Salzburg: Music, Mozart and Mountains

 4/8-9

Salzburg: home of Mozart and the Sound of Music. Majestic mountains and quaint town squares. Church spires and heavenly food. I think our days in Salzburg and Vienna were the ones I enjoyed the most, maybe because we finally had beautiful weather, maybe because of what we saw and did, or maybe there’s some connection in me to all things Teutonic? Who knows?

We got up quite early this morning and took the train to Salzburg. The ride was so beautiful! As we rode further and further west, the landscape began to change from flat to more mountainous. Shortly before Salzburg we looked out the window and saw a crystal clear lake and a snow-capped mountain in the background. There’s a beauty to the mountains that is matched in no other place. I guess that’s true for every beautiful scene—they’re all unique and therefore equally lovely. But enough philosophy...

 We got off the train and walked to Pension Elizabeth, simple, but lovely, and by early afternoon we had walked back downtown and were ready to take in the city.  We sat and enjoyed the feeling of the sun on our faces, the beauty of the blue sky behind the famous Mozart statue in the main square and the free Wifi and decided to head up to the castle and save the walking tour of the city for the next day. On our walk downtown, we saw the first of the many and somewhat odd statues that were commissioned by the city of Salzburg. They’re spread out all over the city, and I’d like to say that the explanations on the plaques near each one helped me to understand them, but they didn’t necessarily accomplish that purpose. There has been one every year since 2002.

The climb to the castle is steep but beautiful, and I still love the feeling of being in good enough shape to breeze by many of the other climbers. The castle is built on a rock 400 feet above the river, and its placement was effective enough that it never was actually used as a military fortress—the deterrence factor was enough until Napoleon showed up and they simply surrendered.  The first thing that strikes you when you enter the gates of the castle compound if the incredible view—the Austrian Alps, still snow capped and strikingly magnificent in contrast to the almost-blue sky and brilliant green of the fields meadows and forests around it. We spent quite a while up there simply enjoying the beauty around us. 

We took the self-guided tour through the castle building itself including the ancient torture chamber, the portrait hall, and another amazing view from the top if the tower, this time not only over the mountains but a full 360 degree view including the beautiful Salzburg City Center.

The Dungeon

Creepy instruments of torture

View from the tower

 

 Afer the tour, we continued into the beautiful courtyard of the castle, and visited the many exhibits found in the various areas of the compound. We enjoyed the marionette exhibit, with intricate scenes of marionettes used a few centuries ago for full performances of Mozart Operas, fairy tales and other forms of entertainment. The museum (more exhibits than I had the energy for) delighted us with armaments and musical instrument exhibit, and we particularly enjoyed the beauty of St. George's built in 1502.

Courtyard and St. George's Church

It was such a beautiful day, we decided to make our way down the hill over the Moenchsberg trails--lovely, open winding trails through the trees and mansions at the top of the Moenchsberg with gorgeous views down to either side. After 2 weeks of cold and gray, the blue skies and tiny purple, white and yellow wildflowers really lifted our spirits!

An unusual Buddhist meditation site on the mountain with the fortress in the background

This was in someone's front yard!

View of the castle from the far side of the Moenchsberg

We went back to the Pension for a quick shower and rest/regrouping before venturing out again to experience the Salzburg night life, which is basically non-existent. But we did find a great pub/restaurant which we found out later is connected to one of the oldest and most respected breweries in Austria; and on the bottom floor of the building where Mozart's sister, Nannerl, lived after her marriage. We ate, strolled the quiet downtown at night (encountering only some rather rowdy American study-abroad students) and enjoyed the shop windows filled with everything Mozart, and the views of the castle at night.

The restaurant the next morning

Residence of Mozart's sister from 1801-1829

More Mozart stuff (mostly chocolate) than you can imagine!

Mozart rubber duckies!

The following morning, we decided to take advantage of the blue skies and the fact that the sun was going to be in a different angle, and climbed up to the top of the Moenchsberg again for some different views. Unbelievable how beautiful it was up there! I can definitely see what made Fraulein Maria sing with such joy!

Upon reaching the bottom, we decided to follow Rick's Salzburg Old Town walk. We began at Mozartplatz, with the statue of the musician that people associate with this lovely city more than anyone else (with the possible exception of Captain VonTrapp), and the fountain which matched Bernini's famous Triton Fountain in Rome. The square is bordered by the Old Residence, former home of the Bishop of Salzburg, the New Residence, with its lovely glockenspiel on the other, and the Salzburg Cathedral (Salzburger Dom). Tourist horse and buggies, cafes and chocolate shops adorn the square and make it a lovely gathering place, and wonderful to sit and relax.

