Salzburg
I woke up feeling a bit better, and was finally ready for some breakfast! This hotel was one where it wasn’t offered though, so we decided to head out and see what we could find. Back through the tunnel and into the old town, we went to the pedestrian section on the southern end of the city. There were a good bit of people about today despite it being a bit chilly. It was definitely cooler here in Austria than it was in Germany.
We found a place called Café Mozart that was near the house where Mozart was born. They do love their Mozart here and that’s perfectly understandable… birthplace of one of the greatest musicians in history isn’t a bad claim to fame. We went up to the café, which was on the 2nd floor, and we got ready for some coffee! I’ve mentioned my love for European cafés; and while they are found all throughout the continent, in my opinion the pinnacle of European coffee culture is in Austria. Vienna and its cafés are calling to us, but we’ve heard that they are every bit as good here in Salzburg. We sat in the cozy chairs and ordered the “café mélange”- Austria’s signature coffee drink and their answer to the Italian cappuccino. It came out in nice cups with the obligatory chocolate piece. Along with that, we ordered the ham and eggs. We weren’t sure how it would be prepared, but sure enough that’s exactly what it was – three sunny side eggs on top of slices of ham. So nice to be feeling good for breakfast again!
We made our way down to Salzburg Cathedral, passing the plaza with the statue of the boy standing on top of a huge ball. That freaks you out a bit as it looks like a real kid all the way up there! We went through the huge doorways to the Cathedral. These old European cathedrals are all very pretty, but honestly after a while you get the feeling that you’ve seen them all. Lately I’ve preferred the smaller, more detailed places like Andechs or the large but exceptionally nice ones like St. Stephansdom in Vienna. Maybe growing up in Catholic churches desensitized me a bit, but they do lose their excitement after a while. This cathedral was huge, but the inside was a Europen cathedral. It was beautiful still. I will never, ever tire of seeing the old pipe organs these churches all have though. The one here in Salzburg was also really nice, yet still it wasn’t being played while we were there. I’d love to get my hands on that… but I’d probably get thrown out for my music choices!
The cathedral had a basement section that was pretty dark. We were surprised at the art display they had down there, as it wasn’t what you would expect at a church like this. There were designs made from thick bent wire with places to hold a candle. When the candle was lit, the pieces cast a shadow on the wall behind them that showed an image. I love this kind of design, even if a little surprised to have found it there.
Around the corner from the Cathedral is the St. Peter Catholic Church. It seems like there are a lot of Catholic churches really close to each other here. Seems a bit overkill. We didn’t go into St. Peter - I’m not sure it was open - but the thing that really drew us there was the Petersfriedhof, a little cemetery behind the church.
Beth loves old cemeteries. We actively seek them out on our travels, especially overseas where some are much older and a bit more unique. Petersfriedhof was definitely one of the unique ones. There were the usual stone markers, but they were all ornamented with metal decorations and designs that we wouldn’t see as traditional in a Catholic churchyard cemetery. The plots were all beautiful and all amazingly individual. We know that there are many people out there who don’t understand, but a cemetery can truly be a very artistic and inspiring place. All throughout history – from the pyramids in Egypt to the standing stones in Scandinavia – striking memorials have been built in honor of those who passed on. These cemeteries shouldn’t just be dour places where we feel uneasy in going; they should be beautiful memorials to the lives of those resting there. The amount of history and artistry found in old cemeteries can be overwhelming at times. We always make a stop when we find one, and Petersfriedhof is as beautiful and captivating as any.
From any point in town you can look up and see the castle dominating the view overhead. It sits high on a steep peak, a dominating presence overlooking the city below. We got tickets to take the tram up the mountain, access the castle grounds, and also get entrance to a few of the rooms. We didn’t get the highest level tickets to go into the fancy rooms, as we had the same mentality on it as with Neuschwanstein. The tram up was a fun ride! It was one minute from gate to gate, going almost straight up the mountain, with an incredible view of the city during the ride. We emptied out into a small courtyard along the walls, and from here the view was even better. Looking over the ramparts we saw the city sprawled around us, and even the high steeple of the cathedral was well below our viewpoint. It was noticeably colder up here as the wind whipped around the old fortification. On the other side of the courtyard the view looked away from the city to the beautiful country beyond the walls. Mountains towered to the sky off in the distance. Just like by Fussen, the land is so flat until BAM! There’s a mountain. So bizarre, so amazing.
We walked around the outskirts of the walls, the winter sky adding a dreariness to the castle. There were old rooms and pathways to see as we wandered the grounds, all in their cold dull stone. In stark contrast to the luxurious mansion-castles that were Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau, this one here in Salzburg was obviously built out of need rather than opulence. You try to imagine living in a place like this prior to electricity and modern attitudes on cleanliness. As romantic as storybooks and ren faires make it seem, castle living must have been a tough life... even with the luxuries locked away in the fancy rooms.
One of the rooms on the castle grounds was a marionette museum. Strange that it would be all the way up here we thought, but our ticket did include the museum so we dropped in to see. They had displays of various types of puppets, breakdowns of how they are made and how they are used, and figures modeled on the history of Salzburg. They even had a collection of the Von Trapp family in marionette form. The detail on some of the figures was fantastic! A small place for sure, but definitely worth the stop.
Back down to the city from the castle, we decided to head over to the Mozartplatz. They had a small ice skating rink set up in front of the statue of the famous composer, and a large stall selling all different kinds of pretzels off to the side. I took a few shots of Mr. Mozart, and we wandered down the street looking for an ATM. We hadn’t eaten since breakfast and were getting hungry, but the pretzel guy was cash only! We found one and took out some Euro, but on the walk back we made a quick stop at a specialty shop I had marked on our maps. I did mention my love for grocery stores and large markets, but these little specialty shops are also great to seek out… especially when they focus on all locally-made products. You can find things there that are really unique to your location. This place had some of the normal local specialty items like jellies, honey, and mixes, but they also had liqueurs. We found a very interesting bottle featuring a weird crow with antlers called Hirschkrah. Pretty to look at, but after a sample we immediately grabbed one to buy! It was in some ways like a red German schnapps such as Jägermeister, but the flavor was a deep intense berry with an herbal note. It reminded me of what I imagined a handful of fresh wild berries picked from the forest would taste like. Super!
We went back and grabbed a pizza pretzel and a poppy seed pretzel from the stall, and an apple pretzel for a dessert later. We sat on a bench to have our snack and people watch. The pretzels were amazing, the crowds were interesting, but wow- that metal bench froze our butts off!
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