SOLO EUROPE III: DAYS 10&11 [SALZBURG]
the next morning, i took a train to salzburg. at the station i lived up life by ordering a traditional melange & then walking to the starbucks & getting a pumpkin foam cold brew (can't take the american out of me). this train ride was confusing. this is the first time i had to deal with a train split. at one point, the carriages would disconnect & fork off from each other. apparently this is not common as i had to be brave & had to ask questions to strangers. germans did not even understand it. i eventually figured out (or just got lucky). the train ride was beautiful & not very busy. i got to see alpine lakes & the long haired cows from the train!
i still had a good chunk of my day left, so i took the bus to old town, near my hostel. i visited the salzburg museum in the new residenz. i enjoyed seeing the old paintings, the folk art, & entering the room of light that played mozart's music. i pretty much had the entire museum to myself.
my hostel in salzburg was the nicest hostel of the trip. the workers were not necessarily friendly, but the rooms were very spacious, there was a pretty large table, & the beds did not feel like they were going to collapse.
the next morning i woke up early. it was hard as there were no coffee places nearby, the hostel is in a residential area. the first stop, was the mirabell gardens outside the mirabell palace. this place is most famous for being one of the filming locations in the sound of music. i visited as i enjoy a morning walk, especially in gardens, before everything opens. the garden is from 1687. not pictured are funny gnome statues that the garden is also known for.
walking back to getreidegasse, i caved in and bought a mozartkugel. mozart was born on this street & throughout salzburg there are reminders of him, including in the candy. from what i learned, when there is the word mozart in desserts there is likely pistachio in there (which i like). mozartkugel is kind of like a lindt chocolate, but has pistachio, marzipan, & nougat. there are a lot of different companies that make it, but i just went with one that was a reasonable price (there are some really expensive ones).
since i had extra time, i decided to utilize my salzburg card & visit some places that are free with the card. the museums i visits were not really my thing, but i got some really pretty views of the old town square.
salzburg ended up being my favorite big city (though really a smaller busy city) that i visited during this trip. the city is a bit slower & i enjoyed how tied to nature it is with the alps in the distance. i arrived relatively early in the morning. i bought some gouda to snack on & stopped at the ti office to pick up my salzburg card before making my way to the hostel to drop off my pack. i found it funny that the key to the basement where you can keep your luggage had an attached dog stuffed animal so no one either forgets or steals the key. i then walked to the bus station to take the bus to hellbrunn palace.
at the entrance were these beautiful hydrangeas (my favorite), so crazy nature comes in this color!
hellbrunn palace was built from 1613-1619 by the prince-archbishop of salzburg. at this time, austria as we know it did not exist, the city was independent from bavaria, & it was a part of the holy roman empire.
hellbrunn palace (c 1613 - boroque)
i first took a tour of the trick fountains in the back courtyard. the prince had a weird sense of humor. there are stone chairs & tale. all the chairs, except the prince's, would shoot water out of the seat. he like to embarrass his guests. the courtyard is in the italian style & includes, water fountains that made music, grottos, & statues.
i then walked throughout the courtyard & learned the hard way that the worker would turn on some of the hidden fountains. i was a victim & got pretty wet. i laughed it off as it is a part of the experience but i absolutely hate the feeling of wet pants. a guy next to me got wet & was so upset. the worker had to apologize.
be the art. i started a movement & people followed suit.
i loved this starburst pond.
there are also tons of nooks & crannies, including several grottos
a unicorn! there are quite a few throughout salzburg.
inside hellbrunn
the folk exhibit
after, i walked through the getreidegasse and saw all the storefronts. it is known for the wrought iron guild store signs. some are older than others (there is even one for the mcdonalds!). there were a lot of fancy goods, like glass, jewelry, & fragile eggs. salzburg is known for their hand painted & carved egg shells. it made me nervous walking inside these stores. there were also quite a few christmas shops. though busy, i enjoyed walking down this street admiring the architecture & fancy store windows.
getreidegasse (grain lane)
an egg window display
i felt like eating something healthier & through my early research, i went to dean & davids (a much better panera like chain). i ended up going here several times throughout my trip as they are also in germany. i wish we had them in the united states. they put panera to shame. so tasty.
i had a chicken bowl with a carrot rhubarb smoothie
my bunk
also every night at 7 pm, the hostel plays the sound of music in the common room. i was surprised by how many people actually wanted to watch it (as you would expect, mostly girls). funny enough, the sound of music is really only popular movie in the united states. i also made friends with a very nice canadian girl. we were the only 2 in our room that wanted to see sound of music. she was disappointed no else wanted to sing-a-long as she was a musical theater kid.
the view from my dorm room
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another unicorn. the "do-re-mi" scene from sound of music was filmed around this fountain.
the flowers were really pretty in this season
i went to one of the funnest coffee places during my trip. i love visiting a place where you can feel the history. this coffee place is next to the mozart bridge in an old toll house, as the river sits behind it. i had a melange & croissant & enjoyed it on the one little set of chairs provided. i like taking some time to just people watch. it was a little chilly, but the sky & sunlight was so crisp.
at this time, the main old town was empty & i listened to the rick steves salzburg walking audio tour.
in front of the salzburg cathedral (c. 1614 - baroque style)
not too far was an interesting old water wheel. i learned later it provides power to a bakery.
i then took the funicular up to hohensalzburg fortress, one of the largest medieval castles in europe. construction started as early as 1077! in one of the museum you can see old roman remnants of the castle. also random, but you get the chance to listen to medieval music & vocals which i thought was cool. you can walk around the grounds & can visit some of the interiors.
church of st. george (17th century - baroque style)
the view of old town from festungsberg mountain
after taking the funicular back down, i walked to petersfriedhof, a cemetery located at the foot of festungsberg. this area was so pretty. you can see the rockcliff & stone tombstones along with manicured greenery & flowers. the cemetery has been around since the 700s.
there are caracombs carved into the mountainside. part of it is at least from the 1100s.
the view of petersfriedhof from the catacombs.
the interior of st. peter's abbey (c. 1760 - rococo style)
i found a cute little cafe to get a sandwich & cappuchinno
i noticed early in the morning that there was an old timey photo shop across from the funicular. i decided to go back when they opened at noon & there was already a line. i decided to wait for almost an hour. it was pretty vain, but i love the idea of having one of these as a souvenir. i have done it once before in tombstone, arizona, & grew up doing them at theme parks. i met a nice group of friends before me from the united states, france, & the united kingdom. time went by pretty quickly being able to chat. at the end of the day when i got back to the hostel & showed my roommates, they thought it was so cool.
for the rest of the day, i continued seeing random sites throughout old town, including getting even more bread! not pictured here, but near the university there was a cute little farmer's market so i had to get a fresh pretzel.
they gerkins (pickles) near the university
"horse pond," where in the 17th century the royal parade horses were washed & groomed
mozartkugel
residenzplatz
i did also stop in a small christmas museum, since it was free with my card. i also got a small pretzel ornament as a souvenir.
i decided to be unoriginal & go back to dean & davids. they had such good food. i love halloumi.
i stopped at a few thrift stores on the way back, which were fun & decently priced, but i did not find anything. i also discovered that in salzburg (and also in germany) they have a traditional clothes section where you can find lederhosens, drindls, hats, & other traditional clothing. i really wanted to find something as a souvenir, but did not find anything in salzburg. some can be more costume, but you can also find some really nice clothing that is really expensive new as it is generally locally made. i think it is common for someone to always have traditional clothing in their closet for certain celebrations. i then walked to my hostel & called it a night as the next day i would be leaving to my next city.