Salzburg, Austria: a day at Mozart’s homeland

After spending a noon at scenic Cesky Krumlov, we headed towards Linz, Austria. After venturing the city of Linz in the night, we moved back to our hotel. The next day, we geared up for exploring the musical city of Salzburg.

After a drive of 1 hour and 30 minutes, covering a distance of around 130 km through E60, we reached Salzburg. The city is known for its picturesque locations and the hot spots for shooting of movies. The famous movie “The Sound of Music” depicting the story of an aspiring Austrian woman from Salzburg is remembered even now and the shooting location is a famous tourist destination.

We then walked through the lanes of Salzburg and reached the old town square. The Residenzplatz square and Residence fountain are the heart of old town square attractions. We learned that the square holds stage for many musical concerts and sport events. It is more beautified with several horse carriages lined up offering rides to the visitors. To mention again, for Hollywood lovers specially, Residenzplatz square is the area where Maria in the movie “The Sound of the Music” along with her children enjoyed singing during the carriage rides. The cathedral in the square area is a must to be destination. The Baroque style cathedral with its magnificent architecture is a visual treat.

We further ventured into the city bylanes and enjoyed the sight of various eateries and mouth-watering patisserie stalls. We then reached Getreidegasse, the busy shopping street of Salzburg. The city of Salzburg offers a lot for visitors interested in shopping. There is a UNESCO world heritage site amidst the busy lane, “The house of Mozart”. It is the birthplace of Mozart, the musician of Salzburg Royal Chamber. The operas of Mozart are renowned and hold a great place in the musical history of Austria. Moving further, we reached the Makartsteg bridge over the Salzach river, embellished in toto with “Love Locks”.

Crossing the bridge, on the other side, we ended up in Mirabell Palace, another UNESCO world heritage site. The palace with its beautiful “Mirabella Gardens” and Marble hall is a busy wedding destination. We could spot many charming brides and bridegrooms enjoying their big day with family and friends.We moved from the Mirabell Palace along the bank of Salzach river. The area was a perfect destination for spending a quiet afternoon. We then reached the old market square known locally as “Alter Mrkt Square”. As we could not resist our hunger prangs and decided to have our lunch. We chose Herring salad with bread and mozzarella and were totally satisfied with the yummy combination. During the lunch, we were delighted to meet a lawyer from Salzburg who had been to India many a times.

After enjoying the delicious lunch and a short conversation, it was time to visit the Hohensalzburg castle. This beautiful castle is supposedly the biggest European fortification. We opted to choose the Funicular railway to reach the top of the castle. Funicular railway is available every 10 minutes at a cost of 15 euros (negotiable i.e., 7.5 Euros if you are in a group of 8). After buying tickets, we enjoyed our short funicular ride of 2 minutes to reach the top of the castle. The castle was mostly under renovation.

We walked through a museum with Puppet shows as it was not chargeable. There are other museums to visit in the castle if one wishes to spend few euros. There were many view points at different levels of castle and we could visualize the breath-taking view of the city of Salzburg from these points. Towards the north were the snow clad Alps and Germany. On the other side we got to see a panoramic view of the Old town with Salzach river flowing through it. After clicking enough pictures we headed back to the town in a funicular and started our journey to the capital of Austria.

General information:

Salzburg is located in the western part of Austria in the Alps. It is very close to the border with Germany. Munich is 140 km. German language is widely spoken all over Austria. Vienna is 300 km.

Sightseeing spots:

1. Hohensalzburg castle and funicular ride. You can also walk up to the castle if you have time and save the Euros. There is steep road from the old town which will lead to the castle. It will take 30-45 mins depending on the speed you walk
2. Mirabell gardens and Palace- Saturday is the wedding day in Salzburg. You can find many couples in traditional attire heading to the marriage hall
3.  Old town and the Salzburg Church
4. Old town has weekly street markets where locals buy and sell their traditional food and mementos. We had Herring fish salad in 4 Euros. It was delicious. You can try out the other local delicacies also
5. Mozarts house (which is also a museum)
6. There are several other museums which you can try out based on you taste

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