The glockenspiel in the plaza.

Salzburg Cathedral

If you stand in just the right place, it looks like the crown on the side of the church is sitting on the statue's head!

The Kapitalplatz adjoins the Residenzplatz, and is known for another of the public artworks described above, The Golden Orb, as Rick says, "topped by a man gazing up at the castle trying to decide whether to walk up (as we did) or shell out $13.00 for the funicular." Also on this plaza are the horse baths, the 19th Century equivalent of a car wash, and an old water wheel dating back to the 13th Century and part of the system of canals that brought fresh water to Salzburg from Bertschesgaden 15 miles away. We visited the bakery at the falls and bought some of their delicious fresh bread--made from their secret recipe for generations.

Horse baths

Next up on the tour, we begin to venture into the Sound of Music connection, starting with St. Peter's Cemetery, which includes the tombs where they filmed the scene near the end of the movie when the VonTrapps were hiding from the Nazis (supposedly in the courtyard of the Abbey). The cemetery is so beautiful, almost like a bunch of mini gardens, very well tended and cared for, each with its own unique display of color. Michael Haydn (less famous than his brother, but a wonderful composer) and Mozart's sister are buried here. St. Peter's itself has an incredibly ornate Rococo interior--I don't know how I feel about these gaudy churches, but they are impressive!

Mozart' sister, Nannerl, and Michael Haydn's tomb

Inside St. Peter's

Leaving the cemetery, we reached the Toscanini Hof, whis featured the 1925 Festival Hall where Captain Von Trapp waited before going on stage for his final (and only) performance.

 

The Getreidegasse is a lovely shopping street from Roman times revitalized and refurbished as a modern shopping area.  We so enjoyed the unique wrought iron signs marking the exterior of each shop, and the juxtaposition of the old Austrian brands with McDonald's was fun to see. At the end of the street, in a bright yellow building was the house where the great Wolfgang Amadeus was born and lived the first years of his life.

Mozart's birthplace

The plan was to catch the free movie in the Mozart Archives in Mozart's Residence, where his family moved when he was 17 (and is now a museum), but upon discovering that it was in German (and a rather unintelligible German at that), and very, very odd, we stayed only long enough to rest our weary feet and partially charge my phone/camera, and continued on to the Mirabell Gardens and castle a stone's throw away. The flowers were just beginning to come out (actually, I think they were planted) the fountains wee turned on, the sky was blue and we so enjoyed our stroll through the gardens and around the castle. At the far end of the gardens we found the steps where "Do, a Deer" was filmed-so fun to see these scenes and remember them from the film!!

House where the Mozarts moved when Wolfgang was 17

Mirabell Gardens and Castle

"...that will bring us back to do-oh-oh-oh..."

Adjoining Mirabell is the Salzburg Dwarf Park, featuring a dozen dwarfs who served the Prince Archbishop modeled after real people with real fashions in about 1600.

After one more walk down to the river to admire the views, we followed Rick Steves down the Steingasse, the oldest route that goes south through the Alps to Venice, but Rick didn't know about the construction. We were able to sneak past the "road closed" signs to get a quick shot of the red domed Monastery where the real Maria taught in the nunnery school, and where she married the Captain in 1927. It is the oldest nunnery in the German-speaking world, established in 712. Also on the Steingasse is a plaque marking the birthplace of Joseph Mohr, author of the text of Silent Night. Also of interest was a scar in the facade of a building where the American troops in WW II tried to drive their tank a little to close to the brothels Steingasse was known for at the time!! We decided we needed one more climb for the views of the city from the other side of the road, and took the many, many steps up the the Capuchin Monastery, a building we had viewed, and wondered what it was many times in our walks around the city. The climb was invigorating, and the views well worth it!

 

Capuchin Monastery from below--yes, it's waaaaaay up there!

Maria's Abbey

As we came down on the other side of the hill where the monastery was, we arrived at the St. Sebastian's Cemetery where Mozart's father (Leopold) and his sisters are buried. It is also the grave of Johan Doppler, a physicist who discovered the Doppler effect, which (so Yoram tells me anyway) allows one to compute the velocity of an object by its shift of frequencies that bounce off it. (Can you tell I have no idea what I just wrote??) This is one of a series of "Doppler Photos" we took, including the one below of his birth house and the one in the Quad of the university in Vienna where he taught.

We headed back to the pension, grabbed our belongings, and took the train back to Vienna to spend the last few days with Shiri, having thoroughly enjoyed every minute of our time in Salzburg, and all the beauty it had to offer.