Day 10 - [I]nnsbruck (Salzburg day-trip)

A Tourist Trip to Salzburg

All of my plans were made so it was very straightforward for me to head to Salzburg today. It is my first day-trip adventure, so I’m interested to see how I feel about it. The weather was crystal clear this morning, so I re-took some photos of Innsbruck’s surrounds without the low-hanging clouds.

Scenes of Innsbruck in the clear morning light

The train trip was smooth, as they have routinely been. The countryside between Innsbruck and Worgl is just like around Innsbruck, flat river valleys bounded by steep mountain ridges, though the valley spreads out over time. I find it very picturesque. It has a fairy tale quality for me. Once we crossed over into Germany, then back into Austria near Salzburg, the landscape was flatter, with more farmland, but also more towns.

The other aspect of the train travel that I am still excited by is that the trains travel as fast as the tracks and conditions will allow. Usually, over 130kmh and frequently over 250kmh. The systems are very precise about when the train will arrive at each station. If they’ve had to go a bit slower than expected for a while they show the original time crossed out and the new arrival time. Sometimes, that delay will reduce as the train proceeds because they are able to go faster. All the while, the train ride is smooth, quiet, and first class service is lovely (though not cheap). (I’m preparing this blog entry on the train from Innsbruck to Mannhiem. It’s very convenient to do that.)

Straight out of the station, Salzburg was a different sort of city to Innsbruck. Around the station, ‘modern’ buildings, many quite high (10-12 storeys). As I walked towards my first planned tourist stop, I walked past some of the altstadt, and more of the European quaintness that I like appeared. (And much more later.)

 

Looking away from the station	Looking back to the station plaza	First signs of the older city
Street scene at the top of the altstadt	Street scene at the top of the altstadt	Horse-drawn carriage ride for tourists

I was heading for Festung Hohensalzburg on the recommendation of Lonely Planet and because it would give me an overview of Salzburg from its perch on a hill. I walked directly there, passing some very impressive architecture.

The altstadt from across the river

Side view of the cathedral

Front view of the cathedral (in Domplatz) NB: three (re-)build dates: 774, 1628, and 1959

The whole walk, I’d been dreading the climb up the hill. Austrians are renowned (mountain) hikers, and one of my abiding memories of Austria from this trip is stairs! However, when I got to the entry, there was a funicular to take you to the castle. Yay! I love funiculars. I bought a ticket to see everything and rode up the very steep hill to the fortress.

On arrival, the imposing fortress

The view from the arrival level over Salzburg

Trying to show the wonders of the fortress on a blog, like trying to explain Schloss Ambras, is largely beyond me. I’ve created another selection of the images I took to illustrate what I saw. The fortress does not pretend to be a museum like Schloss Ambras, so there were fewer obvious displays to record, but there was still plenty of stuff to see and too much to show here.

Part of the inner courtyard of the fortress	The view from one of the towers to the Southeast	The view from one of the towers to the Southwest
The main chapel in the fortress	The remains of a Roman chapel discovered in the fortress	An explanation of the romanesque chapel
The fortress had its own organ, which was regularly played	A canopy bed typical of the furniture in the fortress	A small collection of gold coins part of the fortune of the fortress

The fortress has gone through many stages of building and re-building over time. It started as a small tower/keep in the late Roman period and was extended and reinforced through the ages.

A model of Salzburg exaggerating the prominent buildings	Models of the fortress at the time lived in by the pictured archbishops	Another model of the fortress for Archbishop Gandolphus
A portrayal of the fortress’s evolution	A Roman hypocaust at the very top of the rock on which the fortress is built	Evidence of the changing fabric of the fortress

While primarily used as the residence of the local Arch Bishop, the fortress has also served as a military establishment.

Examples of armour worn in the middle ages Is that a Knight of Ni?
A cannon used in 19th century defense	Pistols carried by soldiers during the 18th century	The dress uniforms of officers (19th? century)

The final bit that I visited was Regency Rooms and the magical theatre. The theatre was a wooden clockwork machine that presented scenes of a story about Salzburg, supplemented by a modern video presentation (in sepia tones) to explain it. Actually quite interesting. The Regency Rooms were created at the top of the fortress by one of the Kaisers (I believe) and was used for holding court when in residence. The main hall was very impressive and the reception room was astonishingly elaborate, with much carving on the walls and ceiling, picked out in gold leaf. (DJT would approve. And there was a large tour group in the room when I was there, so the pictures are constrained.)

The main room of the regency rooms	Entries to the reception room and the bed chamber
The detailed reception room	A tiled stove that heated the reception room

A wurst for lunch

I felt that I had ‘done’ Festung Hohensalzburg after all this looking around. I decided to have lunch at the alfresco restaurant at the arrival level. The view was wonderful, looking out across the river to the Kapuzin Monastery (Kapuzinerkloster). The Kapuzin order are said to be the inspiration for the coffee drink, cappuccino. So, of course, I had to have a cappuccino after my wurst with cabbage and 0.5lt of wheat beer.

After the ride down on the funicular, I impulsively turned left into a cemetery (later found out to be Petersfriedhof), which had highly decorated grave sites and baroque mausoleums. On the cliff-face above the cemetery were churches, literally built into the cliff.

Baroque mausoleums	Decorated and well-kept graves
An old home? built into a cave	A church built into the face of the cliff

I was now heading for Schloss Mirabell – recommended by Lonely Planet and Paola – but kind of randomly walking through the part of the altstadt that I was in. (Schloss Mirabell is on the other side of the river from where these photos were taken.)

Street scenes of the altstadt
A church	Mozart’s birthplace	I thought this said “Beer O’clock”. I’d just finished a Siegl Weissbier

I found the Schloss Mirabell gardens which were a delight in the gorgeous weather of the day. (Except for all the tourists! I know I was one too, but they were everywhere. Salzburg is clearly a tourist town.) I entered Schloss Mirabell from the rear and discovered the marble staircase leading to the concert room. Then I wandered around the courtyard looking for an entry door to the Schloss proper. However, I discovered that it was all government offices (confirmed by the guy at the information kiosk). So, I never got to see the famed ballroom where Austrian debutantes were introduced to polite society.

Scenes of Schloss Mirabell garden The statue is typical of four at the fountain
The marble staircase	The concert hall	The main courtyard in Schloss Mirabell

The day was wearing on, so I decided to head back to the station to wait for my train. The pressure of being an old man and having half-a-litre of beer for lunch led me to work out where a nearby public toilet was. It turned out, it was ‘behind’ me. Having decided to go back for that, I also added on a visit to Hotel Sacher – the home of Sacher Torte – which I’d walked past earlier thinking I wouldn’t have time to sample ‘the original’. I’m very glad that I did go back. The torte was all that I had hoped and Cafe Sacher is so bohemian.

The Hotel Sacher

Interior of Cafe Sacher

The train ride home was uneventful. All-in-all, I had a great tourist day in Salzburg, even though I was part of the annoying over-tourism (IMV) of that lovely city. When I got back to Innsbruck, the setting sun was making the place even more magical.

The sun setting on the surrounding hills

The lights high up the mountain are the lights I saw on the first night

Daily facts: Location: Salzburg ([I]nnsbruck) Temp: 20 Weather: Clear, sunny, and warm