Not exactly with the Sound of Music. Day trip to Salzburg, Austria went off without a hitch – sorry, von Trapps, the set location of your movie was not included on the day’s list of things to do. No doubt we managed to look like dumb, lost tourists anyway (getting on the bus going in the wrong direction and having the bus driver single us out as the lost Americans… he did point us in the right direction, however, so perhaps it was necessary).
We opted to take the train to Salzburg to give my dad a break from driving, and besides, who can beat the “Bayern Ticket” price of 28 euro for up to 5 people round trip? (I love Europe’s hidden ticket specials). The train ride was beautiful – our first real good view of the Alps. Of course once we arrived in Salzburg, the weather decided to become dreary and rainy and continued to get harder until we cracked and bought some umbrellas. We made our way through the Altstadt (old town) and up towards the medieval fortress (one of the most well-maintained fortresses from the Middle Ages in Europe). The fortress is known as Hohensalzburg and we took a funicular up the steep hill.
View of the Fortress
Despite the rain, the view from the fortress was incredible – beautiful Alps to the west and the adorable city of Salzburg below us. Our mini guide book promised us a tour including dungeons, towers, and a torture room so we got ourselves some tickets. It turned out to be an audio guide leading us through models of the fortress from it’s beginnings throughout the years of additions by paranoid rulers. We learned all about how it was a force to be reckoned with and that I was never taken by force… only to learn that it was surrendered without contest to Napoleon (disappointment, much?). From there we were herded into the “torture room” which was filled with shackles and a supposed death wheel. They reassured us that no torture ever took place in that room – they just “stored” the torture instruments there. We were skeptical – I must say, it looked pretty legit. Next we hiked up a never-ending spiral staircase to the top of the Reckturm, the highest point of the fortress, and stood in the cold rain learning about the sights to be seen.
View from the Reckturm
View of the mountains for the Reckturm
The tour basically ended there, with no visits to the dungeons (with the exception of looking down a shaft in the torture room that led down to them). It was an interesting experience to be sure, but I would say it didn’t live up to it’s expectations.
By that time, the rain had stopped and we meandered around the Altstadt some more. We purchased ourselves some “Mozart Balls” – chocolate truffle things that have light and dark nougat along with pistachio marzipan – which were pretty tasty. From there we walked into the cemetery of St. Peter’s Abbey - a very interesting, yet ostentatious, graveyard. I was expecting to see very old grave sites, but most (if not all) of them were from the past century, many of which were from the last twenty years. It had an interesting feel to it, to be sure, and the older buildings of the Abbey created a cool atmosphere.
Awesome building built out of the rock face
For dinner we opted for an amalgamation of the cultures we’re visiting this trip – an Italian restaurant in Austria, which speaks German. Our waiters were speaking Italian though, which was a bit strange. The food was alright – I’ll have some higher expectations later today as we arrive in Venice. After dinner we did some quick shopping to kill some time before our train and then made our way back to the train station. The ride back was quite picturesque as well, with the sun setting in an array of bright oranges and pinks.
This morning, we left Munich a bit later than anticipated and got lost attempting to get out of the city in the correct direction… We did eventually orient ourselves properly and sped our way out of Germany (it will be missed!). We crossed into Austria around 11:30 am, and subsequently crossed the Austria-Italy border about an hour later. Since then we’ve been winding through the mountains and vineyards of Northern Italy, awaiting our arrival in Venice. There we will lose the rental car, find our way to the hotel (right next to San Marco!) and explore the city!
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