of foods. We chose to eat dinner at one called Alter Fuchs. Don't get excited! Fuchs is the word for Fox! I had potato soup, a salad plate that included greens, sauerkraut, pickled cucumbers, and german potato salad. Meagan had a plate of spinach dumplings swimming in garlic butter. Of course it all was accompanied by a dunkel (dark beer). Prost!