Salzburg

Yesterday we took a little road trip to Salzburg which is about an hour away from where we're staying. It's a pretty easy drive, although finding our way once we reached the city was a bit tricky due to alot of road construction. But we did eventually make it to the big public parking garage we'd been told was very convenient to the Old Town. And it was! It's a huge underground structure that Andre thought must once have been a bunker and we came out right in the middle of the Old Town, next to the Salzburg Festival Hall, which was featured in The Sound of Music when the Von Trapp family sang on the stage before they escaped. So cool! We couldn't go in but it was pretty impressive seeing the outside...it's a really formidable building and had been converted from a stables!

Just one street over was the Salzburg Cathedral or Dom. We spent quite a bit of time there. It's an incredible place and you can now go down into the crypt where there are still open places for Archbishops to be buried!


View of the Dom, with the Devil Statue, protected for winter, in front of it


Inside the Dom


The Dom's main organ (there were four more smaller ones too!)


The dome inside the cathedral

Next we took a little rail car up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress which was built in the 1100's when the Archbishop needed political protection. It is an enormous structure, and looks like it's own little town inside. We learned a lot about its really fascinating history and enjoyed the stunning views of Salzburg and surrounding areas that can be seen from the Castle.


The Castle from the town


View of the hills from up on the Castle


View of Salzburg from the Castle


Side of the castle




Dolls in the little Marionette Museum in the castle




Castle courtyard


The Castle Chapel


Andre on the Castle wall

We then ventured along one of the cobblestone roads directly below the Castle and after a 5 minute walk came to Nonnberg Abbey, featured in The Sound of Music.


Entrance to Nonnberg Abbey


Nonnberg Abbey Garden

After exploring more of the Old Town and the market area where all the posh shops are, we had tea at a cafe near Mozart's birthplace, appropriately named:


Cafe Mozart


Market/Shopping District of the Old Town


Random man dressed up as a monk!

We had a really fun day, exploring some of the town and although we didn't see nearly all there is to see, since we decided to focus on the Old Town, we felt like we got a good feel for beauty and history of Salzburg and the landscape around it. The rain held off right up until we left at around 6 pm and Andre did very well driving home in the dark!