Approximately two hours later, we arrived in Salzburg. Salzburg is the fourth-largest city in Austria and the capital of the federal state of Salzburg.
Salzburg's "Old Town" (Altstadt) is internationally renowned for its baroque architecture and is one of the best-preserved city centers north of the Alps. It was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. The city has three universities and a large population of students. Tourists also frequent the city to tour the city's historic center and the scenic Alpinesurroundings.
Salzburg was the birthplace of 18th-century composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In the mid‑20th century, the city was the setting for the musical play and film The Sound of Music.
The name Salzburg means "Salt Castle" (Latin: Salis Burgium). The name derives from the barges carrying salt on the Salzach River, which were subject to a toll in the 8th century and was customary for many communities and cities on European rivers. The Festung Hohensalzburg, the city's fortress, was built in 1077 by Archbishop Gebhard, who made it his residence.[5] It was greatly expanded during the following centuries.
We walked from the train station towards our assigned meeting place for our guide in front of the Hotel Sacher. Along the way, we passed St. Andrew's Church, originally built in 1898 and rebuilt in 1949 after being destroyed in WWII. We arrived a short time before Mass was beginning, so we decided to stay for the Mass. We could tell that the service was not in German, but could not tell what language it was. So later on we asked our guide and she indicated that the parish is a Serbian one. It was easy to follow along though since the order of the Mass was the same.
After Mass we stopped for lunch on the patio at the Hotel Sacher, overlooking the Salzach River. The Hotel Sacher is famous for its Sacher Torte - we've seen it served before at La Madeleine. We had a wonderful lunch, followed by dessert of course!
a Sacher Torte and Viennese coffee served with a liquor
views across the river
We then met up with Mikela, our guide for the afternoon. We started with a walk by the Mirabelle Palace and tour of the gardens. This is the location of several scenes from the Sound of Music. Charlotte followed our guiding along the rim of one of the fountains, singing "Do Re Mi" just like the von Trapp family did in the movie.
Mirabelle Palace was built about 1606 on the shore of the Salzach river north of the medieval city walls, at the behest of Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich Raitenau. The Archbishop suffered from gout and had a stroke the year before; to evade the narrow streets of the city, he decided to erect a pleasure palace for him and his mistress Salome Alt. Allegedly built within six months according to Italian and French models, it was initially named Altenau Castle.
In its geometrically-arranged gardens are mythology-themed statues dating from 1730 and four groups of sculpture (Aeneas, Hercules, Paris and Pluto), created by Italian sculptor Ottavio Mosto from 1690. It is noted for its boxwood layouts, including a sylvan theater (Heckentheater) designed between 1704 and 1718. An orangery was added in 1725.
The gardens were made accessible to the public under Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. Up to today, it is one of the most popular tourists' attraction in Salzburg. Several scenes from The Sound of Music were filmed here. Maria and the children sing 'Do-Re-Mi' while dancing around the horse fountain and using the steps as a musical scale.
Our next stop was Mozart's birthplace. On our way, we made various stops:
home of Christian Doppler, celebrated for his principle — known as the Doppler effect — that the observed frequency of a wave depends on the relative speed of the source and the observer. He used this concept to explain the color of binary stars.
Getreidegasse Alley - Beautiful wrought iron shop signs swing high above the heads of tourists and locals. In the Middle Ages they served as signs of the individual guilds running the shops and inns. The main ‘Grain Lane’ is always busy, but besides the alley there are welcoming cafés in beautiful courtyards and side passages invite you to enjoy a well-deserved break.
Salzburg’s ‘Wunderkind’ – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – was born in what is known as the ‘Hagenauer House’ at no. 9 Getreidegasse on the 27th January 1756. He lived there with his sister ‘Nannerl’ and his parents until 1773. A few things we learned on our tour:
- Mozart travelled a lot during his short life. Consequently, he knew four languages.
- His sister was also a very talented piano player, but she did not compose music.
- Mozart loved math, puzzles and word games.
- He was less than 5 feet tall.
- He had two sons, one of which was a musician. Neither of the sons had any children so there are no decedents of Mozart.
Mozart's residence from from 1747 to 1773
pictures were not allowed in museum, but Brannon snuck a couple
Mozart's piano
We also learned that there is a chocolate candy dedicated to Salzburg's famous son - the Mozartkugel is a small, round sugar confection made of pistachio, marzipan, and nougat, covered with dark chocolate. It was originally known as Mozart-Bonbon, created in 1890 by Salzburg confectioner Paul Fürst (1856–1941) and named after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Hand-made Original Salzburger Mozartkugeln are manufactured by Fürst's descendants up to today, while similar products have been developed by numerous confectioners, often industrially produced. The original ones by Furst are wrapped in a silver foil whereas the "knock-offs" are wrapped in gold. They are delicious!
reading about the original Mozartkugel before purchasing some
We were then off to visit the Hohensalzburg Castle. Hohensalzburg Castle (German: Festung Hohensalzburg, literally "High Salzburg Fortress") sits atop the Festungsberg, a small hill in the Austrian city of Salzburg. Construction of the fortress began in 1077 under Archbishop Gebhard von Helfenstein. This original design was just a basic bailey with a wooden wall. In the Holy Roman Empire, the archbishops of Salzburg were already powerful political figures and they expanded the castle to protect their interests. Gebhard's conflict with Emperor Henry IV during the Investiture Controversy influenced the expansion of the castle. The castle was gradually expanded during the following centuries. The ring walls and towers were built in 1462 under Prince-Archbishop Burkhard II von Weißpriach.
Prince-Archbishop Leonhard von Keutschach during his term from 1495 until 1519 further expanded the castle. The current external bastions, begun in the 16th century and completed in the 17th, were added as a precaution because of fears of Turkish Invasion.The only time that the fortress actually came under siege was during the German Peasants' War in 1525, when a group of miners, farmers and townspeople tried to oust Prince-Archbishop Matthäus Lang, but failed to take the castle.
Because the castle was never taken, it is the largest completely preserved castle in central Europe.
view of the wall once you have arrive at the top
must climb on cannon balls
administration offices - needed since the castle was almost always under construction
grain store house
one of two water cisterns - the castle collected and stored enough water to last through a long siege
prior to steel rails, horses were used to pull cars up with hemp ropes
cannon
Archbishop Leonhard von Keutschach whose symbol was the turnip
ceiling of the state room
marble column in the state room
porcelain fire place
early telephone system used in war
kitch
frescos on window that was subsequently walled in
cannon
going down to the lower level of the castle
views of Salzburg from the castle:
We ended our tour with a stop in the Salzburg Cathedral. Salzburg Cathedral is the seventeenth-century Baroque cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Salzburg in the city of Salzburg, Austria, dedicated to Saint Rupert and Saint Vergilius. Saint Rupert founded the church in 774 on the remnants of a Roman town, the cathedral was rebuilt in 1181 after a fire. In the seventeenth century, the cathedral was completely rebuilt in the Baroque style under Prince-Bishop Wolf Dietrich Raitenauto its present appearance. Salzburg Cathedral still contains the baptismal font in which composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was baptized.
cupola
always have to light a candle
one of 7 organs in the church
side chapel
On our walk back to the train station, we stopped at a playground. James saw it earlier in the day and could hardly think of anything else all day long.
We made it back to our hotel around 10:30 that evening. It was a long day, but worth it!
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