Trip to Salzburg, Austria Dec. 23, 2015

Our bus to Salzburg

We were up early for this trip. We had two different times on our itinerary, so weren't sure which was which. Turns out it was the later time of the two shown. The earlier time was there for the return trip, and Rita made a mistake putting in AM, rather than PM.

There were 2 busloads of people who went. We were on bus #1 with 46 people from our tour, plus a couple local guides. The drive to Salzburg was about 2 hours, with a stop as we near the city to spend some time because we were early for our Salzburg guide. As it turned out, we had to wait quite a while for him when we got there. The guide who was scheduled got stuck in traffic, we were told, and another had to come and do the tour with us.

We started off with a driving tour through the new part of the city. This part was started in the 17th century because the old town was running out of room to expand. The old town was built between the river and the mountain, and they ran out of room for expansion. So, they went around the mountain and built the new part on the other side of the mountain where there was lots of room.

Sealed Tunnel

I wouldn't want to drive a bus around there. The streets are quite narrow, and it was quite amazing to watch the driver navigate through the corners and traffic. We looked at some pretty old places that were built at the base of the mountain. Some things were clearly built into the mountain. In one place, there was obviously a tunnel into the mountain, but it was sealed off and fenced so that people couldn't get in. We weren't told what this was, but I assume it may have had something to do with the war (or, at least, one of them).

Drive to Salzburg

Mountains on way to Salzburg

The mountain views were quite spectacular. These are the Bavarian Alps, and as we were driving to Salzburg, it reminded me of driving towards the Rockies from Calgary. We were told that the bus could not go into the old part of town because the streets were too narrow. It was interesting to see what he was driving in the new town and to imagine what it was like in the old town.

Von Trapp Mansion

We got off the bus a couple times to view some of the castles and sights that were prominent in "The Sound of Music" movie (which was also playing on our drive to Salzburg). We saw the castle that was supposed to be their home and the site where the kids and Maria first met the Duchess. We also saw the town square where the German flags were waving after the occupation. I think the guide wanted us to know that some of it was just Hollywood, because he kept referring to things that were impossible to do in Salzburg. One of these was the trek over the mountain to escape. Apparently the way they went would have landed them in the area of Hitler's summer home.

Catacombs

Cemetary

In the old town, we went on a walking tour with the guide. We saw the birthplace of Mozart, some amazing cathedrals, 3 different Christmas markets, the oldest cemetery in Salzburg, which was still in use today. I'm not sure I would want to be buried where tourists are walked around to see the sites. in the wall of the mountain leading to the fortress above, were catacombs cut into the wall where people were buried centuries ago.

Dining Room

Part of our tour was lunch served in the oldest restaurant in Europe. The restaurant was first opened in 672 A.D. It is now in the area of a monastery, but still going strong. The room we ate in was very elaborate - beautiful ceilings, great chandeliers, white tablecloths, lots of silverware. It was pretty amazing. We quite enjoyed this meal, which was served to us by a wait staff that was very good.

After that, we had free time to walk around. We were given a time to meet up for the return trip to Munich and then set free. Of course, we HAD to go back to the markets and spend time looking at the wares being sold. In our opinion, they weren't overly spectacular, reminding us of the markets where cheap trinkets are sold. However, not a lot of these trinkets were cheap in price.

After an hour or so, we were getting quite tired of walking, so started looking for ways to get to the meeting spot. We had a map, but the writing was small and in German, so I had a real time figuring out where to go. We generally knew where we were supposed to go, but getting there was more difficult. We made it with lots of time to spare, but there was no place to sit and wait. So, we leaned against the wall, complained about our sore feet and backs, and waited for everyone else to show up.

Finally, everyone was there at the appointed time, and we then had to walk again, across the river, through the streets, through a park, and around the area until we got to where the bus was supposed to pick us up. It wasn't there, but came around the corner, a short time later. It felt very good to get on and sit in our seats.

In all, it was a good day. We enjoyed the drive there, and the tour of the city of Salzburg. We feel that we had learned a little about another part of the world that we had heard of, but had never seen.

Fortress Above Salzburg