The Salt Fortress: Salzburg, Austria

Residenz Plaza

City: Salzburg (it literally translates to Salt Fortress)

Length of Visit: 3 days

Primary Langauage: Also German (see previous post on Vienna)

Known For: The birthplace and residence of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and The Sound of Music

Notable Places:
Fortress Hohensalzburg, Schloss Mirabell, Festival Halls, Hellbrunn Palace and the Trick Fountains, various The Sound of Music filming locations (see "Tips" for a link to the locations and directions on how to get there)

City Atmosphere:
More of a town than a city. Small. Tranquil. It's a lovely place hidden away between the mountains. You can feel nature all around you. The hills really are alive with the sound of music.

Cuisine:

Kaiserschmarrn

Although Viennese cuisine is something in and of itself, a lot of the food I ate here was similar to what I had in Vienna. Whether it's because they are both cities in Austria or because I don't have a refined enough palate to know the difference, I'm not going to go super in depth on the food. I'll just leave a few pictures and let you decide for yourself :)

A poppyseed pretzel

However, if you're looking for restaurant recommendations, our hotel front desk told us to try Gabler Brau and Alter Fuchs, both of which were delicious. Also, you can get super cheap ice cream (€1 to €1.40)!

People:
Like Vienna, Salzburg is mostly a tourist destination. The hotel and restaurant staff and various vendors you'll encounter are very friendly, though I have been given wrong information at certain tourist destinations so it's probably best to check ahead of time and read signs yourself if possible.

And now time for a little side story...
Something that I've discovered, no matter where you go, is that people have a lot of college pride. Wearing my Cal gear on vacation usually garners a "Go Bears!" in the States. I've experienced it at Harry Potter World, Disneyland, even at Coachella. But I never expected someone to say something in Salzburg, Austria of all places. Nevertheless, one morning at breakfast, I was sitting in a Berkeley sweatshirt eating with my family when lo and behold an elderly couple comes up to our table. The woman looks at me, leans in, and quietly whispers "Go Bears" before making her exit from the breakfast room. I was mildly shocked to have made such an encounter and at the same time, felt immense pride that I attended a university with such an enthusiastic and expansive alumni network. That day I realized I had never been prouder of being a California Golden Bear.

Public Transportation:
Since Salzburg is more town than city, it doesn't have an extensive rail system like the previous two cities I blogged about. However, it does have a very nice public bus system that can take you all the way to Germany if you wanted! For us, it sufficed as a form of transportation to and from a few of the places outside of the city. I personally think Salzburg, especially the old town, is small enough to walk but if you wanted, there are also buses that traverse through the city as well.

Weather:
My previous advice still applies: bring an umbrella. And if you're planning to go up any Alps, pack a jacket. Maybe some appropriate shoes. I saw one girl at the top of Untersberg walking around in a pair of knee high heeled boots and tight-fitting dress. Not the most appropriate hiking gear...


Favorite Place(s):
Neither of my two favorite places are actually in the city of Salzburg itself, but both are a straightforward bus away (they even announce these stops in English for us tourists) and definitely worth the visit. Especially if you have a Salzburg city card, there's no reason not to take advantage of the free admission. And now, without further ado, my favorite places:

The first is Schloss Hellbrunn. It's the summer day palace of (one of?) the Archbishop of Salzburg. He was also quite the trickster, building various trick fountains and contraptions using the natural spring water that supplied it. There's a trick fountain tour that includes a tour of the palace itself and I highly recommend seeing the trick fountains. Especially on a hot summer day, the tour is well worth it and lots of fun for all ages! Unless of course you have a screaming kid on your tour, but even the inconsiderateness of the child's parents (they made no attempt to shush up the kid who screamed not because he was upset but because he wanted attention... kids these days, you know?) wasn't enough to diminish the enjoyment of the Archbishop's crazy fountains.

A view from on the way up to Untersberg

My second location of choice is Untersberg, a mountain a little farther out on the same bus that takes you to Hellbrunn. The top of this mountain is either a long hike or 10 minute cable car ride away. At the top you'll find stunning views of the valley below, snow, and a little mountain top cafe. Of course I also encountered same said screaming kid... I know, what are the chances?! But I doubt you'll have as much bad luck as I did with this annoying little brat. Even if you do, try to resist any urge to shove him/her off the mountain. Just avoiding getting in the same cable car should do the trick.

Tips:

Festival hall

Let's face it. One of the biggest draws of Salzburg is The Sound of Music and its filming locations. Now don't get me wrong, that's one of the reasons I was so excited to go to Salzburg, but with all these tour options out there, which one do you pick? My answer: DIY (do it yourself!). All of these locations are reachable through public transportation or walking. You just have to map it out yourself, no point in really shelling out the extra dough to listen to some guy tell you everything you already know or force you to participate in an off-key sing along. The only reason you would want to take the tour is that it does bring you to a few locations outside of Salzburg (into other parts of Austria and even Germany). But is the price really worth it? Either way, I'll let you decide, but in the off chance that you do want to do your own tour, let me be the first to tell you that it's definitely possible.

Fried vegetable pancake thingy

As a final note, the "seat yourself" policy still applies in restaurants. When we want to Alter Fuchs on the second day it was really busy though, so maybe eating earlier or trying to make a reservation might be a good idea. I suspect there aren't too many restaurants that stay open and so everyone makes their way to the same places.


Nächster Halt: München