Day 5 – Mozart’s Muse – Salzburg, Austria
(19/10/2011)

There is nothing I can really say to capture the beauty of the fourth largest city in Austria. It is such a foreign concept to any Australian where you can take a train trip for an hour and end up in another country. I instantly feel cheated. This was like going from the Melbourne CBD to Ballarat!

Arriving in Austria, you are instantly like everyone else on the train station – lost. It was a bright and sunny day there and the first thing M and I needed wasn’t food for once. We needed information; a map! The first information area we went to had a map leading to the tourist information place. Why they couldn’t help us either though was a surprise.

The second thing I feel cheated about? Most Europeans we have come across can speak English. This makes me feel dumb that I don’t know how to speak like our local Aboriginals. However, that Orwellian story of stolen generations and deleting of history through the convicts is another story for another day. One of the things I’m going to strive to do is learn my second tongue more accurately – Arabic; because I believe I will be visiting the Middle East eventually before my candle is snuffed out!

It never takes long for you to realise anywhere in Europe I think, that you have walked where ancient royalty, bloody battles, great fires and other natural disasters have been, including plagues, epidemics, orders of explusions and of course both world wars. All this shaping the land into what we see today…On top of the chaos the beauty of Art is all around you.

Upon reaching the tourist information box, we are given a map and a route leading to the Fortress. The walk only takes 20 minutes by foot, although as tourists go she asked if we were taking transport.

Walking up the main street leads you to everything you want to see. First stop was the Mirabell Palace, Park and Gardens, next to Mozart’s University. We caught a couple of orientation week parties throughout Salzburg with music greeting us upon entering and kids running around or lying in the park.

The style of the park, like everything in Salzburg is Baroque. This is completely different to the Neo-Gothic/Renaissance/Roman feel of Munich. Salzburg is a real life fairytale. It is easy to be inspired here. Mozart himself captured its beauty through his music. I immediately envied all those students studying here and even living here! Unicorns, Angels, carefully shaped gardens in spirals and curls and fountains with laughing horses – why wouldn’t this be a destination of shooting for The Sound Of Music? The irony of the Sound of Music although advertised isn’t widely known to Europeans…Maybe a good thing?

Inside the Mirabell Gardens was a little museum that had Rembrandt’s sketching’s with other artists who were caught up with the Baroque period. M and I walked past a sleeping man on a bench snoring his head off to get there. If we had more time, we would have liked to visit the Salzburg Museum!

Eventually, making our way over the bridge we reached what is known as the ‘old town’. Naturally preserved you are greeted with the Salzburg Museum, Cathedral and of course dominating above everything just below the alps - Hohensalzburg Castle.

By this time, we did get hungry. Avoiding the over priced restaurants and cafe’s facing the old town’s splendid sights, we moved into an alley way and found a nice Restaurant serving a tourist favourite: Salzburger Nockerl! This thing is HUGE. Thankfully we stayed away and watched a couple of Italian tourists get diabetes instead.

We made our way up the fortress with a train that uses a line that was used to bring materials up to the top to help build the place. It is now some kind of tourist rail link to save you from walking up the hill. From the top you can see a beautiful view…I can only imagine how great it would look with everything snow capped. The rooms are filled with useful information both in English and in native tongue. A timeline, swords, guns, cannons and even string puppets!

We walked down, to be greeted by tourists using segways to roll themselves up the walk path….Please only do this if you want to look like an idiot. We passed the world’s largest Amber store, and once down – entered the Cathedral. This by far is the best cathedral M and I have visited so far. 33 metres wide, 66 metres tall….need I really say more? Given the Baroque style, it wasn’t too over the top like the previous Cathedral’s in Germany. Simple in design but equally as impressive.

Even if you don’t visit or enter anything in Salzburg – you can walk around be enchanted, spellbound and fall flat on your arse by some of the sculptures, fountains and the sheer size of things.

I have a feeling this post did not do this place justice! Mozart had such a fortunate muse to guide him.

GO GO GO!!!

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